Anywhere Sunny but not Windy?

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winslow

Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2018
Posts
20
Location
usually BLM or FS land
So, we've been boondocking around the SW from AZ to NM and we have found many delightful places. We need good cell signal for work (at least 5 up/5 down, either Verizon or AT&T), so that's a bit limiting, but other than that we are pretty open. We like to have a solar resource available, but can't seem to find places to get good sun that aren't also incredibly windy at least 30% (and most more like 80%) of the time.

We have a fairly small rig for full-timing so we depend on going outside and enjoying the space that nature provides, but the wind here in the SW seems to carry an awful lot of dust and grit in it, which is pretty difficult to ignore the effects of when you're out in it!

Any ideas for BLM or other dispersed camping that you've found to be sunny but generally calm? We don't even mind temps in the 20s at night. At this point, we'd consider places that have some sun but are calm - we will run the generator once every 2-3 days and be happy!

Thanks in advance. :)
Winslow and Becca

 
I'm not sure any place on earth is calm all the time unless your in a garage or shelter of some type but those would limit solar big time.

Go East and you will be out of the desert area which appears to be one reason you get grit with the wind.


 
Hi Winslow and Becca,

Where it is sunny a lot, the sun creates thermos and is the source of the winds along with systems of high and low. Deserts are cool to cold at night and get warm during the day and that can create lots of winds. Places in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona where wind and sand (grit) are, can get awlful windy. Some places can pretty much sand blast the paint off your RV, cars, and trucks during super high winds.

Don't know if there is a perfect place out southwest but perhaps to extend your living space and solve your problem, if you were to buy an RV porch enclosure, you could keep the breeze down and work. They fit around the door way of your RV, and extend outward a few feet, much like a patio enclosure for a house. You'd have to use stakes and ropes to tie the porch down well, along with taking it down and putting it up each time you moved your RV.

This would give you more living space, work space and when not so windy a nice view. You could always put the flaps down as the winds pick up. Just MHO.

Put a search on the internet for RV porch enclosures.
 
Unfortunately, the desert southwest is wind-prone.  Another reason for this phenomenon is that weather systems move in from both the south Pacific and the Arctic Pacific and sometimes they arrive at the same time and collide right over the desert southwest.  When that happens we get a lot of wind with each system moving in a direction opposite the other.  We always advise newcomers not to leave their awnings out if they leave their RV because the awnings might be gone or damaged when they return.  One reason there's so much dust is the lack of rain.  When it rains in the desert the rainwater seeps in and hardens the surface.  When people walk or drive on that crusty surface it breaks apart and you start seeing more dust.  I'm not sure you'll find anywhere in the desert that has no or little wind with accompanying dust.

ArdraF
 
It's the desert.  Period.  It's not perfect.  It's just the desert.  If it causes you either medical stress or irritation, go to a location that has more humidity.  There is so much beauty in the desert, but if it's not your thing, it's not your thing.  No harm, no foul.
 
We spend a lot of time in the desert - Quartzsite, Anza Borrego, Death Valley, Yuma, Tucson. I would say that you get disagreeable wind maybe 1 day in 5. We try to just stay inside on the bad days. We?ve been in Yuma for the last 6 days and last night and this morning was the only wind, and it was over before noon. I guess you just have to suck it up and enjoy those non-windy days ?
 
It's almost like being in Oregon and complaining about rain.  We like it here, and if we didn't, we would move.  Choices are what RVing is all about.  You won't ever find the perfect place, but most of the time, if you're willing to change locations ... you will.  :D
 
In the past three weeks, we've boondocked for seven days at KOFA (about 50 miles north of Yuma, AZ) and four days at Quartzsite. Only one day of "wind" but I'd actually characterize it as being more of a strong breeze. It can get real windy in that part of the country though.

With the exception of some high thin clouds most days, there was a lot of sunlight for solar. That's one of the good things about boondocking in that part of the country. We only ran our generator for a total of 20 minutes over both trips, so Cyndi could microwave some different foods for a potluck dinner one night.

Kev
 
I don't quite understand the lure of boon docking with all the drawbacks associated with it.

We are in an RV park that is only $1800 per year and there are others I just saw that are around $1400 per year.

Ours has a pool and hot tub, paved streets and clubhouse and activities all the time.  WIFI signals are strong.  Grass(real) not MJ. behind the TT's. 

Because of all the trees, the winds are moderate to low mostly in late mornings and afternoons and where we are it rarely ruffles the awning.
 
Tom Hoffman said:
I don't quite understand the lure of boon docking with all the drawbacks associated with it.

We are in an RV park that is only $1800 per year and there are others I just saw that are around $1400 per year.

Ours has a pool and hot tub, paved streets and clubhouse and activities all the time.  WIFI signals are strong.  Grass(real) not MJ. behind the TT's. 

Because of all the trees, the winds are moderate to low mostly in late mornings and afternoons and where we are it rarely ruffles the awning.


Some people don't like to be slide by slide with their neighbors.  I don't want to deal with neighbors, neighbor's kids, neighbor's dogs, neighbor's stereos, or the Tuesday morning coffee club. 
For medical reasons my wife can't use a pool or hot tub, so don't need these.  WiFi?  I've got a phone, all I really need is a cell signal, and once a week for a couple of hours would probably be enough. 
I won't talk about the grass.
You can boondock where there's trees.  The North Kaibab Plateau, north of the Grand Canyon has Ponderosa Pines, Aspen, Oaks, grassy meadows, and lots of wildlife while offering a metric ton of free boondocking sites.
 
There's boondocking, as in Walmart boondocking, and then there's boondocking where your nearest neighbor isn't even in sight. Nothing wrong with the amenities you mentioned Tom... we like them from time to time ourselves, but given a choice, we'll take the peace and sernity of camping amongst Saguarro cactus, with beautiful views of the mountains, sunrises and sunsets any day of the week.

It's not for everyone, and I accept that... and it really helps if your RV is well equipped for off grid camping. Most aren't. We enjoy boondocking with friends, like our recent trip to KOFA with other Framily members, and we enjoy going by ourselves. It's largely a state of mind thing.

Kev
 
Don't get your panties in a ruffle.  ::) 

I wasn't trying to insult any one, just different wants for every one.  Just never understood the lure, I see the TTs west of the Q out in the bright sun with no shade, no water, no nothing sitting in deep sand and it makes little sense to me.

We have wildlife here too.  Every morning I get to watch the white haired old  gals bobbing to the oldies in the pool right out side my window. ;D
 
Tom Hoffman said:
We are in an RV park that is only $1800 per year and there are others I just saw that are around $1400 per year.

I'm curious about which parks to which you're referring
 
Sun2Retire said:
I'm curious about which parks to which you're referring

Scott,  There is one on B Ave I just saw posted a price of $1400 & Chng for a annual.  The one we are at is OG RV park on W 8th St.  it is NO PETS sorry,  I don't know about the other one.
 

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Thanks, everyone for the replies. As an amateur meteorologist, I understand the why and how of wind pretty well. I wasn't asking for an explanation of weather, but rather for any experiences people had with places they found to be calm and more sunny than not.

I understand the dust is a result of low humidity, and we've taken pains to find places where the crust is largely undisturbed (why we left Lake Mittry/Yuma area).

All of this feels like I'm being talked to as if I'm a 3-year old. If you don't have anything valuable to offer then it's fine to offer nothing. I understand that free advice is worth what I paid for it, but explanations of obvious realities are not even worth the time to read.

Thanks again.
 
We are in a $1400 a year spot in Bouse  https://desertpueblorv.com/  Have been keeping a 5th wheel here since '06. Don't want to drag it back and forth to Alaska. We like to ride motorcycles, camp (both motorcycle/tent and truck camper) and basically wander around the south west. Just use this place for a "home base" to keep our crap. It isn't your typical campground where everyone is close. Our lot is around 50 ft wide. We are allowed to keep a washer outside, clothes line, shed, enclosed trailer, pickup camper and 3 motorcycles. At one time we had a sign biz in our enclosed trailer. For may years we flew back and forth.....the last few we have driven.

Don't think there is a right/wrong way to snowbird.......just gotta do what works for you.







 

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winslow said:
So, we've been boondocking around the SW from AZ to NM and we have found many delightful places. We need good cell signal for work (at least 5 up/5 down, either Verizon or AT&T), so that's a bit limiting, but other than that we are pretty open. We like to have a solar resource available, but can't seem to find places to get good sun that aren't also incredibly windy at least 30% (and most more like 80%) of the time.

We have a fairly small rig for full-timing so we depend on going outside and enjoying the space that nature provides, but the wind here in the SW seems to carry an awful lot of dust and grit in it, which is pretty difficult to ignore the effects of when you're out in it!

Any ideas for BLM or other dispersed camping that you've found to be sunny but generally calm? We don't even mind temps in the 20s at night. At this point, we'd consider places that have some sun but are calm - we will run the generator once every 2-3 days and be happy!

Thanks in advance. :)
Winslow and Becca

Interesting, You say this about your requirements. Then post this.
"Thanks, everyone for the replies. As an amateur meteorologist, I understand the why and how of wind pretty well. I wasn't asking for an explanation of weather, but rather for any experiences people had with places they found to be calm and more sunny than not.

I understand the dust is a result of low humidity, and we've taken pains to find places where the crust is largely undisturbed (why we left Lake Mittry/Yuma area).

All of this feels like I'm being talked to as if I'm a 3-year old. If you don't have anything valuable to offer then it's fine to offer nothing. I understand that free advice is worth what I paid for it, but explanations of obvious realities are not even worth the time to read."
Most everyone has  tried  to help you with your imposable requirements and with out laughing at you. You get talked to like a 3-year old because of the way you talk to the people trying to make sense out of your requirements. ;D ;D ;D
Bill 

 
Wheeldog said:
We are in a $1400 a year spot in Bouse  https://desertpueblorv.com/  Have been keeping a 5th wheel here since '06. Don't want to drag it back and forth to Alaska. We like to ride motorcycles, camp (both motorcycle/tent and truck camper) and basically wander around the south west. Just use this place for a "home base" to keep our crap. It isn't your typical campground where everyone is close. Our lot is around 50 ft wide. We are allowed to keep a washer outside, clothes line, shed, enclosed trailer, pickup camper and 3 motorcycles. At one time we had a sign biz in our enclosed trailer. For may years we flew back and forth.....the last few we have driven.

Don't think there is a right/wrong way to snowbird.......just gotta do what works for you.
That is a nice spot. We were in the area last Spring. Ended up going back to the Grand Canyon for a couple of weeks.
 
Tom Hoffman said:
Scott,  There is one on B Ave I just saw posted a price of $1400 & Chng for a annual.  The one we are at is OG RV park on W 8th St.  it is NO PETS sorry,  I don't know about the other one.

Yeah, Uh...no.  Not for me.  Even my sticks-n-bricks was 17 miles out of town and a mile off the pavement.

Don't get me wrong.  I'll do parks.  COE, Forest Service, State, Local, and National.  Heck, I'm actually monthly in a commercial RV park right now, but it looks more like a campground and less like a neighborhood. 
I'll Waldock or use a truck stop if I'm in a hurry to get somewhere, but I usually limit that to maybe one time during the trip.  Freecampsites.net has been a source of many neat overnight spots.

As far as wildlife, at my S&B, my neighbor on one side(1/4 mile away)was the grandmother of the neighbor on the other side(1/4 mile the other way)use to drive back and forth wearing her housecoat.  That was wild enough for me.
 

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