We still haven’t left our boondocking location near Borrego Springs. We really intended to when our tanks needed attention.. really. We did. After all, we just know there are other amazing places to explore in the desert southwest.
But instead, we dumped and filled and came right back to our same exact spot. Well, actually 2 inches over – we can’t be that precise, now can we?
Why have we stayed? Well, this picture pretty much sums it up:
Today will mark 3 weeks since we pulled in, and it’s been non-stop social community with nomadic peers.
For the first week or so, we meet up with a lot of awesome folks – many of whom if you only looked at years of birth, you might think would be more suitable peers with our parents.
But we’re all nomads, and we share the love of the road, of adventure, of living life by conscious choice and of making every day count. There may be generational gaps, but we learned long ago that we’re cut from the same cloth and find plenty in common to laugh the night away. Heck, in 20 or 30 years, we can only hope we’re still as cool as many of our ‘elders’ we’ve been blessed to meet.
After bringing in the new year, Airstream after Airstream started rolling in – while aluminum isn’t magnetic, these tin cans sure do seem to attract each other.
Before we knew it, we were in the middle of another convergence, one that was pretty much unplanned and just kinda came together after a bit of social media magic (Instagram being the biggest social glue of this group.)
This time, instead of being the kids on the block – our ‘hood filled in with fellow Gen-X and Gen-Y full time nomads. Peers in lifestyle choice and age group .. something we don’t get to experience this level of abundance of too often.
Some solo, some coupled and some families. Some fellow tech geeks, photographers, investors, musicians, writers, entrepreneurs and remote workers. And it’s extended further than Airstreams now having a couple van dwellers, a couple Class-As and even an awesome Earth Cruiser joined in for a bit.
No matter the age, it’s so darn inspirational to be around others who have decided to take their own leap in life and make it their own – despite whatever obstacles they may have had.
With this gathering, social time is now scheduled around work hours. We’re back in a community where cutting out to finish a work project or feeding the kids (or cat in our case) is perfectly understood and respected.
We all know we each need our time to get life done – we’re not on vacation, and nor are we retired with endless free time. There’s no need to apologize for not being able to have lingering conversations all the time.
In this week’s meet up, we can include:
AirstreamLife, Aluminarium, @asolojourner, @dreaknufken, @journeywithhappiness, Island Girl Walkabout, @kmpuccio, @malimish_airstream, @russhaynie, Rolling Recess, @sethkhughes, @theroamingpint, The Scenic Route, @toddmb, ToSimplify, @upintheairstream, VanTramp and WheelingIt.
(Those with @ symbols are on Instagram… you can find us at @cherie_technomadia and @radven. You can also follow this convergence with #BorregoNewYear2015. Or.. maybe you shouldn’t… because what happens in the desert definitely isn’t staying in the desert with this group.)
Folks are coming and going from our group every day, so I’m sure we’ll have new handles to learn.
When we have a group like this around us, how could we leave? So many new friendships made, and so many existing ones deepened.
We’ve had campfires, happy hours, fire dancing, outdoor movie night, karaoke, slot canyon hikes, Taco Tuesday and Soup Anarchy (a new take on ‘Stone Soup’ that evolved around several campfire evenings).
We don’t know when we’ll leave out for new locations. Even though our fresh water is now full, and our holding tanks empty – our social energy tanks are running right up to their capacity.
And the $8 dump fee at the nearby state park didn’t include filling extroversion tanks up.
But for now, we’ll continue to soak it in. Spontaneous opportunities like this just don’t come around all that often. Serendipity has made it clear, this is where we’re meant to be at this moment.
Posts from our fellow nomads about this convergence:
- There’s No One Right Way To Fulltime RV – WheelingIt
- Soup Anarchy – Aluminarium
- Teeth – To Simplify
- Anza-Borrego Desert – Van-Tramp
And now, once again I yearn for Arizona. All in good time.
Really enjoy reading about the adventures of you nomads! My sweetie and I went camping at Clark Dry Lake on the 8th, came back to San Diego today. Wanted to try our hand boondocking slightly off road for the first time. Managed to get truck stuck in the sand 😠(so embarrassing!) and in five minutes two nice folks came by to help. Just an example of the mobile community there. Had a great time. Saw all the Airstreams and wondered if the Aluminarium folks were part of that. Sure enough…and you too! Went for a hike early and saw your beautiful bus conversion! Wondered why you had a big sheet attached to the side. Now I know it was movie night! Thanks so much for sharing the fun 😊
What fun post! Just reading and viewing the great photos brings a smile to me. I’m sure is far more fun to be there in person!
This post reminds me of RVillage. I just referred the app to some friends who also have iPhones. But none of us can find the app on the App Store, not for iPhones or for iPads. I went to the RVillage website and it seems to work fine, but there’s no longer any links to the smart phone apps.
What happened?
RVillage actually doesn’t (and never has had) an app. But the site is mobile optimized and should now display excellently on a smartphone just by using your device’s browser.
Ok, that’s probably what I was thinking. I’ll pass it on and let them know how to add it to their home screens.
Thanks for the reply, it’s much appreciated.
Wonderfully put, Cherie, we’re all different, yet the same.
Brenda
And isn’t it wonderful? So lovely to meet you guys!
Love the blog post guys! You summed it up very nicely. It has been a wonderful experience spending time with kindred spirits in this beautiful desert. This was my first RV meet up since going full-time and I’m going to remember it fondly! Also, getting to meet you (Technomadia) in person was a terrific surprise! I credit you for planting the seed years ago and inspiring me to live this incredible life on the road.
Awww… *blush* Thanks Seth. It’s been wonderful meeting you, and the rest of the gang here. And thanks again for the awesome photos!
I notice that your rig is an older model. My husband and i will begin fulltiming later this year. I’ve heard that with older RVs you get more problems. I’d like to know more about you rig and your thoght process. Hope to see you on the road.
Andrea
Welcome to the blog Andrea… our RV is a 1961 bus conversion, and you can read more about it at https://www.technomadia.com/zephyr
At the bottom of the page, we have a bunch of links to additional articles we’ve written about it – including why we went vintage, and a 3-year summary post of our thoughts of living & maintaining a vintage bus.
I’m wintering in New England for the first time in 10 years to help with my Mom and Dad. Missing the southwest like crazy! It’s fun hearing about all the different gatherings. I’m usually at the RTR in Q.
I didn’t notice any age in your picture. Just the big smiles!
Have fun!
Keep warm up there.. we may try to stop by RTR as we swing through the area.
This is what it’s all about. Borrego is FANTASTIC!!!! I used to go there with my parents and brother when I was growing up. We’d ride in the desert, burn as much wood as we could haul in, let the dogs run, eat rather healthy cuz we could’t go out and generally… enjoy life! Cant wait to get the hubby out there but it’ll be a while. For now… living through your posts!
Borrego is fantastic.. such a gorgeous area, and Borrego Springs has become quite the little adorable town with all the basic amenities one might need.
So good to finally meet you guys, hopefully we’ll continue to cross paths this winter (I think we will).
It would be most fabulous to catch up with you guys again!
Nice to see so many like minds come together, no matter what age. The warmer nights have certainly made for better after sunset gatherings. I had planned to go to the park today to dump and fill so am disappointed to hear you couldn’t take on fresh water for the price. There is something about this place that just makes me want to stay. Maybe I’ll roll next week. 😉
Sorry if that was confusing… dump and water are included at the state park. What they don’t fill is social energy (my attempt at humor).
It’s been wonderful to be part of this group, and meet all these inspiring people. I have seen fire dancing, experienced soup-anarchy and sang karaoke with coyotes as backing singers in the space of a few days. That’s a pretty good life.
Great to spend more time with you guys and you have great taste in movies. We are Power!!!
It’s been fabulous getting more time with you guys too.. so glad this convergence happened!
Fun, fun, fun – why would you be anywhere else?? So often the unplanned gatherings are the best. With no expectations and no timelines folks can socialize at their own pace, contribute at their own comfort level. With these nice warmer temps you may be looking for shade soon 🙂
That’s exactly what makes these things magical… the lack of planning and the abundance of spontaneity. We like some rallies too, but they leave little time for ‘living life’ amongst them.
This post is EXACTLY why the wife and I are about to buy our first rig.
We’re not going full-time (yet) but social adventures like this are definitely one of the things we’re looking forward to most. I’m thrilled to hear that generation gaps don’t matter so much; we may be in our 50’s, but our hearts are still 25 🙂 Give us about 6 months to get our stuff together and hopefully we’ll see you all out on the road!
The opportunities for socializing seem to be getting better and better.. especially with a little social media these days. See you in a few months 🙂