Persephone
01-25-2013, 05:36 PM
“Out in the west Texas town of El Paso . . . “
Well, not exactly. Really a tiny town (population around 3,500) in the Mojave Desert of Arizona. In the month of January every year this small town changes; the population soars to around 200,000 people. And by March it’s back to a lazy tiny town.
So where do all these people stay? Especially in a town that has only one small motel? Well, in RV’s, thousands of ‘em, out on the desert in an area managed by the BLM (U. S. Bureau of Land Management). The ones who stay for a few months park in the “Long Term Visitors Area.” For a few bucks they get access to toilets (I’m not sure if they are flush or pit), a place to get water, and a place to dump sewerage.
But then there are those of us who are short term visitors, less than two weeks. We get free camping but absolutely nothing else – no porta-potties, no water, no sewer dump, no electricity, no nothing, just an area of pebbles and desert shrubs. If you didn’t bring it you seriously don’t have it. Our little share of the world is about 8 miles out of town along a dirt road and a stretch of pebbles.
But we show up every year. Why? Affinity groups, people with similar hobbies and interests who come from all over to get together with each other and to discuss their mutual love of whatever.
This year our group was about 300+. And despite some freezing temperatures we had fun. We huddled around campfires, had our classes, lectures, and demonstrations and had fun.
So what has this got to do with crossdressers.com and our CD/TG/TS community? That’s the funny part. You see, there are at least three of us in the group! Not members here necessarily, but CD/TG/TS’s none the less.
But wait, there’s more! One night we did manage to find a small restaurant in town and went to dinner with a TG/TS and her significant other. We had a great time and, as we were finishing up a member of the town government who was there stopped by to say “Hello” to our friends because they know each other. Yep, add one more to the CD/TG/TS community in the middle of noplace deep in the heart of the Mojave Desert. That’s more CD/TG/TS’s than I see in L.A. in a month or more!
After six days of really austere living my spouse and I were ready for a break. So we drove over to Mesa, AZ for a bit of R & R with some friends. En femme, of course.
We arrived, checked in to a very upscale RV park, hooked up (you get a lot of looks as a woman hooking up electric, water, and sewer lines), and headed out to dinner at Romano’s Macaroni Grille with our friends, two other women.
Afterwards, we went to one of my favorite places, Organ Stop Pizza in Mesa, AZ. They claim to have the world’s largest Wurlitzer theater organ, and if it ain’t the biggest I can tell you it sure is pretty damn close!
Although I have no other pictures from most of this, I do have a picture of the organ.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/sandylewiscares/OrganStopPizza1-2013.jpg
You may wonder why we went out to dinner first and then went to a pizza place. Our friend doesn’t like the pizza at Organ Stop. She doesn’t really like organ music either, but I was very insistent that I wasn’t missing a visit there. So we had drinks and ice cream and listened to two glorious sets on the mightly Wurlitzer.
The next day we met up and went off to a shopping mall together. We were there for a couple of hours and I scored a pair of brown suede shoes.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/sandylewiscares/BrownSuedeShoes.jpg
A long lunch and chit-chat at a small Mexican style restaurant and then we went our separate ways. The next morning we headed back out into the desert for another overnight and another dinner with our friends there.
Hugs,
Persephone.
Well, not exactly. Really a tiny town (population around 3,500) in the Mojave Desert of Arizona. In the month of January every year this small town changes; the population soars to around 200,000 people. And by March it’s back to a lazy tiny town.
So where do all these people stay? Especially in a town that has only one small motel? Well, in RV’s, thousands of ‘em, out on the desert in an area managed by the BLM (U. S. Bureau of Land Management). The ones who stay for a few months park in the “Long Term Visitors Area.” For a few bucks they get access to toilets (I’m not sure if they are flush or pit), a place to get water, and a place to dump sewerage.
But then there are those of us who are short term visitors, less than two weeks. We get free camping but absolutely nothing else – no porta-potties, no water, no sewer dump, no electricity, no nothing, just an area of pebbles and desert shrubs. If you didn’t bring it you seriously don’t have it. Our little share of the world is about 8 miles out of town along a dirt road and a stretch of pebbles.
But we show up every year. Why? Affinity groups, people with similar hobbies and interests who come from all over to get together with each other and to discuss their mutual love of whatever.
This year our group was about 300+. And despite some freezing temperatures we had fun. We huddled around campfires, had our classes, lectures, and demonstrations and had fun.
So what has this got to do with crossdressers.com and our CD/TG/TS community? That’s the funny part. You see, there are at least three of us in the group! Not members here necessarily, but CD/TG/TS’s none the less.
But wait, there’s more! One night we did manage to find a small restaurant in town and went to dinner with a TG/TS and her significant other. We had a great time and, as we were finishing up a member of the town government who was there stopped by to say “Hello” to our friends because they know each other. Yep, add one more to the CD/TG/TS community in the middle of noplace deep in the heart of the Mojave Desert. That’s more CD/TG/TS’s than I see in L.A. in a month or more!
After six days of really austere living my spouse and I were ready for a break. So we drove over to Mesa, AZ for a bit of R & R with some friends. En femme, of course.
We arrived, checked in to a very upscale RV park, hooked up (you get a lot of looks as a woman hooking up electric, water, and sewer lines), and headed out to dinner at Romano’s Macaroni Grille with our friends, two other women.
Afterwards, we went to one of my favorite places, Organ Stop Pizza in Mesa, AZ. They claim to have the world’s largest Wurlitzer theater organ, and if it ain’t the biggest I can tell you it sure is pretty damn close!
Although I have no other pictures from most of this, I do have a picture of the organ.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/sandylewiscares/OrganStopPizza1-2013.jpg
You may wonder why we went out to dinner first and then went to a pizza place. Our friend doesn’t like the pizza at Organ Stop. She doesn’t really like organ music either, but I was very insistent that I wasn’t missing a visit there. So we had drinks and ice cream and listened to two glorious sets on the mightly Wurlitzer.
The next day we met up and went off to a shopping mall together. We were there for a couple of hours and I scored a pair of brown suede shoes.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/sandylewiscares/BrownSuedeShoes.jpg
A long lunch and chit-chat at a small Mexican style restaurant and then we went our separate ways. The next morning we headed back out into the desert for another overnight and another dinner with our friends there.
Hugs,
Persephone.