 |
| Sinni camped in the Sanoma Desert by Dome Rock |
Pamela and I have over 40,000 miles of
travel experience in the past three years but nothing prepared us for
boondocking in the Sonoma Desert. No matter how much we read and no
matter how many seasoned southwesterners we talked to, the learning
curve for living here was almost perpendicular. There is water
conservation, power, and waste disposal and dumping just to head the
list.
Now that is neither a negative
statement nor should it be a red flag to anyone considering coming to
the desert. It is just a statement of fact. Like learning to walk,
everyone must do it. Actually for us it has been an exciting and
enjoyable time of discovery and learning.
We arrived in Quartzsite, AZ about noon
on January 29th. I know it sounds impossible but Quartzsite was
everything we expected and nothing like what we expected both at the
same time. It was wall-to-wall street vendors, concession out of the
back of a truck or camper, and grey hair as far as you could see. We
expected that. It was the last day of the big RV show, which draws
hundreds of thousands of people from all across the country.
Interstate-10, which passes through
Quartzsite, looked like a caravan of trailers, Class-As and other
forms of recreation vehicles going both east and west. We had a
couple of people recommend that we boondock on the BLM land along
Dome Rock Road. There is no cost but they do ask you to register. As
the hosts said, "it is so we can show that the land is being
used." No problem! Campers of every size and description were
scattered across the desert.
 |
| Morning view out our big window (looking south) |
If the first-timer or newbee isn't
afraid to admit it, the learning curve is truthfully almost
perpendicular. I'm not afraid to admit this. Despite all our
experience almost everything was new. On the way here I kept
thinking 'oh, you just pull into the desert and find a place to
stop.' It's got to be easier than camping in the wilderness, which is
our normal. As you sign in with the BLM area host and look around at
the arid and almost hostile land, you begin to worry about finding a
place to camp. Perhaps it is that easy the second and subsequent
times, but the first time you worry about access, position, shade (or
lack thereof), sharp rocks, solar cell placement, and a number of
other issues. There's no way the most articulate of seasonsed desert
camper can explain these things. The best they can do is warn you not
to get into a draw because the ground is soft and not camp too close
to others. Having been through our first time, I can understand why
it is a matter of experience. Actually except for getting stuck in a
draw, being swept away by a flash flood or sliding down the side of a
mountain because you got too close to the edge, you're probably not
going to do anything that will kill or serious injure you. A bad
choice will probably be no more than minor discomfort or the use of
more energy. Energy and water are your life here.
 |
| Our neighbors |
I used the word 'hostile' above, but I
only used it because, at that moment in time, that's the way it
appeared. We soon learned that the desert isn't hostile. It is a
unique environment that only frightens us because of our naivette. I
would imagine that first-timers to our beloved mountain wilderness
would find our home, in which we find such peace and security,
equally hostile.
We have 40 gallons of fresh water with
us. We have found that being conservative with it isn't as difficult
as one might think. When we wash or hands or wash dishes we keep that
water. In stead of letting it go into the 'grey water' holding tank
we use it to flush the toilet. At Quartzsite there are a number of
water vendors. There is everything from machines which will dispense
water into a portable container to a place called "The Pit Stop"
where you refill your fresh water tank. It does cost, but having
lived overseas where water was a precious commody, I don't find it
exhorbitant. We also wipe out our dishes before washing to reduce the
amount of water required for cleaning them.
Disposal of trash and sewage is more of
a problem because there are not dumpsters and dump stations around
the corner. Some BLM land permits you to dig a hole and bury sewage
and grey water but even there you must be very mindful of your holes
relationship to possible water sources. Never burn trash or bury it.
Trash needs to be bagged and carried out. That's the rule in mountain
wilderness as well. Carry in - Pack out. This problem is not unique
to the desert but one more thing with which you must contend. Our
solution is that we're going to move when our black-water (sewage)
tank gets full. We'll go to The Pit Stop, dump, load up with water
and head off to a new and exciting location.
 |
| Two 80 watt solar panels. |
When you're boondocking in the desert
you are totally dependent upon the batteries you are able to carry
and the means you have to recharge those batteries. Our neighbors
tried to run more than their batteries were able to handle and didn't
have the ability to recharge and they ended up frying their
batteries. They have a big fifth-wheel which takes a lot of energy
just sitting there. Sinni is not only extremely efficient but,
because of our small size, not trying to use A/C, satellite, etc.,
our power demands are minimal. When I was calculating our minimum
battery needs I calculated 1amp for each light. We have all LED so
the
man at the solar store just laughed. "You probably don't use 1amp for all those." You really need to find people who know batteries and/or solar energy, depending upon your need. If you still use a gasoline generator that is a whole different world. We had purposely waited to update our battery and solar system until we got here because we knew there would be more knowledge of battery and solar for RVs here than anywhere else.
Here again our learning curve was
almost perpendicular. I didn't even know enough to get into trouble.
But several hours of study and lots of listening to people who know
has changed that. You get to the point that you can calculate the
required amp hours in you head when you know the 110 wattage of the
device you want to run. Ao(12V) = Whr/12. Of
course it is also important to know (V110)A = W and that
to calculate how big of an inverter you need you want to know that
the size of the inverter is the sum of the devices in watts plus 50%.
I quickly learned that you can't have too many volt meters nor can
you have too much battery nor can you have too many solar panels. You
get as much as your pocket book can handle and your rig is able to
carry. Our current demand is around 55 amps if we turn everything on
at the same time. Our battery array is two 6 volt, 224 amp hour
batteries connected in series to provide 12 volts of 224 amps.
Living in the desert does carry with it
a steep learning curve but it is worth the effort. Every day we are
learning, seeing and experiencing new and exciting things from the
rock to the plants to the weather.
No comments:
Post a Comment