Weeks 3 + 4!
More cacti, new friends, and the first attempt at silversmithing on the road ⚒️
As I write this, I’m sitting at the table in my camper with a dog to my right and a coffee in hand. We’re finally in a routine of staying in one place for a week, and we just moved to a new spot that is oh-so-gorgeous (more on this location in another letter, sorry for the tease). We’ve been traveling a bunch up until this point, so slowing down has been a welcomed change. That being said, this letter is a little all over the place because we were *literally* all over the place — enjoy 🙃
First stop: Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
Last letter we were still in Tucson, Arizona hanging with the Saguaros. This letter, we’re hanging with the Organ Pipe Cacti —
We spent several days in the Sonoran Desert, traveling into the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument to see the sights of this incredible nature preserve. The Organ Pipe Cacti are a sight in themselves, but the biodiversity & landscape of this monument is where the jaw drops (photos really don’t do it justice).
We spent a few days in this area relaxing & working before we headed east to Quartzsite, Arizona.
Why Quartzsite? The dinkiest, weirdest little town in the middle of nowhere?
The Truck Camper Adventure Rally
A get together of 400 truck campers for a 3 day event. You probably have questions, so let me answer the two top of mind:
Truck Camper Adventure is a magazine that hosted the rally
Yes, we were the only people attending under 50 years old
As someone who is not personally interested in the ins and outs of truck mechanics, I spent most of my time at the rally cataloguing stones from the Tucson gem shows and working through the kinks of my studio set up. My partner on the other hand spent 3 days straight talking with people about Bruce (our truck / camper combo), coming up with ideas for Bruce 2.0 (10 years down the road), and learning all about the modifications others have done to their rigs.
We met a lot of people and got a lot of advice from folks who have been living full-time or for extended periods in their truck campers for 10+ years. It was a quirky event, but it filled my partner’s cup to the brim and I was happy to make some friends (even if they were my grandparent’s age).
Plus — Bruce won top rig! You can check out the article from Truck Camper Adventure on Bruce here.
Whitewater Preserve
After the rally we had some errands to do and parts to pick up in California (I won’t bore you with the details) but we ended up at the Whitewater Preserve in the San Bernardino Mountains to camp. It is a beautiful spot, privately owned & operated, and is entirely donation based. It’s run by the Wildlands Conservancy, a nonprofit that preserves important landscapes and opens them to the public. They have 23 locations and counting that they’ve set up for public access in California and Oregon! You can find more about them here.
We stayed at the preserve for 3 days, long enough for me to set up my studio and silversmith. This was my first true test of silversmithing on the road — I did a little bit of smithing at the truck camper rally, but this was the first time I had hours to sit and work.
The first round of stones and designs were planned for the first MEA collection on the road, bezels were made, and backplates were traced. The process from start to finish for a piece is a long one, and learning the ins and outs of making outdoors has slowed down the process. But all in all it felt amazing to be making again! + the view was pretty incredible 😍
The biggest challenge so far: wind. I’ll need to make a wind barrier pretty soon, but for now I’m hiding behind the truck to solder and checking the weather religiously. 🌪
Aside from silversmithing, our time here was spent hiking with the dogs. They still have some learning to do when it comes to staying away from the pokey plants, but they had a blast & got to take a dip in the creek. Sacha promptly got cold (while swimming) and Sadie had to roll in the sand (& was dipped back in the water).
All in all these two weeks were really fun, but both my partner and I were ready to slow down a bit by the end!
Next letter:
We get caught in a wind storm, get snow in Joshua Tree, and have our first full week of one location! 🌪❄️☀️
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As always, thanks for reading. Talk soon —
(Psst — take a look at the P.S. below!)
P.S.
I just released 25 one-of-a-kind ceramic and sterling silver pieces on meghanelisabethart.com! I made these pieces prior to leaving in the camper, but was finally able to get them ready and uploaded into the shop. Bonus? Each piece comes with a polaroid from our travels! Here’s the link if you’re interested in checking it out: click here.
