Let It Begin

Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.

Let what begin?  Well, it’s the time of year that snowbird reunions are set up all over the south as more and more retirees return to the desert to get reunited with friends they’ve met in the past and to meet new ones.  It was no different for us.

As mentioned before, it took a while but Sandie and I finally picked out what we thought was the perfect spot to set up.  And, that we did.  Along came Denise and joined us.   Next we knew Barbara and Katy from Me and My Dog stopped by for a nice chat.   In the meantime we’ve also discovered one of our friends broke her wrist so we don’t know if we’ll be able to see her but certainly hoping we do.  Another friend has decided to go back to work and yet another, decided to hang around Phoenix a little longer.  Changes sure do happen as we also have another friend of a friend joining us.  Whee!  That’s a lot of changes.  Thank goodness none of their travels are written in ink as there would be real problems.

Jim and Terry decided to undertake a great task.  The task was putting together a wind shelter.  This is definitely a work in progress thing.  The local K & B Tools in Quartzsite put together the pieces for us including the perfect size of everything.  Well, it wasn’t the perfect size of everything.  Jim had to get out his trusty little Dewalt Reciprocating Saw and make some adjustments.  Hmmmmm… we saw one just like that at our son’s Lee’s house.  I wonder how long it will be now before Terry decides he has to have one since others have one.  I bet not long.  (Update:  Even before I posted this Terry has already commented that he was going to get himself one!!)

Then, to top it off we also discovered that the 10’ tarps that were sold to us weren’t really 10’.  Yes, that did make a huge difference because it meant they were too short to fit the sides.  Once that was discovered …. they figured it was enough work for one day.   They would finish it another day.  And, so the day went.  Before we knew it nap time rolled around, dinner time and bedtime. 

When the sun goes down around here it gets downright chilly but during the daytime, it’s also downright gorgeous.  Isn’t that what this is all about?

Happy New Year to everyone. 

‘Tis life on the road.

Quartzsite - An RV’ers Winter Haven

 The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.

Now why would Quartzsite be a haven to anyone for anything?  After all, it’s a very small town smack dab in the middle of the desert.  There isn’t a lot there.  Well, there isn’t a lot there until winter time and especially during the month of January.  This little town certainly comes alive.  It becomes a mecca for Rv’ers and vendors.  This dead little town really starts popping.  RVs show up from all over the globe and just behind them come hundreds of vendors with their wares.

Photo borrowed from Jim and Sandie

We have arrived and even better than that some of our friends are starting to arrive too. Temperatures are in the 70’s and only good weather predicted for the next ten days or so.  Again, we hope the weatherman is right on. 

Jim and Sandie showed up on Thursday after numerous problems with their RV getting out of Apache Junction.  They were supposed to arrive on Tuesday but the propane switch broke.  They were supposed to arrive on Wednesday but the 5th wheel came crashing down on the truck bed and on their generator at departure.  They did arrive on Thursday after finding a new generator.  And,  they  made it safely.

We  drove around the BLM looking for the perfect spot to hide.  We found it.  We hope we found it, I mean .  Jim backed their 5th wheel into place and Denise (another RV’er) parked on the other side of the rocks already built for a campfire.  Actually, we were trying to mark our territory.  After all, over the next month, we’ll have about 17 or 18 other rigs pull in and out of our little circle.  Thus, we need to mark our territory so others will have space when they arrive.

Borrowed from Good Sam

Another group we're going to gather with will have another 15 or so rigs so it's definitely going to be a big time in the little town.

We’re here.  If you’re around, let us know so we can get acquainted.  It’s a big desert out there and it’s so much more fun to meet others who are also close to where we are.  Let the socializing begin!!  Actually, it already has and I'm so tuckered out tonight that I can't think of a thing more to add to this even though I have a few pictures from today but that's got to be next time.

‘Tis life on the road.

Portland to Quartzsite and Christmas Quilt

"Why do we park on driveways and drive on parkways?

Our last night was spent at Tammi’s house.  Her place meant that we’d have about 30 miles less to travel on our way south back to Quartzsite.  At 6:15 it was still dark when we finally pulled out.  I say finally because we had a lot of “stuff” to take back.  Our car was loaded and I certainly do mean loaded.  Traffic was light but we were very thankful for that because it was also very foggy.  The fog stuck with us almost all the way to the California border.  We had our moments without the fog but they were very few moments.

Oregon fog

By the time we climbed up and over the summit of the Siskiyou mountains, the skies had cleared and the fog disappeared.  We actually got to see some blue skies.  We also got to see a little ice and a little snow.   Well, the snow was very sparse and in patches on the side.  The ice was in the middle of the road with tracks on each side of it.  In other words, it was a perfect winter day to travel through the mountains.

Our original destination for the night was Stockton, California.  However, we didn’t stop there.  We trudged on to exit 407 and spent the night at the Santa Nella / Los Banos exit.  This was the same place we had stayed on our way south in the motorhome.  Only then, it wasn’t the first night on the trip.  It was the second night.  We traveled 710 miles on Monday.  Obviously, we were a tad bit tired.

During the drive I tried to think just how many times I had made this drive through California from Washington state.  All I can tell you is in order to count the trips through this state, it would take more than my fingers and toes and more than Terry’s too.  Uncle Sam moved my dad from Texas to Washington during WWII.  Thus, we made numerous trips to visit his family over the years.  Terry’s family lives in Arizona so we made many more trips down to see them.  Next, Disneyland sits in Los Angeles and we’ve visited there a few times too.  The road hasn’t remained the same and some of those trips were before I-5 came about.  When we first made the trip it was one lane of traffic going in each direction.  Now that was a long time ago.  It has definitely improved.

.

 Blue skies & Mt. Shasta

Speaking of roads  --  when we made the trip in the motorhome in October, I posted about the bumpy parts on the I-5.  When it’s bumpy, it’s really bumpy.  When it’s smooth, it’s really smooth.   It wasn’t long after that I read another blog mentioning how smooth it was.  Needless to say, I was pretty tuned into the roads on this trip.  Was it smooth or was it bumpy?  Part of that depends on what lane you traveled in. 

Obviously, you can’t judge the northbound lanes from the southbound lanes but we were both going south.   I-5 is certainly much better than it was in previous years.  It has miles and miles of beautiful newly paved roads.  However, it still has some mighty bumpy parts too.  The area around Stockton certainly needs a lot of work. We just bounced through that big town.   Many sections underneath the overpasses have not been repaired and parts in central California have been missed too.  In some places the chop was so bad that even the trucks were riding in the left hand lane to avoid it.  You could say we were both right.  It is smooth and it isn’t but it is definitely better than it used to be.  We hit the worst part of it just south of exit 307.  Maybe even that will be finished the next time we travel through.

Buggy windshield view. Even trucks opted to drive in the left hand lane to avoid the bumping.  Notice how foggy it was in this part of California too.

We know many RV’ers heading to Arizona for the winter prefer to cross over at Tehachapi instead of the Grapevine   Tehachapi seems to go on forever and have steeper climbs in our opinion.  It’s a preference. Perhaps, they are similar or perhaps it’s because we’ve done the Grapevine more but that’s the mountain pass we prefer to go over in Southern California.  However, without a doubt, the Grapevine has a lot more traffic.  That road also needs a lot of work.  The main work they need is in painting the lines.  As you head to the LA area heading south, you can tell that the lanes have been moved around a bit.  Some of the old paint remains.  At times it’s hard to tell where the lanes really are supposed to be.  However, if you just stick on the truck bypass, it’ll keep you in the lanes you need to be in as you get closer to the 210 exit and avoid the confusion of lanes.

This was a short day of driving compared to the day before.  It was only about 515 miles.  When we went through this area on our way north for the holidays we had scheduled four stops for Christmas shopping.  One was at Winco – dog treats for Duchess.  The second was at the Cabazon Outlets for a quick visit to the Brighton outlet and the Crabtree and Evelyn Outlet.  After that we headed directly for the Ghirardelli outlet.  This time we had no malls and no shopping to do.  We were heading for “Q”..

Were we tired?  You bet we were but the car still needed to be unloaded on arrival and we had four loads of wash  to do and put away.  Duchess was beat.  All she wanted to do was go to sleep and that she did.

--------------------------------

Before we left for the holidays, I mentioned I had all these sewing projects to do and my machine had been in the shop for 3 weeks.  As it turned out, I only got to finish one.  This is the one I finished.  It was a lap quilt for Lee and Sabrina because Justin wouldn’t be with us.  This was for them and I still have the one for Tammi to do.

Picture of Justin scanned and printed  on washable fabric for quilt.	Due to embroidery problems with machine, I had to keep buying more and more fabric to finish but this is it.

‘Tis life on the road.

BLM Trails and Arizona Sunriders

How can a society that exists on instant mashed potatoes, packaged cake mixes, frozen dinners and instant cameras teach patience to its young?

Saturday was another perfect day in the weather department.  It was pretty good in other areas too.  Saturday is the day that breakfast is served in the clubhouse.  What a breakfast it was!!  For $3.00 we were served a very large and delicious breakfast.  It started with two cooked-to-order eggs, hash browns, a huge piece of ham, biscuits (gravy if wanted), orange juice and coffee.  Now that was one heck of a deal!

 

Check out this  ATV loaded on top of the truck.  I had to ask how he did that.  He winched it up.  They do have ramps but winching is safer going up.  Sometimes he drives it down.  Ugh!   That looks like an accident just waiting to happen but I’m sure he knows what he’s doing.  At least I hope he does.

This was also the day that the park was having a yard sale.  Those folks who had items to sell put up a table with their goods.  So, after breakfast we walked through the park and checked out everything for sale.  Nothing really jumped out at us so all we took back to our RV was the breakfast we’d eaten in the clubhouse.  Well, we did walk some of it off.

It was such a nice day that after the yard sale we decided to take a ride.  We were going to check out some more trails around the Kofa National Wildlife Area south of “Q”.   Even Duchess went with us.

We stopped about 30 miles down the road for a little snack --- corn dog and fried mushrooms.  Corn dog was good but we had to toss the mushrooms out.

Later in the day we made another trip to see if any new vendors had shown up on the main drag.  There were a few.  We also saw a few interesting sights.  The thing in “Q” is that you never know what to expect or what you might see.  Check out the donkey and the bull in the picture below.  Evidently, it’s a show (Cutler’s Donkey and Bull Show). The show can be seen in Blythe.  The donkey and bull are driven around in a van as advertising.  It worked because everyone gawked.  Look what’s hanging out each window …. a miniature bull on one side and a miniature donkey on the other – Rowdy and Barney.

Then, we saw this.

The sign next to the tub indicates they are proctologists and are offering their service to the RV crowd.  Do you know what that is?  Well, according to Wikipedia proctologists ….” deal with disorders of rectum, anus and colon.”  I know … this is absolutely everything you didn’t need to know.  However, the proctologists around “Q” (and there are several) deal with cleaning and flushing out the black water tanks in RVs.  I’m not sure why they used the guy in the tub as their symbol unless it was just to get attention.  Attention gets business but not sure about what qualifications are required to use that title.  Is a degree offered in RV proctology? 

In the evening we walked back to the clubhouse to listen to the Skyhawks.  They had been at the music jam we attended on Monday but not as a group.  We really enjoyed them on Monday.  Thus, we thought we’d go listen again. This is a very small clubhouse.  Without really thinking we sat right in front of the drums. It was my fault.  They have a fantastic drummer but in a room this size where all the music flows into one sound system, it wasn’t a good place to sit.  All we could really hear were the drums.  After a few songs, we moved across the room.  We still had trouble hearing the vocals over the drum as did the others.  The mike was adjusted a little but not enough to make it really happen.  Oh well, we used their break to really make a break.   That’s about the time we noticed that they were collecting a fee ---- $6 each.  We didn’t know that and didn't have any money with us.  Oops … I wonder if it was a donation.  Nothing was listed on the calendar about a fee.

Since we were only there for half of it, should our fee be half or $3?  Then, since we only heard half of them, should our fee be half of the half or $1.50?  Either way, I guess we owe something.  Maybe we’ll square up at the office today … maybe we’ll ask.

Fantastic musicians but poor acoustics.  We would definitely listen again if they were located in another setting or if only the vocals had mikes. 

There really is a lot going on at this park.  What a difference it is compared to the Arizonian we stayed at for a month in Gold Canyon.   Monday another meeting was scheduled in the club house that we wanted to attend.  This one was by the Arizona SunRiders ATV Club.  Since we were here and the meeting was here, why not attend?

The meeting was really interesting.  The "discussion" with the head of the Western Arizona BLM region really got hammered with questions and concerns.  We have not been involved with what has happened in the past. We weren’t even aware of it.   From the meeting it seems that some of the BLM has been closed to motorcycle riders, ATV riders, geocachers and boondockers with more areas on the chopping block in the future.  Thousands of people in numerous clubs have come together to try to  convince the BLM to keep the areas open for public use.   The decision to open or close BLM areas is not just for the Arizona area but for BLMs all over the country.  You can imagine that at times the meeting got a little heated.

See our new yellow and green ATV hats.  It's not that we wear ball caps but we liked them.  They matched our green and yellow ATVs.

'Tis life on the road.

Entertaining Ourselves

When you realize you've made a mistake, make amends immediately. 

It's easier to eat crow while it's still warm

Once we got the chill of the morning on Friday past us, it was a beautiful day.  The sun was out and there was ever so slight a breeze.  It was close to a perfect winter day in the desert.

I had mentioned in my last blog that there were two things going on at this park that I wanted to go to but they were both on the calendar for the same time and in the same place.   As it turned out, we didn't really do either.   First of all, I wanted to check out the beading that was scheduled for 10:00.  Then, we both wanted to play cribbage with the group.  We used to play cribbage but it had been a long time ago so we thought we would go and re-learn how to play. As it turned out there were only two ladies beading and no one was playing cribbage.  Oh, the cribbage board was there and we were told to play.  Huh?  We don't remember how.  Even the person in charge wasn’t there ….. so back to the motorhome to entertain ourselves.

We rarely have a problem entertaining ourselves though.  We’re pretty good at that.  Instead of playing cribbage or watching them bead, we loaded our ATVs on the trailer and headed to the BLM to ride. 

 

The BLM is only a short 4 or 5 miles from where we are currently parked.  Once unloaded and after my video camera was connected, we headed due east through the area.  The pictures on this blog are just screen shots from the video. There are so many trails and so many places to explore out there.  The BLM actually has a map of trails in the area.   This was just a scouting trip but next time we go we'll pick up a map since we'll probably do a bit of riding between now and February.

We did stop and say “hello” to our friends, Dave and Millie.  However, our timing wasn’t really too good.  They had been napping and we came a knocking.  Oops …. sorry, Dave.  Hope you were able to continue your zzzzzs after we left.

We also weren't the only one out riding.  We passed a couple others on the trails and more yet closer to the campsites.  Needless to say, we were a tad dusty when we returned.  It's also amazing how tired you can be from just taking a ride but we were.

Quartzsite has it's own yacht club.  We hadn't eaten there yet so decided to give it a try.  It only seemed fitting that if we were eating at a yacht club we should have fish.  That, we did.  Their fish and chips were only $6.99 and pretty darn good.

Terry’s getting a little antsy to get on the road north.  I’m  holding him back with a tether.  Not so sure when we’ll depart but we’re still watching weather.  There is definitely snow in that forecast.

‘Tis just life on the road.

Snow for the Road Trip ?

Lord, Keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth...AMEN..!!

Thursday turned into an absolutely gorgeous day.  We really like gorgeous days.  It means you can do anything you want outside and still feel comfortable.  That’s just what this day was like.  The beautiful sunshine even put Terry in the mood to start working on cleaning out the car.  Boy, did it need that.  He also started loading things in it we planned on taking to Portland for Christmas.  I know, I know … our departure was a week away but there is no reason not to start putting stuff together so you don’t forget anything.  

We are down to the point now that we can start watching the weather for those 10-day forecasts.  So far, so good as it looks as though no snow storms are expected through the mountains on the day we’ll be driving through.  We’ll continue to hold our breathe as time gets closer.  We certainly don’t want to be driving in the snow.

Just a little farther north and snow showers are expected in the Roseburg, Oregon area on the 17th.  I also pulled the Portland forecast and they are going to get a little snow on our estimated day of arrival.   Wouldn’t you know it except with the temperatures going into the 40's, we also know it'll melt even if it does snow.  When you consider the accuracy of the weather forecasters, it could go either way so we’re not worried yet.  We certainly aren’t counting on this forecast to be accurate at all as we could get into an all out snowstorm or it could be a sunny day.  There’s a 100% chance we’ll have weather of one kind or another.

Terry continued to work on the car while I went to check out the little quilting get together they had at the park.  Sometimes you can learn a lot from these little groups.  Other times you can get great ideas on how things are done or nothing at all.  The group at the Arizona Sun in Gold Canyon had everyone bringing their own projects and working on them together.  People even carry their own sewing machines to these classes.   Actually, it was a fun little group and I soaked up a few ideas.  The group here was much smaller.  I didn’t stay long and only a little after one of the ladies wanted me to grab a needle and start working on tying one of her quilts.  NOT!  Well, maybe I would have tied one of hers if she would have tied one of mine. That is if I had brought one for her to tie.  

Friday is starting out to be a busy one.  I wanted to check out the beading class. I thought I might learn a thing or two.  If not, I don't have to stay.  However, we have a little problem as the beading class is scheduled at the same time cribbage is.  We wanted to re-learn how to play cribbage.  We used to play cribbage but have forgotten the rules.  Hmmm.   Maybe Terry will do one and I'll do the other.  

We were also going to load the ATVs and head out to the BLM where our friend, Sailbad, is parked for a ride or two checking out all the other RVs in the area.  Now we know he's parked close to the BOF Nudists but thought we'd wait until the Dixons got close and let Jim take his ride through their park .... giving him some memories of what he's missing since he scheduled surgery during our reunion event.  However, these people aren't young chicks so maybe memories isn't what he wants.  I know right where they are.  A couple years ago while staying on the BLM I went on a hike with friends, Carol and Mary Jane...... we ended up right in the middle of it.  Honest ... it was an accident.  Honest.  Do you believe me?

We went to Karaoke later that evening in the club house.  There were a few people and a couple really great singers there.  We didn’t stay too long as I had to see the results of X Factor from the night before.  However, no one is as good as part of our own little group, Ed and Linda.  I think the Yacht Club in “Q” has karaoke a few evenings a week.  We may try that later.  The problem is when you’re out on the BLM and head to the popping town of “Q” for an evening, it’s mighty dark out there when you return … mighty dark.

<< Remember these pajamas … your feet would certainly keep warm … and you can find them at Wal-mart!

With the return of my sewing machine, I had been working on finishing a project I had started a couple months ago.  Quartzsite has about everything anyone could ever need or want except a fabric shop.  If you’re in Quartzsite and you run out of supplies, you’re out of luck unless you want to drive to Parker about 30 miles away.  At least I was told Parker had a fabric shop.  Besides if they didn’t, I was sure Wal-mart would have what I needed.  NOT!!  I was batting zero.  There is no fabric shop and this wasn’t one of the Wal-marts that carried everything.

One advantage of being in a park with electricity is that you can use your crockpot. You don’t have to worry about draining the batteries. The night before I soaked some pinto beans and put them in the crockpot with bacon since I didn’t have a ham hock or two.  I love Pinto beans and cornbread.   It’s one of my favorite dinners. That was the plan for dinner and that’s what we had.

Update – back to our new blue flame heater blog of the other day.  When I got up this morning it was 49 degrees inside the motorhome.  The first two things I did was turn on the coffee pot and turn on the heater.  It is now a toasty 75 degrees in here and climbing.  It’s just like my own little fireplace.  Last night I had the temperature in here in the low 80’s before I had to turn it down or run Terry out.  Why didn’t I know about this last year or the year before?  Why can’t I take this with me over Christmas to keep warm?

'Tis just life on the road.

New Discoveries

Diplomacy is the art of letting someone else get your way.

It’s still a little cool for us to be outside running around.  It looks as though this storm that California has been sending our way is going to last through about Thursday.  It’s not that it’s a bad storm in this location.  It's chilly at night and the winds are a bit breezy.  We’ll be glad when it’s over.  However, by that time we’ll actually be thinking more of watching the weather over the Siskiyous than caring what it is like in Arizona.  After all, we don't want snow or ice to get in our way when we head north for the holidays.

We did discover a few new things around Quartzsite we hadn’t discovered on our previous three trips.  First, we finally found the Mountain Quail Café.  It’s not on the main drag and kind of tucked down a side road.  You might guess that since we found it, we also had to try it.  We had nothing to complain about and enjoyed the lunch.  While in the area we also discovered quite a few different RV parks that we didn’t know existed either.  Some of them were quite nice and quite cheap.  Some of them not so much.

Not far from the Café we saw a couple State Trust Land signs.  The sign said, “No Trespassing”.  It wasn’t BLM property.  It belonged to the State and not the Government.  However, regardless that the sign indicated no trespassing  there were about a dozen RVs parked there.  We had to stop and talk to the folks staying there.  After all, they were boondocking almost in the center of town.  We wanted to know the details.  According to the person we talked to all that is needed is a pass for parking on Trust Land.  We already have one!  We bought it before we arrived in Arizona.  However, we bought it for our ATVs and didn't know it was good for boondocking on State Land too.  The fee?  I think we paid $20 for the annual pass.

I’m sure if more people knew about the pass, this is where they would be parked instead of miles down the road in the 14-day parking area.  Since I'm posting the information here I certainly hope the RVers know what they were talking about or I'd get the blame.

Ever see one of these Outback Loft trailers? I guess this turns a one bedroom unit into an extra bedroom for kids or guests.

On Monday it was still chilly so instead of exploring on our ATVs we took another drive around the area.  Guess what?  We found another new restaurant.  They just seem to be popping up all over the place.  Well, some have closed down from last year including the Texas BBQ, Janet’s Kitchen and Best Mexican.  The new one is next to the Pilot Station.  It’s name is Three Times.  Obviously there must be some significance to that name but we couldn’t figure out what it was.  Our only thought was that maybe this was the third time the owners had owned a restaurant. Let's hope this one makes it.

Can you believe a home like this being built right inside the city limits of Quartzsite?  The home looks like it had just been finished.  No one was living in it. Well, they aren’t living in it yet.

Many music jams are held around “Q” during this time of year.  When we checked into our RV park we were given a list of them.  Monday night we went to our first since this one was held in the club house here at the park.  We were surprised to see so many guitars and strummers.  It was fantastic.  Saturday night another one is being held in the club house.  We plan on making it to that one too.  I guess I’m going to have to get out my Reba shirt and wear it to fit in though.

‘Tis life on the road.

Quartzsite BLM

A woman is like a teabag...You don't know how strong she is until you put her in hot water.

It’s still a bit nippy in the Quartzsite area.  I certainly wish it would warm up.  The only thing the cold weather is good for is staying inside and working on projects that should have been finished weeks ago when my sewing machine was in the shop.  However, I've finally realized these projects aren't going to get done anytime soon.  It's just not going to happen.

<<   We looked for the trash bins at the park.  This is what we found behind the office building.  The trailer is the bin.  Behind the trailer is a clothesline.  Now that was surprising.  Having a clothesline at your own site is a big NO-NO.

Actually, California is responsible for all this cold weather.  They shouldn’t have let the Santa Ana winds come through and carry that cold air behind them.  The only good news about that is that it will soon pass and the temperatures will warm up.  At least we’re hoping it’s sooner than later.  The problem is with all this cool weather, I'm beginning to think I need a beach instead of a desert.  Maybe it has something to do with the movie I watched last night.  In the movie everyone was running around on the sand in their swimsuits.  This definitely is not swimsuit weather here.

Check this setting out.  They've even put up a garage for their ATVs!!

We’ve met some pretty nice people in this park.  We were even invited to take a 60 mile ATV trip  ... isn't that a long ways for an ATV over rocks and riverbeds?  However, we still prefer the Thousand Trails and other parks where folks come for a few weeks but not a season.  Maybe that's because those are the parks we've stayed at most.  Or, maybe we just haven't found a place in the south we like so much we're ready to make it a winter homebase.  Maybe we need to find that beach after all.

One tidbit of gossip we heard was that some of the BLM land is no longer open for RV parking.  I have no idea what BLM land but thought we were told it was north of town. 


After a few months of having your little town overrun by people especially slower older folks, it probably gets a little annoying.  However, can you imagine the economy of a town this size without the extra revenue?  The RV parks in the area right now have lots of empty spots.  Right after the holidays these spots will fill up.  Just like anywhere else.  There are some great parks here with great hosts and managers.  We also heard there are also some parks to be avoided.  We heard lots of stories at breakfast.  However, we also know ... stories can be just stories.  With all the free spaces to park and all the parks in the area, you would think there would be a big push on to have the biggest and best park in the area.  Some RVers actually spend all winter here and not just during the month of January when most of the activities take  place.

Prices are low at the parks but few amenities are offered.  The entertainment is Quartzsite itself with all the vendors, jams and events.

I love driving around and checking out the personal RV sites people have chosen on BLM land.  It’s great entertainment to see how they have personalized their areas.  

On Sunday morning a church service is held at the South Posa LTVA.  I didn’t know about it until I went with friends, Paul and Marsha, Where's Weaver, a couple years ago.  A table is put out front inviting people who have extra food or items they don’t want to drop them off.  The sign says, leave what you don’t need and take what you do need.  There are people who visit Quartzsite during the winter who don’t have much.  This is a great place to drop off a few items knowing others will certainly appreciate what you leave.

BLM church

We became more aware of the circumstance of some of the folks in the area last year through Johnny.  Many of you may remember our story about Johnny.  He spent a couple of weeks here last year in a tent.  Thus, we became a little familiar with some of the people pitching tents close to the little outhouse buildings.  The tents or small trailers that are not self-contained must be within so many feet of a bathroom.  Since the BLM land is patrolled and monitored by Arizona Park Rangers, this is pretty much enforced.

Some folks pitching a tent do so because they want to.  Other folks pitching the tents do so because that’s all they have and they have no choice.  While there several of the RVers invited Johnny to join them for meals.  Others brought hot food to him.  Some folks are nice and some folks are just nicer.  Maybe this year some of us can be just nicer yet.

‘Tis life on the road.