Quartzite Visit

Sunday - We packed up and headed west through Phoenix for our first visit to Quartzite.  We met W&J at the rest stop near Tonopah, AZ and then followed them to find a camping spot near the town.  Quartzite is known as the "RV Boondocking Mecca" during the winter months.  The town is surrounded by land owned by the BLM, Bureau of Land Management, on which RV's are allowed to camp free for two weeks at a time, then they must move to another spot for another two weeks, etc.  There are no hookups = no electricity, no water and no sewer hookups on the BLM land.  The RV'ers pay to fill up with water and dump their tanks at nearby parks.  In January, Quartzite is the host to a Sports, Vacation and RV show, billed as "the world's largest gathering of RV's".  Vendors of anything related to or needed by RV'ers set up booths to sell their products and educate the customers about what they need.  Flea markets are also set up in the area and then in February there have a Gem and Rock show.  Some RV'ers stay for months in the area during the winter, enjoying the group gatherings, free camping and/or solitude of the desert.
Since we were staying closer this year, we decided to experience Quartzite.  As we drove on the interstate to reach our exit, we saw hundreds of RVs parked in the desert as we got closer to town.  W&J had been there the year before, so they led us to a camping spot and we set up our two rigs next to each other.  Just like the pictures we had seen on many blogs, we parked among many other RVs camping.  Nearby, we saw a group of RVs circled like a wagon train of the old west, a group of friends joining together for the event and a nightly campfire.
After setting up, we took our car and went and visited Bill and Darla, our friends from working at RVillage and the Sugar Beet Harvest.  They were staying in a small RV park near town.  It was great to see them and catch up on the months we had been apart.  Back to our rig, we enjoyed supper with W&J and the beautiful sunset.

Following W&J to Quartzite

Our parking site

Sunset at Quartzite

The sunset reflected on our motorhome

Monday - I made breakfast for all of us and then we headed to town to see all the treasures of the Quartzite event.  We walked through about half of the big tent, which quickly wore us out.  We went back to our rigs for lunch and a nap.  Later we went back and went through some of the smaller vendor tents. Back home again for supper and an evening of enjoying the stars.

Campers in the desert - flags for friends to see

Sunset shining on the mountains

Tuesday - Up earlier, we had breakfast and headed in to town to see the exhibits.  We walked through some of the motorhomes for sale there.  We stopped and enjoyed some ice cream.  Then we went in to finish seeing the booths in the big tent.  I bought a floor swiffer, it has several microfiber pads that can be used for dry or wet mopping.  Back home for lunch, then Gary and I went to visit our friends, Leslie and Chris, who we had worked with in Oregon at the Wildwood Rec Area.  They were working in the Boulder City area this winter again, so had come down for a week at Quartzite.  We found their site west of Quartzite, they were parked in a more remote area there.  We had a great visit and caught up on our time apart since we left Oregon in August.  Back to our motorhome, we had supper and enjoyed the evening with W&J.

Wednesday - breakfast and then secured everything in the motorhome for our return to Mesa.  W&J pulled out early, they had 5+ hours drive to the "Junction".  We had about two and a half hours.  A little more traffic on a Wednesday through Phoenix, but arrived safely and set ourselves up again for our stay and work in the park.  We returned in time for our block Happy Hour party, Don and Dana hosted that week.

Thursday - back to work.  Shuffleboard court, then set up for the rooms.  Leanne called and asked us if we would man the hotdog cart.  The cart comes from the Val Vista Park.  A couple from there usually run the cart, but they were short handed with their workampers because of illnesses.  The couple that usually mans the cart delivered it to us and instructed us on to run it.  It was a cooler, windy day, so we had to keep the condiments, plates, napkins, etc. from blowing away.  We had a good time running the cart, got to visit with residents from the park we had not met before.  We were on the cart from 11:00 until 1:00.  Then they came and picked up the cart again.  Later that afternoon we set up the card rooms again.

Hotdog king!

Friday - Regular routine.  On our times off, we packed up our clothes and other supplies so that we could go to the "Junction" on Saturday after we were done.

Saturday - we helped take down the bingo/pancake breakfast tables and chairs and then set up for the evening dance.  We were done at 10:30, we went back to the motorhome and loaded our things in the car to go.  We were to meet the seller of our Casa at 3:00 at the Junction.  We stopped at Home Depot and picked up supplies to begin our remodeling of the house.  It takes an hour and a half to drive from our park in Mesa to the Junction. Since we arrived about an hour before we were to meet the seller, we went to Saddlebrooke to three estate sales that Dan and Jan had told us about.  At the second sale, we bought a queen bed frame and at the third sale, we bought a shop vac.  Back at the Junction, we did our walk through and closed on the sale of our Casa.  After the seller left, we looked through the entire house and the yard and took many pictures - our "before" remodeling shots.  If only the seller had not had painting done after he bought it - the rooms are all colored in bright yellow and split pea green.  Our living room has both colors!  We had supper with W& J and then went to stay with Dan that evening and for our four days in the area.

Bright yellow walls

Isn't this a lovely green?