Travel Tuesdays: January in Quartzsite, AZ

Sunsets are often spectacular in Quartzsite. I'm told it's because of the dust in the air. Whatever!

 

Quartzsite, Arizona in January is a phenomenon. I suspect it is unique in the whole world. Where else would you find so many RV enthusiasts in one place? For over 30 years, upwards of a million people have annually flocked to this desert town during the month of January. Sunshine and warmer winter weather play a part, but the space to spread out plays an even larger part. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) owns miles of land around the town. Not just acres, miles. There are two types of areas where RVers can park. Dispersed camping areas are free to stay for 14 days, no services, just a place to park. The Long Term Visitors Areas (LTVA) is $40 for 14 days, or an annual permit for $180 lets you stay for seven months . Provided is garbage dumpsters, water stations, and dump stations. Some places have pit toilets, but many do not. 

Most often we park in the dispersed camping areas, although we did stay in an LTVA once. It’s a favorite way to gather in groups. Such places as “Mile Marker 99” a favorite meeting spot for Geocachers and Ham Radio aficionados. “Scadden Wash”, one of the first areas we stayed, is off the worst road I’ve seen yet. This is a ‘paved’ road where the old pavement is so broken and cracked that a rig like ours can only go about 3 miles an hour to prevent being shaken to pieces. Driving on the wide dirt edge is preferred. Clearly, it’s not on any road crew’s maintenance list. Our favorite place now is Plomosa Road, where 3 miles of camping on either side is occupied with different special interest groups. Some groups are as small as two or three, some as large as 200 or more. The Bureau has rangers who come from time to time and check to see that people have checked in with the Camp Host to register. It’s how they get their numbers and can allot resources. One year the Ranger came to the Boomers BOF group and spoke. He said the head count that year was 850,000 people. It boggles the mind because it doesn’t seem that crowded and it leaves you wondering how that many people can be so easily spread out around this small town of 3,000.

What attracts people other than all the space to gather with each other? This area is famous for its rocks. Everywhere you look there are rocks. This has drawn rock hounds from all over for years. The town has capitalized on that and has an annual rock show, where collectors can find not only local rocks, but ones imported from around the world. There are more rock shops in town than gas stations, grocery stores and restaurants put together! After the rock show, there is the Big Tent Outdoor Recreation and RV show. I hear that back in the day it was really something special. Still, it’s fun to see what all the vendors bring. Outside of the Big Tent, there are hundreds of vendors with all variety of goods scattered about town. This year seemed to have less people shopping, but more than I expected in the surrounding area. I think many people headed out to the desert for a safe and enjoyable place to maintain distance while still being able to socialize.  

We reserve a day to shop, but most of our time is spent with the RV groups that have gathered. We have three Escapee RV Club groups (BOF: Birds of a Feather)  that we belong to that meet off Plomosa Rd: Boondockers BOF, Boomers BOF, and Christian Fellowship BOF. Thankfully they are now all within an easy 1/2 mile walk of the Christian Fellowship group where we start out. 

A camp setup that got my attention! There are some great cooks in this group.

 Besides getting to know the other Christians in the group, we enjoy the daily message given by a retired pastor and the time of worship music prior to that. This year I led the worship for the Monday through Friday times as well as the church services on the Sunday before and after. I was thankful for Nancy on her guitar and Kathy singing along. We made a great team and their input was invaluable for choosing songs and praying together beforehand. We were dubbed “The Desert Trio”. I also shared my music after dinner one evening, and although I hesitate to call it a concert, it was well received and appreciated by the group. First I shared songs I had written, which didn’t take long. When I finished, their expectant faces looked for more, so I went on to play favorite worship music and invited them to join me in praise of our Lord, welcoming his presence. What a blessing to know that I am doing what the Lord is asking of me, even if I feel only minimally qualified! He is so good to take what I have to offer and magnify it for his glory.  

The Christian Flag flying in the sunset. 

Travel Tuesday: Quarzsite

    Quartzsite is a unique place. Because of all the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land surrounding it, there is lots of space for RVers to meet up. And meet up they do! In droves! Bunches here, circled wagons there. The Escapees RV Club have several smaller groups called BOF (Birds of a Feather), and this year the Boomers moved to Plamosa Rd where several other Escapee groups meet. This made it easier for us to stay put and visit other groups nearby. This year we decided to meet up with the Christian Fellowship BOF for the first time. But we were also within walking distance of the Boondocker BOF as well as the Boomers BOF. Solos BOF were next to us and we had some fun inviting them to a biscuits and gravy breakfast with a raffle and concert following. We also had a fundraising auction where everything was wrapped and there were only obscure clues as to what you were bidding on. There was a lot of hilarity and it was fun to anticipate what the clues might point to.
     We really enjoyed getting to know many in the group, having potlucks and starting the day with Worship and Bible teaching. It was a treat to have Barb Maxey there for the worship and also a concert. Nancy (on guitar) and I on keyboard got to play with her for worship and that was great fun. She's very encouraging, so instead of feeling intimidated, I learned and grew in my abilities to follow and fill in. Love that!
      We then moved over to Boomerville where I taught another class on Foods That Heal. It got scheduled late, so there were only six, but a perfect size to fit inside the rig out of the wind and cold. I might just keep to small classes since it was easier for me than hauling all my stuff outside.
       Next we moved over for a few days with our Boondocker friends and enjoyed catching up with a few friends we hadn't seen for awhile.

Barb Maxey doing her concert.

My quickly seen recycled jeans leg bag for the auction.

Fabulous Quartzsite sunrise!

Boomerville gets busy

  We left Ehrenberg for Quartzsite on Jan 15th, arriving in Boomerville held at Scaddan Wash. There were a number of rigs already here even though it hadn't officially started. We were #34. It was great fun to be reunited with friends made last year and to meet new ones. Last year there was a total of about 110 or 120 rigs coming and going during the 2 weeks. This year by the official start date we already had nearly that many! The word has gotten out that this is a fun place to be.

   We are only a few days into the activities and already the schedule is filling up. Since I was here early, I was able to get my "The Why and How of Veggie Ferments" class done right away. It was well attended and well received. I enjoyed the feedback and sharing the fermented foods I love so much and have done so much to improve my health and energy. I have had several people express disappointment in missing the class because of something else they were doing, so I may have to see if I can find time on the schedule to do a repeat.
   I have enjoyed a few nights around the campfire and have played my tenor recorder to an appreciative audience. Last night I was able to join in with some ukulele players and we made music together! It's always fun to find other musicians. I anticipate more musical fun.
   We braved the crowds and went in to the Big Tent RV Show today briefly and met a few people we knew. We saw lots of interesting things and bought 4 postcards! Then we got groceries and made it back in time for the announcements at Happy Hour.
   This evening there was a presentation on RV travel in Europe by a guy who takes 6 - 8 small rigs (they call them Caravans in Europe) on tour in several places in Europe. The pictures were beautiful and it made me want to do that. What a fun way to do any European country!

Boomerville and Seahawks

Jerry’s Posting 1-24-15

Demo of emergency exit.

Mac the Fire Guy demonstrating the best way to use fire extinguishers

Day 9 in Quartzsite:
    The week of the RV Show in Quartzsite is very much like "Sturgis for RVers". The population of the town is normally 3,600 but according to the BLM Ranger there are about 850,000 people here during this event! We went to the Big Tent, which has about 300 vendor booths hawking all kinds of RV and non-RV stuff. And yes, we did actually find some cool stuff to buy, including 3 hats, a flagpole system for the RV, some neat-o stretchy lids/covers for kitchen use, and more. There are also hundreds of additional vendors, bars, and temporary stores set up for blocks around (we've probably only walked around half of it). I installed the flagpole on the motorhome (see the pics) and we've got the 2 pennants flying that Linda made. We've also seen a variety of flying machines cruise by, including a dirigible, ultra-lights, and "what-is-that”s.
     Mac the Fire Guy: He came by and put on the "Fire Safety for RVers" class that he teaches. Very informative, covered everything from pros/cons of types of extinguishers, live demos with audience volunteers extinguishing fires (see pics), to demos of volunteers climbing out the escape-window of an RV. Thanks to him, we went home and opened our escape window for the first time to check it out. 

    Last night was the Karaoke and Dance Party by the Boomer Fire Pit. Three hours of Rock n Roll and fun times which included a Conga line, the Chicken Dance, the Hokey Pokey, the Macarena etc. In the pic they're doing the "Y" of YMCA, and Linda is just left of the lady in blue. Not Karaoke solos per se, but multiple-mike singing, so even I was willing to add some bass-line (hope no one did any sound recordings). A few of the couples were impressively good dancers. I think a lot of Ibuprofin is being consumed today by those re-living their teen years.
    By the way, I DID watch the NFC Championship game last weekend. I drove to a sportsbar in a nearby town with 80" screens. When I got there, some Seahawk fans from California saw my "12" shirt and invited me to join them (we took the pic after the Seahawks won). A lot of dejected Packers fans in the place, lol.

           

On to Quartzsite

The white dots are hundreds of RVs camped.

Our first glimpse of RVs parked in the desert en masse.

Jerry: I was a little sad to leave the AGM boondocking area, as I've grown to love it here, but the next event is about to start. Every year at this time, Quartzsite Arizona is host to "the world's largest gathering of RVs and RVers". There are numerous events there, but the main RV draw is the Sports, Vacation, and RV Show (Jan 17-25 this year). So we pulled up jacks and hit the road again, leaving California behind and heading into Arizona. Linda drove the truck to do some shopping in Yuma, and I drove the motorhome to Yuma also, with the mission of finding a place to dump tanks, get water and gas. Avoiding the Chevron that charges $20 to dump (robbery), I find a 76 station where it's free. I pull in behind an older motorhome with a Michigan license plate saying "WWII Vet" and strike up a conversation with this older gent. He turns out to be a very nice guy and says he and his wife have been snowbirding to the southwest for 20 years. I tell him I'm on my first snowbird trip and he gives me some good tips, including a free place to stay in Yuma that he uses. The fellowship among RVers, particularly in the southwest, is a real bonus to the lifestyle.      So we hitch the truck back up, and head north on 95 toward Quartzsite. On the way north, everyone is required to stop at a Border Patrol checkpoint. They inquire if it's just the two of us and then wave us on (guess we don't look the type to be transporting illegals). We are now seeing large Saguaro cactus and you know you're REALLY in Arizona now. 

Sunset in "Boomerville"

First night of "Boomerville", catching the sunset.

     Getting close to Quartzsite, we start getting views of hundreds and thousands of RVs spread out over the desert! It's pretty amazing! (in the first pic, all those white objects are RVs). We eventually leave the pavement and drive down a dirt road to join our group of Boomers that will be 50-100 RVs. We get parked and set up in time to notice an AMAZING sunset and I go up on the roof to tilt two of my solar panels up and take pictures while I'm up there.