RV Winters in the Southwest

Drive a few miles out of town and you will find free camping in lots of places. The desert landscape is everywhere. The desert in this area is ATV heaven. Just 25 miles east of Yuma on Hwy 8 is an area of sand dunes that will make an ATV'er salivate. Free camping, portable toilets, garbage bins and dunes to ride everywhere. These few simple amenities help to make the free camping experience go a little smoother.

While some rush to congregate with others we have always tended to gravitate to smaller RV areas or parks and find quality time, with a few people, versus a big social scene every day.  I am always struck when driving on the desert highways to see an RV parked all alone in the middle of the desert. Some solar panels, a generator, some water and a week of solitude can be a energizing experience. The quiet time to think is brilliant.

Yuma is certainly not the prettiest desert you will find but it does offer very dry weather. You don't find much cactus there. It seems to be more sand than desert versus areas like Mesa where cacti are everywhere in the desert.

The weather is harsh in the summer though as you can see driving the sun damaged roads full of cracks and hot tar heaves. Colors are a little less vibrant here as the sun bleaches all colors with a slight milky white effect.

Sun shades, sun screens, sun roofs, sun canopies and all manner of relief from the heat are visible everywhere. A harbinger of months to come. Soon the RV parks and houses will be mostly empty as the snowbirds retreat to escape the scorching heat of summer in the desert. Summer can be the reverse prison of the snow and cold of winter when the temperature reaches 110 - 120F. Instead of being housebound in the winter with the furnace running, you find yourself housebound with the air conditioner blasting.

The winds can really howl here. One night we thought our RV would be carried away.

At just a few hundred feet above sea level the area provides one of the warmest winter retreats in the western US. Interestingly we discovered that Palm Desert has virtually the same summer and winter temperatures as Yuma.

Palm Desert and Palm Springs, CA provide a different more upscale alternative to snow birding in Yuma,

Whichever your choice of locale, the absence of snow is a truly a welcome escape for this writer.