Population 3,700 for most of the year, then it blows up throughout Jan and Feb, playing host to the largest gathering of boondockers in the world AND an open flea market of rock and specimen vendors-- so i have read, and heard.
Time to go dig into it ourselves!!!
Just want pics? Click here.
DAY 1 MONDAY, Jan. 14th- We packed in the RV and left Sedona close to 1pm. It was a fun drive. The sky was soft and pretty for most of it, eventually turning grey, and foothilly mountains were plentiful. I'm always rejuvenated by seeing new lumps of land. Growing up in MN was beautiful, and interesting. But it is very different from the SW. You can see for far longer distances down here, with the trees being so darn short! And there's simply a greater variety of all Life and Earth to witness. It continues to wow me. It was drizzling rain as we rolled past the green sign with the town's name on it. We still had a couple hours of daytime left when we arrived to our destination- an area off a long stretch of road past the outskirts. We navigated ourselves to where the Escapees RV club peeps gather together. I've missed this clan! It is quite the organization, chock full of kind and fun ppl. Most of our camping tends to be pretty solo throughout the year, which is perfectly wonderful, but i miss sharing my fire hoop at night, and kickin' it by the fire under the stars with others who want to share cool stories, travel tips, and laugh their butts off.
As soon as we parked and got out of the truck, a chatty midwestern man came over to say hi with his dog. (HAHAHAHA) There was a chill in the air, and the rain had stopped, but the entire sky was still full of grey. It didn't take us long to detach the 5th wheel and set up, being there's nothing to plug into. We just extend the slide-out, crank the back jacks down to better steady the rig, flop out our big outdoor patio rug at the door and... *Wha-Lha* -we're home :)
A cold wind began to blow as i laid my hula hoops underneath the RV, helping to keep them dry. Only a minute after we began to cozy-up inside, it began to rain. And it rained all night long.
GAMES!!!!!!!
DAY 2 TUESDAY- It's still pissing rain. And it's cold. We layered up and threw on rain coats. I put on my rubber boots. I LOVE rubber boots. Rubber boots, they are HOOTS!! Splishing, splashing, invincible through puddles... they ROCK. they're kinda like the Jeep of footwear. I LOVE 'EM!
Off we went to "T Rocks"- this big, outdoor, resident rock shop that's part of town, run by Mike and Theresa. Theresa's from Michigan. She moved down to AZ just to run her own rock shop. It's such a fun place! One of the neatest rock places i've ever been thru. They have a lot of rough material (for cabbing and carving lapidary stuff), and we needed to stock up on some for work. So Rob, the gentleman who sold us his business, met us here in the morning, with his lovely wife, Joanie, and introduced us to Theresa and her husband for the first time. We had a nice time chatting for a bit under their makeshift shelter as the rain beat down. Joel and I wandered around for a little bit, too, Spending an hour or so here. We decided to come back in a couple days to purchase things. Rob and his wife treated us to lunch. Then we parted ways until the following day.
So Joel and I went into town to check out the showcase of RVs and camper-related supplies for sale. We waltzed through the rain, stepping here and there into the newest models of RVs- some are so HUUUGE! with fancy outdoor kitchens. Others were more our size, and we found one in particular that really piqued our interest. Joel was able to stand up straight in the entire bedroom, AND it had a very spacious, walk-thru bathroom. We'd never seen that before! Especially in the shorter rigs. We talked about that layout for the rest of the week. Could totally picture ourselves in it some day.
Before heading back home, we hit up a popular warehouse called GEM WORLD, another local shop that's open year-round. I found it absolutely crazy ridiculous and overwhelming... pretty hilarious! for one, it's HUGE- many many rows of stuff, high ceilings, all that. and it's a bit WTF with the goods: there's shelves and shelves of gorgeous Amethyst geodes, lamps, crystal displays... and at the end of the row... a giant box of pizza cutters. ?? There are rows and rows of various size Selenite crystal towers, Orthoceras fossils, different colored Calcite... and then a huge bin of assorted veggie peelers. !! (Ron Swanson shops at Food'n Stuff, and i find this place is more like Gems'n Stuff) It was very busy inside, most ppl pushing shopping carts, clogging up the isles, and it was fun to see once, but we left before making it through the whole thing. Once we were back at outside, the rain had let up.
Some blue sky started to show through. We got back to our little house and i played with my fire fans as the sun began to set. I sewed my own covers that go over the wicks, that way soot doesnt rub off of them and get things dirty. I chose this spandexy, reflective, green material. well, it caught somebody's attention with the sunlight hitting them, and one of our neighbors across the way came to investigate. TeeHee!! His name was Thurman. he invited us over to the bonfire he and his clan were gonna have later. So Joel and i ate dinner, took a nap, then hung out with a gaggle of new friends for the evening:
JR was in his late 40's, living by himself in his old, long motorhome. Thurman was much younger, and kind of newish to traveling solo in a van. He was loving it tho. Terry was a lady with a green car that pulled a little travel trailer. And another woman, who's name i don't recall, had a small truck with a teardrop trailor. I spent hours with the 4 of them, sharing drinks and learning how they each decided to leave the typical world to be more free, more of a vagabond. They were all very different ppl, and knew each other to some extent- they camp out together from time to time, such as at this event. The night was EXACTLY what i'd been craving. It puts you into such a different energy and frame of mind- just to be outside, for one. So much of traveling and living off grid is about being OUTSIDE, and THAT alone causes one to feel different. For many of us, we feel better. Then add the element of fire, and fresh new friends to the mix. It so invigorating! And re they really "friends"? I hardly know them. but YES- we all enjoyed each other's company, and would help each other out however we could. They live this lifestyle a bit more hardcore and raw than we yet do, but they say the same thing Joel and i feel whenever we travel or camp: we all have each other's backs. and most of us seek some degree of fellowship. Hence= the BONFIRE 😁
It grew quite chilly to be away from the fire, even bundled up with a hat and gloves. Eventually i went to bed. It was a COLD, COLD night. We layered on the blankets, and could have slept better, but we made it to
DAY 3 WEDNESDAY- 7:30am, up and at 'em! It's a little rough to get out of bed in this cold. We do kick on the heat for a while in the
mornings, enough to be comfortable getting dressed and cleaned up a bit.
The sun was out, hardly any clouds, and it stayed dry all day. We met Rob and Joanie at the Powow rockshow. This is where Rob introduced us to author and rock-digger Pat McMahan. Turns out this guy lives just down the road from us! And we got to see a copy of his beautiful (coffee table) book . We spent at least an hour shopping through his grey plastic bins with water and pretty slabs of stone in them. We found some great material to take back home and sell! Before we said goodbye, he invited us over to his home and lapidary shop sometime. What a cool guy!
Rob introduced us to over half a dozen more guys he was used to doing business with over the years. Like Kim Nielson of K&K Minerals. I think he drives down from Nebraska, camps in his motorhome right in the show area and sets up shop just out the front door. Kim sent us home with a chunk of something with little shells and fossils in it, called Turritella, to take back to our shop and polish up- see what it looks like, and if we'd want to buy from him in the future. He was a lovely man, very friendly.
We also met John Bennet, a british guy with a hard, australian accent, sets up an RV and places his many rusty
bins of rock in rows all around his appointed space. This is what a lot of
sellers do. It's such a campy-vibe, this whole town.We met a gaggle of Austrailans running a shop together, and ran into the president of a blade and wheel company we do a lot of business with, and... we met a lot of ppl. So, we're more officially plugged into this rock world of work now! It's pretty groovy.
We spent hours walking around the powow show, with so much to look at, beautiful and strange. The air was drying out, the sun was shining, and we still had plenty of daylight to play in after we got home. We went for a little bike ride and enjoyed the fresh air. It was fun to see some of the new campers that rolled in and set up that day. I practiced my not-lit fire toys. At some point before dusk, i crawled up on to the top of the camper to hang this 5-piece bundle of El wire from the top of our internet antennae. Each strand is a different color, and hanging down makes it look like rather squidlike! I also got a cool shot of the mountains, and neighbors around us.
I lit my hula hoop a couple times once it got dark, and heard cheers over yonder. Then we went inside to make dinner. As we got puttering in the kitchen, there was a knock at the door. It was some of the clapping ladies from a big caravan of ppl to ask "what the heck WAS that?!" I told them it was my hula hoop. They asked to see it, how the wicks attach to it, how it works. Then requested that i do it again after we ate dinner. So yes, i did! and spent the remainder of the night enjoying their huge fire, and equally large group of warm hearts and smiles- all from Canada. they all come to this same spot every year, and welcomed us back to their giant fire again next time.
Went back into town to buy stuff from TRocks. We spent a few hours this time! Most of it toting around a big wagon, spraying rocks with water bottles, checking out their coloring and patterns, learning about more names and types of stone... so many to turn over and look at! It is quite the shopping experience. We chatted a lot too with Theresa and her husband. they are really cool ppl. Happy to give them our business. Sunset tonight was really gorgeous. And it seemed very odd-- everyone around us was so quiet! and in their campers unusually early. Nobody was out having a fire. ?? Was i missing something? YES. Yes, i was: a fire! So we had our own, for the first time, and it was perfect.
DAY 5 FRIDAY A nice, relaxed morning. Went on another bike ride. So much space to peddle through! it's an interesting terrain to explore. Then back into town to do the last of our business with some of these new peeps we were introduced to. After that, there's a big lump of land right behind Desert Gardens, called Q Hill. We drove to the bottom and walked to the tippy top. WHAT A VIEW! Such a wonderful feeling to look around and see for so far. There is a LOT of white quartz pieces up there. I took a chunk with me, which we polished up back at our shop, and gave it to a friend for her birthday. She loved it, it turned out really cool! (Thanks, Q Hill!)
We leave Quartzsite tomorrow morning. It is so neat that we'll be coming back here every year as a business trip (and much pleasure!) to replenish our inventory. What a marvelous time it was.
If you've ever thought of living out of a car, van, trailer, tent or camper, this place is an open haven for you, anytime of year-- ALL THIS OPEN LAND! that anybody can just park and live on... and Leave No Trace.
Tally Ho!
