Quartzsite, Women's RTR, 2025, Day 2 and 3

 

Day two at the Quartzsite Women's Rubber Tramp Rendezvous (2025) had a glorious presentation on safety. I found out my stun gun is one of the best! To date I've never had an opportunity to test it so this is good to know. I also learned it's important to use a stun gun on bare skin for best effect and Canada doesn't allow stun guns over the border. What would I do with it? Hmmm...

That afternoon we were treated to an "Open House" of vans, cars, trucks and small living spaces less than 22 feet. It still amazes me the organization some women have to live in a car. One particular vehicle was owned by, Angie, a delightful Californian with a free-flowing positive energy. She has a small pickup truck and the back looks like a doll house! Again, incredibly organized, but her creative sensibilities make it look so inviting with a blue and aqua color scheme and her fiber art works. She uses magnets to hold everything down on the counters so they don't move during transportation. I crawled in there and felt right at home wanting to curl up and take a nap:

I asked Angie about not having a refridgerator and she explained she doesn't use one, she buys and eats mostly fresh foods, lives out of grocery stores, and she's lost 40 lbs in the last six months! This was inspirational to say the least. She also took a hula hooping class so she would have easy and fun exercise on the road and has lost several inches around her waist. She was happy to demonstrate her skills:

Then the wind began...I'd been warned about wind both online and my friends at the south camp. This clocked in at 24 mph throwing sand and dust all over everything. I wondered if my van would still be upright in the morning. It was really nasty and I vowed never to live in Quartzsite. It stopped by the next day, but this is normal for flat desert locations.

Day three included a presentation on Hygiene with a panel of experienced van-living women. After their talk audience members were welcomed to share their tips. There was a lot of laughter as they shared not-so-good experiences, mistakes, and a whole lot of embarrassment.

After one month living in my van, I felt pretty experienced on toilet procedures having learned the hard way in most cases. Many shared it is difficult to separate urine and feces especially for older women and some claimed you have to train yourself. I have not mastered this skill. It was shared pine pellets from feed stores are good to use. Since I have been unable to find small bags of pine chips at pet stores, and as we all know, they only come in large quantities (20-40lb bags), I was so grateful when one woman who had just bought a 40 lb. bag offered to share so I acquired a ziplock full of them. Several women shared they don't use toilet paper! Some used a cloth one can buy that can be washed. Hmmm...sounds messy, but perhaps once I evolve from a "newmad" into a more experienced van lifer, I'll consider this. It would be nice to eliminate the expense of toilet paper.

Showers. I have grown accustomed to not bathing which is odd since I used to take up to four baths a day when living in a house. First, I'm warm so I'm not in a situation where I'm so cold I have to regulate my body temperature constantly. Second, the thought of bathing in a communal space gives me the creeps! Most of these women said they don't shower and they don't care! I loved the attitude! However, if one really needs to clean, aquatic centers and state parks are good options.

Laundry. Not much was mentioned about laundry. I was tempted to contribute to the chemical sensitivity challenges with laundry, but as a "newmad" I didn't feel that brave. Maybe next year.

That was the last day of the Women's Rubber Tramp Rendezvous. It was a day of sunshine and no wind! Tomorrow the all-inclusive Rubber Tramp Rendezvous starts.