So, on the eve of our 20th year of Steam Crow, we’re excited/terrified/happy to announce that we’ve purchased 20 acres of land in SE Arizona to establish a new homestead and base for the Monster Rangers called “Camp Monstro!”
KINDA CRAZY
Sure, we know that.
But, we’re ready for a change, and for the ultimate form of the Monster Rangers; a permanent desert outpost HQ and art studio.
Some video of the Chiricahua National Monument from our land in Portal, Arizona
WHY?
We’ve always dreamed of making our own weird low-fi theme park, and this is our chance.
We love camping with our community, but we need to make it easier to do so. It’ll take tons of work to get there, but once we’ve got permanent Cabins and Firepits and Doomwood Derby Tracks and our Supply Depot (Store) setup… it’ll be a LOT LESS effort for us, and we can focus on being gracious hosts.
Things change. AI art is here, and it’s not making things better or easier for us. We’re feeling a shift in our bellies, which tells us it’s time to make a shift ourselves.
Phoenix is becoming less sustainable for us, as artists. Costs rise, but income hasn’t. We want to put ourselves in a position of stability.
The region - the Chiricahua National Monument - is simply amazing. It’s epic, and beautiful, and is the opposite of a grimy grimdark city; it’s what we need.
Magnus Peak; view from our actual plot of land.
WHERE
It’s an unincorporated area called “Portal” in Cochise County, about 2.5 hrs from Tucson, and 4.5 hrs from Phoenix. It’s very nearly in New Mexico, and we actually cross into NM to get into the property.
Portal is 10-20 degrees cooler than Phoenix, and gets more rain. It has four seasons, and gets a little bit of snow in the winter.
The elevation is 5400-5600 ft, which explains why; Phoenix is around 1000 ft elevation.
The ground is hard and rocky, much like this mountain that we can gaze at right from our land.
Something strange must live there, right? RIGHT!?
WHAT
We hope to do a bunch of things over the next several years.
Keep Steam Crow and the Monster Rangers going
Move the business into 2 shipping containers
Travel less, do far less shows and events
Do more Kickstarters
Focus on online sales and video content
Establish a superadobe (earthbag) homestead
We’ll be working on this as soon as we get Steam Crow moved
Walled garden
Tiny home domes for kitchen, bath, bedroom, etc.
Build a variety of Camp Monstro structures
Community bathroom/showers
A ramada to escape the sun
Themed super adobecabins for Rangers (and other folks) to rent
One for each branch - Dark Librarian Library? Skull Ranger Chapel?
Goblin Post Office
Cargo Tiger Depot
Rangers Great Hall & Gaming Room
Doomwood Derby Track
Storefront and camping checkin
Totem pole and amusing camp signage
Art sculptures hidden throughout
Places for ceremonies
Weird places for visitors to discover
WHEN
Well, we’re working on it right now.
We’ve been trying to figure out how to move our business (to where)
Figure out where/how we’re going to live while we’re hand building an adobe domed house
We’re selling our house in Peoria, AZ - using the equity to fund our build
We’re selling our screen press - Dawna is done printing t-shirts
We’ll be down grading our “stuff”, selling a bunch of our collections
ENDPLATE
While we are a little terrified to shake up our lives once again, the time feels right to try to make a change. We need to get back into a routine… a rhythm, something that we’ve not really been able to do for more than a couple of months at a time.
We love the area, and the Chiricahua mountains make an epic backdrop to this crazy Monster Rangers Desert Outpost that we’re imagining.
We just all… have to be patient. If you don’t have a lot of money (we don’t), it’s going to take a lot of time and effort and tons of sweat equity.
But… we’ll get there, eventually.
Thank you for your thoughts and support! CAW!
- Daniel x Dawna x Oni