The Rubber Tramp Rendezvous...Huh??

Quartszite AZ Paul and I camped beside a couple in North Florida that told us about a travellers meet up in Quartzsite Arizona in mid January The Rubber Tramp Rendezvous. It sounded like a great idea but with our rough schedule and meeting with people in Florida we weren't sure we could make it in time. Fast forward 4 days and 2500kms and 3 states we arrived in Quartzsite.

A gentleman by the name of Bob Wells puts this event on. He has been living cheaply in his RV for something like 10 years. He has a You Tube channel on tips and tricks to live cheap on the road. This event is 14 days and contains several workshops on cheap rv living. The west coast is host to some of the best boondocking. Bureau of land managment(BLM) is public use land in which a camper can stay for 14 days for free, usually. The west coast is dotted with this land. BLM surrounds this tiny town nestled in the valley of the Arizona mountains. It is a tiny community of mobile home parks and RV resorts a few gas stations a small grocer and some fast food joints. During the winter the community swells with travellers seeking the sun. However in the summer this area is almost inhabitable with temperatures rising to 120 farenheit!!

The RTR(Rubber Tramp Rendevous) attracts thousands of travellers in all types of rigs. There are school bus conversions, cargo van conversions, camper vans, trailers, RVs, tiny houses and even a couple semi trucks.

There are people from all walks of life wether they are retired or working, young and old, full time travellers, part time travellers and short trip holiday travellers, even a few Canadians. There is a movement of single lady full timers. But everyone has a love of nature and a desire to live simple and cheap, choosing to get away from "the rat race". Many work online, or pick up work here and there that supports them for the year. We talked to a young couple whose budget is $500/month! At night people gather for various pot lucks and jam sessions around the fire. There is always a buzz of who did what new conversion to their rig, stories of must see places and tips on where to stay and You Tube channel sensation and the like. We stayed for 9 days and during that time we met new friends, discussed options for travel days to follow, sat around campfires, explored the mountains via motorbike.

Paul put his mechanical skills to use helping fellow travellers with some of their problems and I offered a free sunset yoga class for a few days, it sure felt good to be teaching after such a long break!

Benny loves the desert

On the last night of the official RTR the main fire area hosted an open mic. The talent and heart of some of most of these musicians is unbelievable. And then as the night fall settled in evryone gathered around the fire to witness "burning van" . A cardboard van about 3ft high and wide. While playing Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again" over the speakers. It was hilarious! I'm so glad we got the opportunity to go to the RTR, these people that live full time on the road have a comfort in living practically and simply. There is a real sense of connectivity and a passion for living a life out of the normal.

Burning van

Gong Bath Meditation, pretty neat!

Taking some advice from a fellow traveller we have decided to head North about 1 1/2 hours to Lake Havasu City. Havasu is a native word meaning blue green water. And is also well know for the London Bridge that was bought from London and piece by piece assembled here. This area contains 3 specific BLM areas. We chose to stay for a few days at Craggy Wash. Again we can stay for 14 days and there are many others taking advantage of this type of camping. We are excited to be able to do some hiking again and this area is full of outdoor adventures.

Strange looking cactus

Crossman Peak Trail This trail was Paul's pick and probably wouldn't have been my first pick after a long stretch of inactivity..... it offers the highest point elevation in the Lake Havasu area, being 5103ft above sea level. It was a pretty constant slog straight up! The trail ground was mostly road to service the cell towers at the top. But to summit we did get to do some actual hiking on trail. Again a fairly steep thin trail straight up to the top, brought us to a rock formation and geographical marker. We stayed to take in the views and have a bit to eat before our steep decent to the bottom of the trail

Sara Park This outdoor playground gives hikers and cyclists a huge selection of different terrain for exploring. We spent 2 days here checking it out. Probably my favorite was Sara's crack...ha, ha. Seriously thats the name but did provide us with many off the collar jokes over the couple of days. It doesn't really give much of an elevation gain but is about 5 miles there and back and takes around 3 hours. The beauty is seeing the rocks in the crack and how water from flooding creates these slot canyons and at the end we were greeted by a cove on Lake Havasu and several hungry ducks.

Lizard Peek Trail The second day we came back to try out this 3 hour hike with an elevation gain of 1370ft. THis hike was a little more technical, having to climb up over a small vertical face to access the summit. I was kinda shaking in my hikers! But we a made it with really no issue other than some frayed nerves due to the elevation. At the top was a picnic table to sit at and have a snack. The reason this is called Lizard Peek is s you climb up as you look back you can see a 80ft long lizard geoglyph, kinda neat!

The arrow is pointing to the summit, where sits a picnic table

Do you spot the lizard?

Summit of Lizard Peak, arrow is pointing to Crossman Peak Summit across the valley

Balance is key. It can be challenging spending hour after hour just with eachother. However after the RTR we were pretty excited to spend some quiet time with one another. This provided a good resting point after the busy pace of the Redezvous. From here we are heading back down to Quartzsite area, Ehrnburg to be exact. We are meeting up with Jim and Shannone that we met in Ocala Florida. They were the couple that told us about the RTR. From there we are heading to Slab City California. Which should provide for some interesting adventures! Much love from the road, Paul, Leanne and Benny.