Quartzsite, Arizona

Last March we came through Quartzsite and to say I was unimpressed would be an understatement.  The BLM land assigned to short term camping was close to I-10 so you could hear the big trucks all day and all night.  Pay twenty-five cents per gallon for water, I remember when I was a kid when I wanted bought gas for my mini-bike that is what I paid per gallon for gas.  To fill my camper which holds fifty gallons of water would cost me $12.50 and I'm still not sure what it costs to empty my black and gray water tanks.  The town did not impress me much either.

This year we stopped at the short term camping area six miles south of town while checking in with the host he tells me that two weeks ago there were about 15 thousand people camping here!  Now it is down to a hundred or so.  Most of these were here for the camper show but there is also the flea market and rocks, lots of rocks for sale.

We found a good spot parking with the door facing southwest which turned out to be the direction of the prevailing winds so after I put my blue tarp skirting up we had a wind free spot to sit and enjoy the sunshine.  Nobody camping within a hundred yards of us but you can see where there must have been a lot of campers only a short time ago.  Something else I noticed is how clean the area is, kudos to all these campers for their clean up job when they departed.

The first couple days we spent in the flea market area walking all the booths.  Some prices seemed to be consistent with everyone else or is that another way of saying fixed?  Other items just seemed to be a bit expensive for a flea market.  This is not to say that you couldn't find a barging but it pays to shop around and if you are really in the market for a particular item take notes and try to remember  where the best buy is at.

Down the street from the short term area we noticed a small sign that simply said "music" and a arrow.  We followed the signs for a mile or two to Reds place where he converted his garage to a place where a few people from the RV park could play there guitars.  The musicians at times were joined by their wives some could sing very good others were a bit off key but much better than I could do for sure.  Music ranged from gospel to old time westerns.   At the intermission time they put out coffee, water, cookies and homemade cake and a donation can at the end of the table.  One of the musicians came up to us at the intermission and asked what us kids were doing there, he was right, we were the youngest ones in the room.  Today there were at least 80 people there and he told us some days there was standing room only inside, the garage doors were opened and people were outside in lawn chairs. 

We plan on spending a few more days here, the day time temperatures are hitting the low 70's but east of Phoenix temps are only in the mid 60's.

Tomorrow we will go to the Desert Inn just north of Parker.