Checking in at Quartzsite

Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and celebrate the journey.

The big wind storm passed through Quartzsite on Thursday.   With the winds taking a break on Friday, the 136 mile drive was an easy one especially after we got out of the Phoenix area.  We actually didn’t get on our way until close to noon but we weren’t in any hurry.  The only plans we had were just to get settled.

Quartzsite hasn’t started to rock and roll yet with the big influx of RVs and people.  It will though in about four more weeks.  There are a few vendors and more and more keep coming in. The traffic isn’t bad yet but it will be.  The lines aren’t too bad either but they also will be soon.  It’s not that the town is empty.  It certainly is not.  It’s just not bulging at the seams yet.

Price of unleaded fuel in the Phoenix area averaged between $3.19 and about $3.24 a gallon. Gas isn’t that cheap in “Q”.  After all, it’s their high season and they want to pull in all the cash they can. The  price on Main Street in “Q”?  Well, two stations are selling it for $3.35.  Just down the street there is a Pilot Station at $3.23.  Obviously, that’s the place to stop.  A Love's is just around the corner but we haven’t checked that out yet.

After moving into our site and setting up, we drove the two short miles into the center of town. We were off to the Best Mexican Restaurant.  We had eaten at this restaurant several times in the past. However, the Mexican restaurant was no longer in business. In it’s place was Q-Town Café. The parking lot was packed and the people just kept coming. Menu prices were reasonable, service top notch and my barbecued ribs were some of the best I’d ever had.

Shopping with the vendors in town can be a fun experience.  You can find just about everything for sale.  However, the local stores start marking their products up about this time of year.  High season is short lived here..  Many of the businesses and even the RV parks close down during the summer months.  This is it.  They’ve got to make a profit.  That profit hopefully will see them through until the RVers start coming back again in the fall.

On the first Saturday of each month there is a huge craft fair in Quartzsite.  We wanted to check it out.  However, we also wanted to check out the breakfast offered at the park first.  You’ve got to admit that $3.00 is a great price for breakfast.  The park volunteers were cooking and it appeared as though everyone in the park was eating there.  The menu consisted of french toast, bacon, strawberries, orange jucie and coffee.  Not a bad deal for $3.00, huh?

Then, it was off to check out the craft fair.  We had seen lots of  spinners made from soda and beer cans but nothing like these.  I guess each year new ideas come out and some of the trinkets get better.  These were double spinners for $20 each or you could buy a quad one for $30.

We escaped the craft fair without bags of stuff.  Matter of fact, no purchases were made by us.

Here’s a new item to Quartzsite.  It’s the RV Caddy.  This little caddy has a dual purpose.  It can be used as an RV dump and also fill your fresh water tank.  There are two separate compartments in the caddy.  You can rent it from the vendor in town and do it yourself for $35 or you can have the vendor empty your tanks and fill you up with fresh water.  The price for that is $35 also.  It takes about a half hour to completely empty and fill your rig so the reason for the price appearing to be the same is that they figure you could do two RVs in that rental hour.

Saturday the winds started blowing again. It seems the storm that brought the big winds also had other winds behind it plus much cooler weather. We had planned on doing a few things but all we got in was a short ATV ride and a few vendor stalls. It was downright chilly!! 

Bring on the sun!!

'Tis just life on the road.