Boondocking with other people around

Hi All - I'll be retiring in January and will be doing some boondocking. Plan on spending at least a month at Quartzsite, then maybe move to another location in the southwest for another couple of weeks to a month. My question is where, besides Quartzsite, can we boondock for free, yet still have SOME people around? My wife is all about the boondocking, just not complete desolation. We are not going to have a ton of money for our travel, so the idea is to spend the money getting there, not on campgrounds. I appreciate any feedback.