How are people finding out about HOWA caravans these days?

[jacqueg]

I note that the last post on this subform occurred a year ago.

I found out about HOWA's Meetup page. There are four current caravans listed, all of which end on Feb 10, and none listed for the future.

Is the HOWA caravan idea falling by the wayside?

 

[MrNoodly]

The new ones tend to get listed shortly before the current ones end.

Bob and Suanne are headed to Florida where they're going to set up some Eastern caravans. So the idea is expanding rather than going by the wayside.

 

[rvwandering]

Scroll down on the meetup page to the first listing - Agave Caravan. Right above that you'll see "Upcoming Events +5 See all". Click on "See all" and scroll down for a complete listing of the caravan locations through Feb 24.

 

[jacqueg]

Found it, thanks!

 

[DLTooley]

Caravans can get a bit cliquish, the socializing between folks that lean introverts is the heart of the spirit of what Bob started, but the Caravans may be a bit much.

The whole quartzsite scene is a bit weird, I’d avoid it completely save for Scaddan in January. Personally, I distance myself a bit from all of that boomer stuff.

Brainstorming I’d like to see more regional gatherings at the peak season and/or established camps in more scenic locations with better hiking and a regular, if rotating, HOWA presence.

This would advance stewardship of specific areas as well - a more organic form of organization rather than a full time mobile corporate camp host model.

This would also help increase positive pr associated with dispersed camping. The many quality spots getting trashed in the Coconino should be a higher priority than building a national franchise of, to me, dubious merit.

 

[maki2]

The caravan host are volunteers. The caravan leaders who act as a general host are not paid and they do change from time to time. It is not a corporate situation, it is a co-operative situation. Co-ops are "organic".

 

[nature lover]

I am looking forward to caravans here in the East. Join the group and leave it when you feel like it. - no strings. Only problem is finding space for a caravan here - we have forests not deserts. Every picture I see of your barren dessert makes be want to visit - but not for long. Give me and Eastern hardwood forest and I am happy. To each his own.

 

[cyndi]

Caravans can get a bit cliquish,

I hate to drag this further off topic. But, I'm curious. I've visited with several caravans and found them very welcoming. Which have you found cliquish?

 

[MrNoodly]

...all of that boomer stuff.

What is it?

 

[maki2]

By Boomer stuff you must mean all of us old folks who sit around the camp fire talking about our aches and pains and the good old days when we were flower children who were roaming around enjoying ourselves on cross country camping adventures. In between 1969 and 1971 I roamed from Texas and then all the way to Alaska even hitchhiking from Anchorage up to Denali park and many other areas of Alaska as well. That boomer stuff we talk about is indeed off putting to younger generations. Once in while I did caravan with friends, sometimes with a partner, other times I went solo. Most of my long cross country drives have been solo camping as was my month long camping trip in France just before I turned 60. I have never been afraid to go camping on my own for extended trips to places I have never been before, not as a still teenage girl and not as a senior woman of 70. If the spirit moves me I just go and do it. I do plan to drop in on some of the HOWA caravans now and again just for the enjoyment of it.

 

[Cammalu]

I enjoy having campers come thru when they are in my area in KY. I do have a really nice space to put them but if it’s too hot....

This was from last summer. Hope I get a few visitors this summer. It helps to break up the chores we have.

 

[crofter]

...  Which have you found cliquish?

All were welcoming.  -crofter

 

[Cammalu]

Maki, I hope you get out my way this summer. Please come to Kentucky!

 

[maki2]

Maki, I hope you get out my way this summer. Please come to Kentucky!

I can't go to Kentucky in the summer because I am unfortunately quite heat intolerant. The real deal, my body starts going  into distress in the 90s. So I will be staying along the NW Pacific Coast in the summers.  It isn't that I would not like going to Kentucky, just that I am unlikely to be anywhere in the southern half of the USA in the summer time unless it is the southern Oregon or Northern California coastal areas.

But I will look forward to seeing you in Arizona.