Desert Living

[Optimistic Paranoid]

The thread on owning land has veered into the pros and cons of living in the desert.

Thought I'd mention that my local newspaper had a wire service photo of the major dust storm that hit Phoenix AZ yesterday. Awesome picture. Apparently it's the start of dust storm season there.

Just google 'Dust Storm Phoenix' if you want to see the photos or videos.

Regards
John

 

[Spirituallifetime]

Yes it can get dusty in the desert, but I like it because there are very few mosquitos and other annoying bugs!

 

[compassrose]

Then you don't want to live in NM deserts. NM has bigger, tougher roaches than FL. And I grew up in FL so I know what kind of roaches they have there. There's a SEASON for the dust storms? We have dust storms daily in Roswell. Some big, some small. Depends on how long, how strong the wind is. Usually the wind blows between 15 mph to 70 mph. And they have mosquitos in Roswell! Actually, I think they have ALL the bugs except for chiggers. I haven't had a chigger bite since we moved to NM. The talcum-powder fine dust gets EVERYWHERE.

Funniest sign I have seen since moving to the Land Of Entrapment is one on I-25 just north of the Los Lunas exit... "Dust Storms May Exist". I can personally attest that dust storms DO exist. Also this is the only state I have ever had the opportunity to experience a mud storm (a dust storm AND it was raining).

If you visit NM, make sure you keep enough money tucked away to leave the state.

 

[jeanontheroad]

Pros: awesome landscapes, nice people, bugs not as bad as a lot of places, fewer mosquitoes , relaxed attitudes and everybody likes dogs (where we have been), interesting new fauna and flora, hubby not whining for another boat.

Cons: nose bleeds, dry itchy skin, cracked nails, dry throat and cough, dusty, hard to keep rv clean, awesome landscapes can be eerily barren and depressing, easy to get over-heated and burnt

 

[akrvbob]

Everywhere in the desert has dust storms but these aren't the same. These are the epic dust storms you've seen in the movies and thought didn't really exist. They do and just like you see them in the movies.

A solid wall of dust a mile high moving toward you and when it hits the sun disappears and the street lights come in.

I spend my winters in Yuma, Quartzsite and Parker along the Colorado River about 110 miles east of Phoenix and I've never seen one. I'm grateful for that!

The key to the desert is only be there in the winter when you get nearly all the pros and none of the cons. That's why I live on wheels!
Bob

 

[Spirituallifetime]

I was in Tempe AZ when I saw my first dust storm, I was in a pool cooling off and swimming when I saw a brown wall off dust coming at me. It lasted about a minute and left me sitting in a pool of dirt and palm leaves.

 

[LeeRevell]

I worked for a fellow back in the 70's who had owned a body shop in a dust/sand storm prone area of California. He said that he got allot of jobs for cars that had been blasted including frosted windows. He also sad that the wind direction was so steady that you could see a line across the hood where the antenna had split the sand.

Guy

Hehehe...... we get that here in sunny Florida on the beach, but it's due to wind-driven salt water. Had a buddy once whose light yellow '69 Camaro looked fine on one side, looked like Swiss cheese on the other!

 

[WheelEstate USA]

Bob described it quite well. Back in the early 70s I had a car stripped of paint during one of those Phoenix sand storms. Well. one side was unscathed.
There was sand in places you didn't even know existed.

For me, the desert has always been a special place. I must agree that winter is the best time for most people. Summer can be pretty damn rough, but I've learned how to live with it if I have to....rather not in my older years tho

I'd like to say that everyone will like the desert, but it just ain't so.

 

[akrvbob]

I believe that if you are open to nature and it's influence, spend one winter in the desert and it will change you in profound ways.
Bob

 

[WheelEstate USA]

Yup, birds will come to splash and drink, so bring extra water.

Hummingbirds are often seen too. There are more varieties in the Sonora Desert than you can imagine.
Actually, Sonora is a huge fly zone for migrating birds.

Also, if you sleep outside you can often get first hand views of scorpions that like to hide under your sleeping pad. Did you know they glow neon blue under a blacklight??
Makes them easy to spot under furniture and such.

 

[compassrose]

I believe that if you are open to nature and it's influence, spend one winter in the desert and it will change you in profound ways.
Bob

Well then I guess I'm not open to nature and it's influence. I've spent more than one winter AND summer. It's definitely different. I prefer to head back east where the rain falls all the way to the ground. Not evaporate before it reaches the ground. That's just cruel! 422 more days til I leave heading EAST to green and rain.

 

[akrvbob]

I'm the same way compassrose. When I worked a job and lived in a city I never had a real connection to nature. It's just really hard when you're that surrounded by the anti-thesis to nature. It wasn't until I retired and started living full time on public land that I really felt connected to nature.

I found my mind slowed down and spending a few hours just walking or sitting and staring off into the distance became a great joy. When you're every waking moment is spent in nature (or just inside your rig but still close to it) it slowly changes you.

Or maybe, I'm just a screwball and no one else finds that to be true!!
Bob

 

[compassrose]

I've never lived in the "city". Except when we lived in FL, I have never lived on less than 2 acres and up to 60 acres. One of the houses we had was surrounded on two sides by the Nantahala National Forest. One of the other houses we had was 15 miles from town and 1 mile (directly over the mountain not by road) from the nearest neighbour plus it fronted the Little Tennessee River. My high yield intensive gardens were as small as 1/4 acre (and our highest yield) and as large as 2 acres. We canned or froze everything. We raised hogs, rabbits and chickens for meat. I've split and stacked far too much wood for too many years (loved my Monster Maul) because we heated with wood. I have lived in the "boondocks" as they were called back then.

City people! Sheesh!

 

[morongobill]

I lived in Joshua Tree and the Morongo Valley for around 4 1/2 years.

My favorite story was the day that my girlfriend chose to stay in my non air conditioned/windows down car when a big dust devil engulfed it. Sitting talking to the realtor inside, I could read her lips as she was calling me every name in the book.

After that incident she hated the desert.

 

[LeeRevell]

Hehehe...... one very bad experience can indeed cloud a person's perceptions for the rest of their lives. ;-)
I have yet to experience the desert, or the far icy north. Hope to see both in the near future.
I seldom do the beach scene. I spent too many years being 'little buddy' to my Dad's overbearing 'Skipper' working his mullet boat here in sunny Florida. The 'beach' to me means long hot days of grueling work, running and hauling in nets, getting wet and stinky with little to show at the end of the day.

 

[jeanontheroad]

Bob: a winter in the desert will change you in profound ways.

Me: If you mean that it will make you sick and miserable and itchy and dry, I believe it. I loved the people, but was physically miserable the whole time. We will be spending this winter near Tucson (under my strenuous protest). After spending a couple of months in the desert in spring and early summer, I am not expecting to like it any better in the winter.

 

[highdesertranger]

I love the desert any time of year. just as long as it cools down at night. in fact I like the summer because there is no yahoos out there I mean no one, except some cowboys tending their cattle. Morongobill when I saw your handle on another post I was going to ask you if you had a connection to the so cal desert. back on subject, some people love the desert some hate it, just like everything else in life. highdesertranger

 

[66788]

A lot of Zane Gray's novels were written about the American South West. His love for the desert was epic.