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Three Month Home Base in Southwest


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#31 Casa Escarlata Robles Too

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Posted 18 July 2022 - 09:32 PM

Rob you have got a lot on your plate.Though you are thinking it all out.

 

I have to agree with you about the prices of renting.From a rentees point

I feel things are in the "scalping" range,but then again I am not a renter.

 

It's still what ever the market will bear I guess.

I know where we live rents are unbelievably high.

Sign of the times.

 

Keep up the planing.

Frank


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#32 buckland

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Posted 18 July 2022 - 10:25 PM

Thanks Frank. I am just getting into the planning in a serious way... all before was piddling about but if it is going to happen I have to suss it out as apparently 6 months ahead is actually cutting it close as far as reservations etc. I am fortunate in that I have the camper and truck absolutely ready. So no need to have two fronts to worry about. I am holding on to the idea you gave me that getting into the nitty gritty with maps and possible points to stay are fun in themselves... at first a bit daunting but after a beer and some porch sitting one gets lost following a trail of possibilities.


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#33 Casa Escarlata Robles Too

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Posted 18 July 2022 - 10:49 PM

Thanks Frank. I am just getting into the planning in a serious way... all before was piddling about but if it is going to happen I have to suss it out as apparently 6 months ahead is actually cutting it close as far as reservations etc. I am fortunate in that I have the camper and truck absolutely ready. So no need to have two fronts to worry about. I am holding on to the idea you gave me that getting into the nitty gritty with maps and possible points to stay are fun in themselves... at first a bit daunting but after a beer and some porch sitting one gets lost following a trail of possibilities.

Maps and Google Earth to see places of interest. I always like checking the "from space view" of

places I am thinking about.

 

I especially like street view in looking for places in some of the foreign cities we might visit.

 

It's all fun.

 

Have another beer and keep planing.

Frank


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#34 DavidGraves

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Posted 19 July 2022 - 03:05 PM

Howdy

 

Your post will win an award for the all time greatest trip planning thread ....and we all know why.

 

I fear your underlying premise of "rent a home base and explore from there." is inherently flawed because what you are hoping to find does not exist.

 

The Southwest has for many years been a winter neighborhood of the Northwest.

 

Yuma is a section of Seattle. Secluded beaches I know in Baja are so saturated with Canadian pee that the smell is now year round.

 

The hard cold fact seems to be that corporate tourism promotion has polluted the entire landscape.

 

In our area of Oregon business interests own lots and lots of "local" houses and rent them nightly for big dollars.

One short term rental management agency puts its house cleaning staff in bunk houses because there is so little rental housing here for "normal" working folks. 

 

Lately, local management agencies are being bought out by national interests......profit seeking has always brought out the worst in us as a nation.....something the local politicians can call "economic development."

 

Nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there.

 

I dunno, keep it simple and enjoy what you can and ignore the rest.

 

David Graves


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#35 Wallowa

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Posted 19 July 2022 - 03:41 PM

Dave nails it. 

 

Still the best option for us is to find some solitude in an unfettered location is to seek out the places few wish to invest the effort to find or get to.....in our Tundra/Hawk we purposely look for and find beautiful scenery and hiking locales without crowds and the attendant insanity...peace and quiet still does exist, but in the not to near future I fear even that will be gone...

 

Primitive camping, solitude and outdoor experiences are not everyone's cup of tea...but if you look and probe for them they still are there....'seek and you will find' whatever floats your boat; good luck.

 

Phil


Edited by Wallowa, 19 July 2022 - 03:42 PM.

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#36 AWG_Pics

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Posted 19 July 2022 - 05:01 PM

Dave and Phil have it right.

 

Our solution is to visit as few paid campgrounds as possible and stay as far from crowds as we can. Only going to town for gas, water, laundry and fresh veggies. No problem with a month or so on the road in the back country.

 

I always study google maps and Earth, watch YouTube videos if any exist for places on our general route and plan, plan, plan, which usually lasts the first couple of days if that long. As I drive, my wife carefully studies maps, paper and avenza on a gps capable samsung tablet. I have learned to be flexible and follow her lead when she spies something I did not notice when doing all that planning. We end up in some amazing places, such as a two-site USFS camp, with a clean pit toilet, that we had all to ourselves in the central Oregon forest last month.

 

Our near month in and around Death Valley this spring had us camping away from people pretty much all the time. Once some guy came by & camped about a quarter mile away. And we chose to spend a nite at Tecopa, where we met some interesting people... otherwise we may as well have been the only people overnighting in the park, by all appearances. We have had similar experiences in Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.

 

I don't know how firmly attached you are to having a rental 'base camp'. We think of our pop-up as a portable cabin in the wilderness.

 

Good luck in your search. 

 

Tony


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#37 buckland

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Posted 20 July 2022 - 12:20 AM

Oh not firmly attached at all. But being that we come from afar we thought it would be nice to start as though we were starting fresh. 3000 mile drive in winter prior to the three or four week out in remote was just a gentle way to begin in an area we are new to wandering in. We are very experienced and confident in our rig and prefer to be out in the quiet world alone as can be. 

As this is the first SW foray just wanting to meter it a bit. We are now leaning more on liness of a week stay in an area populated then bug out to where we prefer to be.... move on to another area repeat.  This is an exploratory trip. 

 

I envy the folks who say "we decided to take a week and head out to a new place to explore" .....Wandering the West is truly a remarkable concept and real privilege. As one said above and we know all too well back east... respectfully finding that quiet is getting harder to do. From where we live and it is quiet and rural... we have vaulted into Labrador and Newfoundland, northern Quebec and Ontario; the north Maine woods is still wild but the same is happening there... people. That direction is only good in the warm months ( 3 or 4). Hence our hope for warmth and quiet south. Our first choice was Mexico and Central America and will be in the future as we have both lived and worked in South America and really enjoy all the cultural discoveries too.

 

I appreciate all sides of thought in this. Can't learn without listening! This trip plan is totally fluid!


Edited by buckland, 20 July 2022 - 12:22 AM.

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The only people who ever get anyplace interesting are the people who get lost.
Henry David Thoreau
"Work to achieve not to acquire"

 


#38 Wandering Sagebrush

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Posted 20 July 2022 - 12:33 AM

Rob, regardless if you pick it as a base, or just a place to explore, I do recommend spending time in Anzo Borrego State Park/Borrego Springs when you get an opportunity.  From Ricardo Breceda’s sculptures on Dennis Avery’s estate (Galleto Meadows),  to citrus stands, to true desert wilderness, it’s a delightful place to visit.


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#39 buckland

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Posted 20 July 2022 - 12:54 AM

Thanks Steve you bet... it is on the list. My sister insists it is a great place to explore as well. She love s the desert flowers  and has enjoyed going there many times. I better just hurry up and get out there ...so many places and so little relative time. I'd go now but with my Irish genetics I melt at 90 degrees! 


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2016 Duramax 2.8 Diesel long bed Colorado 4WD with 2011 Eagle

Lordwoodcraft  instagram        Rob
The only people who ever get anyplace interesting are the people who get lost.
Henry David Thoreau
"Work to achieve not to acquire"

 


#40 ski3pin

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Posted 20 July 2022 - 01:14 AM

If I was planning a trip as you describe, I'd drop the idea of renting a house. For a "rest" from the road, I would get a nice motel room for a night or two. We'd resupply with groceries, do laundry, a long shower, and go out for a romantic special dinner. For us, that would be our only touch of civilization.

 

Now, to be honest, I've never been able to talk Julie into this. She prefers the camper always.


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