a new chapter…

It was a wild place out in the open and exposed to the elements. Working at 8,000 feet in sub freezing winds was a rugged experience. It was a test of endurance, but those days are done now. It all seemed fitting as the Gypsywagen and I were destined for the wild and rugged places we would meet in the journey to come.

At long last the game was afoot. The shakedown cruise launched on December 23, 2018. Two days and 600 miles from the snow and freezing winds of Northern New Mexico I encamped in the Catalina Mountains of southern Arizona. The Gypsywagen proved out to be steady and roadworthy. On the second night a rainstorm established the coach was waterproof, which made for a very comfortable snooze inside the cabin

An eighteen day shakedown cruise made a good start to the life of the Gypsywagen. On a random itinerary, I camped at various spots in New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada. 

I stayed variously in State and County campgrounds, Federal BLM land, also in Walmart and Casino parking lots. It all went well and I learned a lot about how to finish out various details on the coach. 

After a few weeks of camping I stayed at the home of an oldfriend on a lovely spot along the Colorado River. There I built shelves and cabinets, which would  bring more comfort and practical use of the interior compartment. These and other improvements continued to be part of the unfolding journey.

The next stop was the winter RV roundup in Quartzite, Arizona.

More than half a million people, mostly in RVs, gather there for an annual trade fair. Many of the folks arrive in large, Class-A RVs, vehicles forty or more feet long by ten and fifteen feet high. These large coaches are designed to give their occupants a home-away-from-home experience, and can cost as much as a second home. I found the whole scene foreign to my sensibilities and did little more than a protracted “drive-by”. Not my cup of tea. 

The central idea of the Gypsywagen was to have a simple, compact and affordable travel trailer. It’s modest dimensions were designed to provide basic comfort and security. This austerity compels one to climb out and reach out to connect with people and places along the way, and that brings unexpected benefits. Total strangers take you into their confidence. People engage you, revealing themselves, sometimes with puzzling eccentricities and often with amazing stories. Moving from place to place one experiences the world in ways never imagined.

For a few weeks I ranged along the Colorado River, camping in many places while meeting a lot of interesting people. Most of the folks were ‘snowbirds’ who traveled south to escape the winter weather of their home towns in the mid-west and north-east. This is a lifestyle for tens of thousands of Americans, a fascinating subculture here in “the land of the free”. Needing to stay put for awhile I found a fine campsite, eight miles east Yuma, Arizona where I spent a month and a half.

With nearly three months on the road, I reflected on the progress of the journey. In southern Arizona the winters are mild by comparison to the sub-freezing days and sub-zero nights in Northern New Mexico, where I built the coach. That was a rugged and solitary undertaking in the out-of-doors, exposed to the elements in the Rocky Mountains.

I have to confess the task was far more difficult than I had anticipated. But that’s history now and the time I’ve been traveling with the Gypsywagen is roughly equal to the time that it took to build.

And what a gestalt this is. By contrast to the harsh realities of creating the GW, traveling and living in it grows more agreeable with every passing day. There’s a sense of “being at home” about this experience. Having the same place to rest my head every night plays in counterpoint to the ever-changing landscapes. Long ago, I learned that the destination of a journey is often be the jumping off point for an adventure, and you realize the journey was the price of admission… and adventure is beyond price. 

“We do not travel for pleasure, and I look upon it more as an occasion for spiritual testing. What gives value to travel is fear. It is the fact that at a certain moment, when we are far from our own country, we are seized by a vague fear and an instinctive desire to go back to the protection of what we know. At that moment we are feverish but also porous, so that the slightest stimuli makes us quiver to the depths of our being. It is then that we experience a fresh connection with the eternal.”  Albert Camus