Quartsite - So Much Fun...So Little Time

(Quartsite, Arizona) 56 degrees, clear blue skies

Sunset at Quartsite

Our week at Quartsite Arizona started with a spectacular sunset.  It is the best sunset we have seen in a long time and  right away we knew it was going to be a great week.  We had heard so much about Quartsite Arizona and planned to arrive in time for the "Main Event".  Thousands of RVers converge to participate in this event.  Most folks boondock (no hook ups) on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land.  It's free and so strange.  You just drive down the freeway, turn off the road, drive onto the desert, pick a place, and set up camp.  It's free for 14 days and the only downside is the dust.

We are continuing to travel with our friends J.C. & Bev and they encouraged us to stay out with the Boomers.  This is a chapter of Escapees, a club for RVers.  It's a fun group that put together their own activities during the event and camp in the same area each year.  Here is an example of some of the activities.  You can participate in any or all.  It only cost us $4 to join and is such a great deal!    Everyone was very friendly and welcoming. 

Monday, Jan 23

9 AM Walk
11 AM Smart Phones – fire pit
12 PM Artist Trading Cards – Time to Trade – fire pit
1 PM Military Campgrounds – fire pit
1 PM Women's Outing - tent
4 PM Happy Hour – fire pit
5 PM Potluck – fire pit
7 PM Burning Man Movie – rally 2011

Tuesday, Jan 24

9 AM Walk - tent
10:30 AM Personal Safety and Self Defense on the Road – Fire Pit
12:30 PM Artist Trading Cards – time to trade – fire pit
1 PM Tai Chi
1 PM Show and tell hobbies, art, crafts, marketing Etsy - firepit
3 PM Geraldine Fashion Show – fire pit – sign up sheet and info at tent
4 PM Happy Hour – Wine Tasting and Heavy Snacks
7 PM Aerial Photographs (Tom Doerr)


Wednesday, Jan 25

8 AM Pancakes - tent
8:30 AM Trash Run – tent
12:30 PM CARE Auction – Bring $$$$ and heavy hor d'oerves to share
2 PM Cast Iron "Dutch Oven" cooking and tasting – Pace's
4 PM Happy Hour – fire pit
6:45 PM RVing in Newfoundland – slide show (Joyce Space)

CARE Auction

 Most of these folks are experts at boondocking and many of them have solar panels.  J.C. and Bev continue to teach us ways to handle our generator, batteries, and how to conserve water. 

One day a large group of us went out to the The Desert Bar.  This solar powered bar is out in the middle of nowhere.  How the owner ever came up with this idea just amazed us.  It's only open on weekends and closes at dusk.  He obviously has good vision because it was very busy and the food was great and reasonable. 

The Desert Bar (note all the solar panels)

The "Main Event" is held in the town of Quartsite.  It was very busy with motorhomes driving in all directions.  Traffic is a bit nuts and finding a parking place took some negotiating.  This is J.C. and Bev's third visit to Quartsite and they were invaluable with helping us learn the ropes. 

It was difficult to photograph the tent area. The following pictures come from the Quartsite website.  The huge tent had every item a RVer would need and more.  Ringed around the tent area were lots of food booths, bead and rock shops, and lots and lots of flea markets.  It took us several days to see just a portion of everything.  We had a great time.  Bev and I especially liked shopping for beads.  I'm going to teach her how to make Christmas spiders. 



Big Tent

One day J.C. and Bev took us geocaching.  We were excited to try it.  Geocaching is an outdoor treasure hunting game. You try to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, using GPS and then log your experience online.  J.C.showed us an app on his phone that located a geocache that was hidden about a mile from our campsite.  Using his GPS we hiked out into the desert in search of treasure.  It was fun and after scrambling up and down a wash area we found it hidden at the base of a tree.  The treasures were inside a ammunition box.  We signed the register and J.C. added a small trinket.  Later on he registered on the website that we'd found it and this notifies the owner. It would be fun to try this again soon. 

We found it!

Our week at Quartsite went by quickly.  We enjoyed it much more than expected.  We will definitely return again in the future and encourage others to join the Boomers.  

We will be heading to Tucson for three weeks and volunteering with the NOMADS.  We said goodbye to our friends J.C. and Bev.  We will miss them very much but plan to get back together in a few weeks. Sniff, sniff, I miss Bev so much already. 

We'll close today with a spectacular sunrise.  This lifestyle sure has some great benefits. 

 

"I Speak For The Trees" Joshua Tree National Park

(Joshua Tree National Park, California) 55 degrees, blue skies

Joshua Tree (on right)

Dr. Seuss felt it was important to protect trees in the book “The Lorax”. We are so happy this National Park protects these beautiful Joshua Trees. They are a member of the yucca family and are spectacular. 

The park is huge and covers over 794,000 acres. There are lots of hiking trails and several visitor centers. There are even two deserts, the Mohave and Colorado. We were surprised by all the massive boulders piled up everywhere. It looked like a massive dump truck had emptied them all around the park in all shapes and sizes. 

Hidden Valley Trail

We are continuing to travel with our friends J.C. and Bev. Unfortunately, Bev did not get to see much of the park due to catching a very bad cold. There were a lot of folks at the Indio Rally that could not attend due to this mean bug. We hope she gets better soon!

J.C. and John had fun pointing at rocks and saying what they thought it might represent. The one below looked like a big Hershey Kiss, one of John’s favorite treats.

We hiked several trails (Hidden Valley, Barker Dam, Key View, and Skull Rock), all well marked. Getting out of the car and hiking the trails really gave us a completely different perspective of the park.

 

Skull Rock

J.C. & John

John at Key View Overlook

Barker's Dam

We stayed four nights at one of the campgrounds in the park called Black Rock. It is the only campground that can accommodate a big rig ($15/night or $7.50/night senior or access pass). There is water available for fill up at several places and a dump site, however, there are not any hook ups at your campsite. Although the views were spectacular, the road was in very bad shape and it took some very careful maneuvering to get into our sites. It was also very difficult to level our rigs.

J.C. and Bev and are teaching us how to boondock. This means camping without any hook ups (no electricity, sewer, or water). We have only tried this a few times and usually just for one or two nights.

They have given us lots of great tips to reduce the drain on our batteries. For example, keeping the water heater off until about 15 minutes prior to needing hot water. Another great tip is to turn off the invertor at night. Both of these items requires a lot of energy and quickly deplete your batteries. To recharge the battery you have to fire up the generator. It can be loud and annoying but essential if your batteries are getting low or when running big drain items like the microwave or hair dryer. J.C. and Bev have six solar panels that keep their generator usage to a minimum.  It's been very interesting learning more about boondocking and solar.  This lifestyle has a lot of interesting learning curves. 

Our rig from a distance

Our next stop is Quartsite Arizona, also known at the “Q”. We’ll be joining the Escapee’s Boomers group out in the desert for a few days of more boondocking and fun. This is a huge annual event where thousands of RV’s gather every January. Check back soon for all the details. We have heard so much about this event and are excited to be able to attend.