Update: Winter in Quartzsite: A Season of Serving Others
VIDEO UPDATE: If you’re reading this in an email, you can click on the image above to go straight to the video.
In our last video we helped build a cabin at a new camp!
Hello Friends!
We’re excited to share a candid look at life in Quartzsite—a small desert town with a remarkable migratory population. As the seasons shift and the heat turns up, we reflect on our winter filled with hands-on service.
Life in Quartzsite:
Quartzsite is unlike anywhere else—home to fewer than 3,000 permanent residents, but in winter, it swells to nearly a million! That surge brings together a patchwork of campers, snowbirds, van-lifers, and folks looking for both adventure and refuge. We’re just south of town, living among this ever-changing tapestry.
Our days here are defined by the rhythm of desert life—and the unique needs and opportunities it presents. For those on limited incomes, the landscape offers affordable options, with Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land allowing months of affordable camping, if you’re willing to “dry camp” (no hookups or electricity!).
A Season of Service (and Stories!)
This year, our time in Quartzsite became a season of helping and serving, both neighbors and strangers. Some highlights:
Serving the Local Church: JD’s days are often filled with tech fixes, construction help, and even preaching on Sunday when needed, while Lia supports youth activities and a growing homeschool group.
Neighborly Support: From fixing a neighbor’s burst water pipe after a rare freeze to lending a hand with home repairs after a loss, we’ve continued to help those closest in proximity to us, our neighbors.
Lending a Hand to Travelers: We pitched in when The Weatherfords, a gospel-singing family, had a devastating bus breakdown. From mechanical repairs to heartfelt encouragement, it was as much about relationship as machinery.
Emergency Tractor Runs: When a donated generator took a tumble on the highway, or when a camper needed rescuing from a sandy wash, JD and our tractor sprang into action.
Supporting Those in Need: Many who find themselves in Quartzsite come out of necessity. We were privileged to help a van-lifer (and her not-quite-ready van), making her living space safer and more functional.
Daily Desert Life: The Realities of Bus Living
RV life isn’t always glamorous! Water runs out, monitoring holding tanks, laundromat (or generous neighbor washing machine), and managing solar power are part of our routine. But every challenge—big or small—reminds us why we live this life: to serve, to encourage, and to make memories together.
And, yes, sometimes that means only one shower a week!
Prayer Requests & Good News
- Wisdom in balancing requests for help—knowing when to say “yes” and when to take a breather.
- Continued functionality for our new bus AC as the temperatures climb! We plan to head home sometime in May
- Safe delivery for our dog, Daisy, who’s expecting puppies soon. If you’re in Minnesota and want a puppy, let us know!
Sneak Peek: Smattering of Fun
It’s not all work! Between the service projects, we’ve managed to squeeze in some family adventures—and we’ll leave you with a montage of those joys in our videos closing moments.
Thank you for journeying with us, supporting us, and being part of helping this community. If you have feedback or want to connect, reply to this email. We love hearing from you!
Until next time,
JD & Lia
The Renegade Life
SUPPORTER VIDEO PLAYLIST
If you’d like to catch up on our journey in the past, here is a playlist of all our supporter videos. It’s kinda fun to go back and see Gibson as a pudgy toddler, and Maverick was just a babe when we started our Renegade Life Journey!~
TELEGRAM
We encourage you to join our channel on Telegram, where we’ve been posting short updates between our monthly update videos. We also post urgent prayer requests there too. Download and find our channel at the following link: https://t.me/+-vH59gjLAfM5MThh
We love you guys, thanks for watching/reading and we’ll see you in the next video!
Lia & JD