are the escapees to blame?

Boondocking sunset Ajo Arizona

Another beautiful day today, I think the temperature managed to sneak up to 80° this afternoon before it started cooling off. That's one of the neat things about the desert no matter how hot it gets in the daytime the night still cools off enough to make sleeping comfortable. I can deal with being hot during the daytime, that's why living without an air conditioner doesn't bother me in the least, but I really hate trying to fall asleep at night in a pool of sweat.

Since I'm a member of the Escapees I noticed on the Internet last night that the Escapees are holding their annual Escapade in Tucson this week. Now I've never attended one of those humongous gatherings, and despite the fact that well over a thousand very nice friendly folks will be attending the event, I have no desire to do so since I try my best to avoid crowds not join them.

 The reason I mention this is I got to wondering if an event as large as the Escapees Escapade could help explain the crowds I've been dealing with this winter. It kinda makes sense to me that having the event in Tucson might have brought some RVers to southern Arizona this winter that normally would've gone somewhere else .

And since the Escapees, at least in the past, promoted boondocking maybe there's a higher percentage of boondocker's in the Escapees club and they would've put a heavier load on some of the boondocking areas in southern Arizona.

For instance when I boondocked at the VFW in Yuma and it became so packed with people that I was happy to leave, I looked back at a few pictures I took of the area at the time and figured it would take no more than 10 RVs to turn the VFW from comfortable to crowded. It was the same thing when I stayed at the Escapees RV Park in Casa Grande, 10 RVs would've made the difference between the boondocking area being almost full or almost empty.

So the point is there may be almost a thousand RVs attending the Escapees Escapade in Tucson, and it only takes a handful of RVs to overload a lot of RV parks and boondocking areas, so it's possible the location of the Escapade this year caused the crowding problems that I've been experiencing all winter. And if that's the case it won't end just because the Escapade is over next weekend. The attendees will scatter and a lot of them will be still staying in southern Arizona and southern New Mexico like I plan to do.

I'm hoping I'm right about the Escapees Escapade in Tucson this year causing the crowds I've faced this winter, because if that's true it will return to normal next year. But if I'm wrong that means this was the norm and the future looks bleak for a loner like me.

                       theboondork

This is what a rainy day in the desert is supposed to look like. The rain pours out of the clouds and evaporates before it ever hits the ground. But this winter hasn't been like that at all

A picture of my boondocking site with the Arctic Fox's awning out. I don't like to sit outside, and why should I, it's too hot, it's too cold, bugs are flying around, the winds blowing, and it attracts visitors, so the only reason I ever open it up is to shade the sunny side of the Arctic Fox.