QUARTZSITE IN THE REAR VIEW MIRROR

Winding down another year in Quartzsite, we'll be pulling out tomorrow morning heading back to Florence.  This has been by far the nicest weather year we've ever had here.  Just a few spits a couple times and not many cloudy days either.  Only a couple days that it touched the freezing mark, too.  

The past few days has seen a huge influx of RVs in all the camping areas but today there is a mass exodus.  It makes for an entertaining time watching all the comings and goings.  We're seeing a lot more ATVs running around this year.  It appears that RV sales were fairly good if the number of empty spots on the lots is any indication.  It seemed that sales in the big tent were doing pretty good also.  Lots of people leave there with packages.  Some years you would hardly see anyone carrying purchases away.  Overall though, the whole Quartzsite experience is shrinking.  Online sales are probably one culprit but I think less people are wanting to dry camp for more than a night or two.  Internet, TV and power consumption issues are maybe partly to blame.

Some of the area we walk in in the morning.  That's Q Mtn in the right center and our motor home is a kilometer beyond and to the right.

Still busy in the Big Tent on the last day

Northern Canada inviting visitors.  Alberta is next booth to the left.

And if that's not far enough from home, go to Europe

Lots of hucksters selling just about anything

Lots of purses in Tyson Well Flea Market

Taken from the motor home window yesterday morning

A BIT MORE QUARTZSITE IN PICTURES

After the slow start on Saturday, the RV show in the big tent is getting much busier.  Aileen and I went over this morning and we only did a small part of the tent before heading for an exit.  Too crowded for some of us.  I will have to make another walk over there before we leave as there is something else I'm tempted to buy.

Jacquie and Aileen spent some time at the local Beall's store yesterday getting some bargains on senior's day.  I had gone in with Aileen Sunday evening and selected some socks for her to buy me which she did.  She managed to find some clothes that she liked too.  Jim and I went and finished up a geocache run we had started a few weeks ago. 

The bedroom of a higher end motor home

And the living room

Need a hat?

Belts

Fancy mobility scooters

Just about anything you could need and lots you don't!!!

ANOTHER WEEK IN QUARTZSITE, AZ

Life continues to roll along here in Quartzsite.  It was pretty quiet until just a few days ago but the pace has really picked up the past couple days.  Lots of people rolled in for the big RV show and some of them are pretty noisy.  One couple have a big toy hauler fifth wheel and they have it set up as a travelling stage.  They have a full scale karaoke set up with high quality speakers and put on hours of music Friday and Saturday evenings.  He plays guitar with the backup music and is an excellent singer. He is part of a Marty Robbins tribute band based in Phoenix.  His wife does great harmony with him but she's not as good on her own.  I think he said he had 18,000 songs in his machine and he took requests.

We continue to get out on walks morning and evening and we've had some great moonlit walks.  We did actually walk over to the RV show this morning but just looked at the outside displays as the tent was pretty busy.   I went over yesterday afternoon and was surprised how quiet it was, in fact the quietest opening day I've seen.

Our time is almost over here in Quartzsite.   We're thinking we will be heading back to Florence before the end of the week.     

Nope, not Mexico but at one of the flea markets here

Some of this warm weather gear comes in handy on cold desert nights

Bling hats.  There is a lot of bling type apparel in all the markets.

This is a very popular place all day.  I think some guys probably don't get past here.  There is live music most of the day.

Lots of really big 5th wheels to look through.  The closest one was $103,000.  Base price was only $58,000, the rest was options.

This was a regular 5th wheel with a front living room up over the hitch.  It felt like a real sanctuary up there.

We caught the sun coming up yesterday morning.

And the moon going down. 

We and the Jordan's attended the annual Canada potluck held at the large community auditorium.  There were 237 paid attendees plus volunteers.  Jim won one of the many door prizes given away.

TAKING IT EASY IN QUARTZSITE, AZ

It has been a week already since my last post so time to check in again.   We’ve been experiencing some issues with our battery power and have an appointment tomorrow morning which we hope will result in a proper fix.  We’ve also been doing a few minor modifications to the motor home to make it more livable.  Nothing major though.

Last Monday, I went with Jacquie and Jim over to Florence as Jim had sold his ATV parked in our back lot and he needed to hand over the title in exchange for the money.  We were able to pick up our mail our kind neighbours had been gathering for us.  We made a grocery run to Sprouts Natural Food Market then made a stop at Cabela’s to return something.  We were gone about nine hours in total and Aileen was glad she stayed home and had a quiet day.

Jacquie and Jim went with us one day during the week to check out grocery shopping in Blythe, CA.  I believe the consensus was that we will mostly continue to shop in Parker, AZ. Jim and I got out geocaching a couple of times and we both went to the geocaching meet and greet that happened last Wednesday.  We met a couple of cachers from Vancouver Island one of whom was Keiko’s Buddies from Courtenay.

We’ve mostly continued to have pretty decent weather and it is so nice to be able to sit outside to read.   There has been some wind and some cloud but overall very nice compared to much of the rest of North America. 

Jacquie joined us on Friday night when we went to a local RV park to listen to the Balyeat Family and their bluegrass gospel show.  There was some great music.  Last night Aileen and I enjoyed the New Christy Minstrels in concert and did they ever put on a great performance.  Randy Sparks, who formed the group back in 1961 is nearing 81 years old and is still performing like a 50 year old.  Individually, the members were excellent performers.  When they performed as a group, it was awesome!  Tonight we are going to another local park to hear some 50’s/60’s music at a jam.  Then on Tuesday night we plan to take in a country and western performance by Belinda Gail.  There is music and jamming daily here in Quartzsite and surrounding communities.

I went to one of the flea markets in Quartzsite this afternoon to wander around

I believe these are nail files

Some stone for jewelry, I think

A tent full of flutes

Rows of stalls like this

WE FOUND WHERE SANTA GOES FOR SOME REST AFTER CHRISTMAS

Not too far from us here in the desert, I noticed that Santa was hanging out just like us.  Obviously, it is just too cold to go back to the North Pole for a while yet.

Santa even brings a little car to take him and Mrs Claus into town for groceries since the reindeer are away somewhere on vacation too and there is nobody to pull the sleigh.

We were out for a walk one evening to this old stone cabin and I got the girls to pose for a picture.

The weather continues to be nicer than the past couple winters although we do have some more wind today but our day time temperatures are reaching the low 70's F.  We saw a touch of frost in one spot on our walk this morning.    

We went to the La Paz Market with Jacquie and Jim yesterday and all came away empty handed except for the ice cream cone I bought.  The crowd was larger than most times and there were lots of vendors but there was nothing we needed or desired, I guess.  We did stop in Parker for some groceries on the way back.