Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century

by Jessica Bruder

So far as tribes go, there are dozens of desert “rallies”: gatherings of RV clubs whose members share common traits. Some of these organizations are age-based. One of them, called Boomers, is for members of the postwar generation, though so many RVers fit that profile, it almost seems beside the point to have a club. Other groups, including Xscapers and NuRVers, target a slightly younger demographic—the giveaway is the erratic spelling and capitalization, a dot-com-era dog whistle. There are additional sects for fishermen (the Roving Rods), disaster relief volunteers (the DOVES), and gays and lesbians (Rainbow RV, with no relation to the traveling kids called “Rainbows”). There are singles clubs including the Wandering Individuals Network, SOLOS, and Loners on Wheels, the last of which has very strict rules. “If there’s any hanky-panky, you get kicked out,” one member told The Victoria Advocate, a Texas newspaper. The Loners’ credo instructs everyone to “conduct yourself as a mingling single” and states that “members of the opposite gender, not blood related, must not occupy the same camping unit.” There’s even a dedicated group in the desert for nudists. A seventy-five-acre zone at the southern edge of the long-term visitors’ area, called The Magic Circle, is surrounded with posters reading “ATTENTION: BEYOND THIS POINT YOU MAY ENCOUNTER NUDE SUNBATHERS.” (Quartzsite denizens have jokingly referred to it online as “wrinkle city” and “floppy and saggy town.”) Other camps a...