Annual Rant Against Over-crowded Southwestern Camping

It takes a lot of mental discipline to camp in the desert Southwest in the winter.  It is difficult to escape neighbors with generators.  Some of them specialize in door-slamming or loud music.

It helps to keep a sense of humor about one's own aversion to neighbors.  When I manage to get away from the hordes of moron-assholes, and feel pleased with my situation, it is only a matter of time before some vehicle is prowling around, looking for a spot close to me.   Did they see my white box from two miles away and then drive down the bumpy road just for the joy of ruining my camping?  What a look of pure malevolence must be on my face!

What part of "Get off my lawn!" do they not understand?  That is when I laugh at myself.  Most of the time the invaders are not as bad as I fear.  It helps to have a plan B if they do turn out to be professional assholes. 

From a big picture point of view, a dispersed camper has nothing to complain about.  It's just that you get so spoiled in summer that it is hard to adjust to the geographical compression that happens in southwestern North America.

There has been progress.  Modern inverter generators are a big improvement over the old-fashioned open-frame construction-site generators.  Solar panels have become cheaper.  LiFePo4 batteries are better than old-fashioned lead-acid batteries.  Controller electronics and battery managers have gotten better.  Lots of You Tube videos try to explain electricity to D-I-Y 'ers.  

I still hope for more businesses to pop up that do the installation for people.  Maybe loans should be made available to do the installation of solar panels.  Why not?  The triple-axis toy-hauler that just drove a mile out of its way to camp 50 yards from you is paid for by a loan.

So more progress is possible.  In the mean time, stay the hell off my lawn!