Slowing it Down in the Southwest

It seems that blogging is going to be a bit sparse over the next month or so as we enjoy a low key, slow-travel kind of winter here in the southwest. In fact, I almost didn’t post anything at all this week (since we have done nothing of note). But I realized as I was writing my year-end round up how much I like having a record of everywhere we’ve been, so in the spirit of keeping good records, here’s a quick run-down of the past week and half.

We left the Borrego Springs area in search of faster Internet a few days after the New Year’s Eve celebration. In years past we’ve stayed there for multiple weeks, but this time the signal was simply too slow for any kind of work. So we moved a few hours south and joined a break-off group from the New Year’s gathering at American Girl Mine Road near Yuma. We arrived just in time for the clouds and rain to roll in and stick around for most of the week.

Dreary in the desert

Eventually the clouds lifted and we enjoyed a sunny, yet chilly, few days among friends. We stayed in this spot once before a few years ago, and my opinion of it remains the same — a good place to meet up with a group because there is a seemingly endless amount of space, kind of pretty in a barren sort of way, and convenient to Yuma for access to stores while remaining far enough away to feel remote. Aside from a few walks around the neighborhood, we didn’t explore the area too much this time around, but there are some really cool mountains for climbing, and even an old ghost mining town nearby if you’re into that sort of thing.

Our little desert neighborhood

Most of our week consisted of work during the day, some afternoon happy hours with the group, a taco truck/bowling night out on the big town, and a delicious lantern-lit pot luck

Bowling night – a lantern-lit pot luck – happy hour (no chairs required)

Last weekend we said goodbye and headed out to meet another group of our fellow nomads. For now the request is that we keep the location under wraps in an effort to keep the group small(ish). Which works for us since we’re feeling a little burnt out socially from the large groups we’ve been with the past few weeks. I can show you our lovely spot though.

Sunny in the desert

And the amazing sunset that wowed us all last night.

Fire in the sky

And that’s it for the first week and half of 2016 — good friends, good food, and good views — I couldn’t ask for much more.