When I pictured Quartzsite I always pictured us sort of alone in the desert with lots of free time on our hands.  Well that is absolutely not the case.  My social calendar hasn’t been this full since we spent a month in the Outer Banks and there is always something to do here. So much so that my normal writing schedule is off and this blog is to get me caught up.  So here’s everything that’s been going on.

Pam likes to go to the local QIA (Quartzsite Improvement Association) for the free classes, and I thought I would give it a try.  I tried yoga for the first time(really liked it) and line dancing for the first time, wasn’t a big fan but that’s mainly because my short-term memory is terrible and I have a hard time learning all the steps.  Then Ellen, Deb, and I did some laundry and after a wonderful lunch Mario made we went on a bike ride.  The desert is right outside of town and we rode on a nice bike path a little ways.  While we were out Deb saw a geocache on her phone app and we stopped and they let me find my first one.  It was fun, sort of like a treasure hunt, and I kind of get why people are so into it.  The geocache app has a clue “Unlikely Buddies” in this case and GPS coordinates that get you within 50 feet.  The treasures cannot be buried or hidden so high you will need to climb and I did feel some excitement when we uncovered it.  The “prize” was a simple pencil eraser (Ellen replaced it with a quarter), but really the fun was in finding the treasure.

After the experience I definitely want Lee to download the app and as Steve says it is a great way to get people out walking.  Neither Steve nor I are that fond of walking for the sake of walking, but having a goal in mind certainly makes it a lot more fun.  After the geocache we headed back towards town and Ellen found us the 1,000 year old Iron Tree.  I loved old trees and this was along a really cool path and had a nice sign underneath it explaining about the tree.  We also stopped into the combination Town Hall/Library/Government offices.  I really like libraries and this one was very nice plus as soon as you walk in the front doors you see the town meeting area.  Talk about transparency in government.  No doors or separate rooms it’s all right out in the open…I totally approve.  The government area was landscaped nicely making the most use of the plants that will grow in this area and was neat as a pin.  Again very nice.

Then Cori and Greg, fellow 2014ers, finally arrived.  They drove up from Texas and ended up getting in early so Deb and I drove up to the front to escort them back. We paid Pam and Red’s kindness forward, by helping Cori and Greg get acclimated.  Greg owns RV Solar Solutions so we knew he would be fine on generating power, but there was still the trash and tank management to talk about.  They are in a really nice Class A that has macerating toilets, but they also use a pre-specified amount of water to flush, so black tank management is always a challenge for them.  One of the benefits of a Class A though is you can always just drive over to the dump station, so we will see how that all plays out for them as the weeks go on.  We were all really excited to see them, because even though Cori and I chat/text at least every other day I hadn’t physically seen them in a year and thankfully they arrived on Lee’s one day off this week so we all got to have a campfire and hang out together.  Then we went over to the Xcapers happy hour and got to meet Chris and Cherie from Technomadia and Travis and Melanie who have founded Xscapers.  I have been wanting to meet Chris and Cherie since we started full-timing and they were of course very nice.  I was happy to have an opportunity to thank her for her words of wisdom in the forum and on her blog and the fact that they have been an inspiration to us in becoming full timers.  Travis and Melanie were really great.  They have a 4-year-old and Melanie is pregnant with their second child and they work full-time for the Escapees organization.  They have started a sub group for those of us who are mobile workers and are working very hard to provide resources for those folks who are working on the road.  I am very excited about this because we really need resources for us working RVers and since Escapees is such a huge RVing community they should have the resources to really get things started.  Lee and I spoke to them for about 15 minutes and I was very impressed by their vision, plus they are just cool people to hang out with.  Can’t wait to see what they come up with this year. 

Lee’s schedule is pretty rough (leaving at 5am and getting home around 10pm every night) and in retrospect we really should have moved the rig to be closer to Phoenix, but I am grateful for the opportunity to do this on my own for a week.  So far it’s been fine.  I don’t know what to do with all that extra space all by myself and I am enjoying some alone time in my rig to be honest.  Everyone’s keeping an eye on me, which is sweet, but really I totally feel like I have this and the schedule is keeping me so busy I don’t even have the time to get lonely.  Steve really wanted to go to the RV Show on Saturday and even though the repeaters said it would be a mad house off we went after Steve cooked us a nice big breakfast.  It was super crowded, but not that bad as we had been told and with our BLM stickers we could park on the BLM land right next to the show. I will say I was a little disappointed in the content of the show itself, but after all the hype I am not sure anything could have lived up to my expectations.  There were a few cool things I had never seen before.  The best part for me was the Beet Harvest booth and Amazon booth because we are thinking about trying both of these to earn money in the future and it was nice to be able to talk face-to-face with a person about the positions.

By two o’clock we had gone through the Big Tent and I was ready to go.  It really started to get crowded and I was tired of walking. Plus Steve promised to get me back in time for the Patriots playoff game and we all gathered at Cori and Greg’s with snacks to watch the game on their big screen TV.  The Patriots won and Lee got home a little early that night so we all sat around the campfire and chatted until about 9:30.

On Sunday, we decided to go to the  Desert Bar.  This bar is out in the middle of no where, 6 miles down a very rocky road off the highway past Parker.  You can’t go to Quartzsite though and not go at least once so Deb, Steve, Cori, Greg, and I all went.  The story is that in 1983, Ken the owner bought an old copper mine and decided to give a bar in the desert a try.  It has since grown and expanded and the place was busy when we got there at noon and even busier when we left.   We took some pictures, ate a decent but expensive lunch, and listened to the band.  It’s not something I would do regularly, but it is a very neat concept and truly is in the middle of no where. Also it’s a cash only place so bring extra, because you’ll probably want to get a T-Shirt.

 

One of the things everyone talks about is the women’s restroom.  It is extremely clean, built into the side of the hill and has an open air view at the sinks onto the mountains.  Not sure how they get all that water but it was cold and honestly one of the neatest bathrooms I have ever been in.  The men’s room I guess is not so cool.

 

We snagged one of the last tables, ate some lunch, and then Deb wanted to hike up on this little hill to get a better view.  The gravel/rock is very loose, but Cori (who sprained her ankle on a hike a few weeks ago) wanted to give it a go.  So Deb, Steve, Cori, and I hiked up while Greg watched the table and our stuff.  The panoramic was very pretty and you got a good view of the owner’s house which is on the property.  It’s such an odd place to put a bar, in such an isolated place, but you can’t argue with success because the place got busier and busier as the afternoon wore on.

After the short hike we talked a bit more than I bought a long-sleeve T-Shirt for $26 and left.  They had a nice selection of shirts and I really wanted something to prove I had been there.  Plus I had exactly $26 left in my purse so it was meant to be.  One the way out we saw some folks dancing and they were having a great time, but we were all ready to go.  We stopped at Wal-Mart in Parker, which is very nice, and picked up a few things then got back to the rig by 4pm.  We were all pretty pooped at that point, so I uploaded pictures, watched the end of the Broncos game and went to Cori and Greg’s for steak dinner which was very sweet of them.  Tomorrow going back to the show with Cori and Greg and then another busy week up ahead.  Several RV-Dreams are stopping by this week and I will definitely need to do another round of tank emptying and refilling, plus I promised Deb some hikes and I really want to take more pictures.  Whew this being a lady of leisure is exhausting!!!

 

 

 

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