Peace at the End of the Road

Wednesday, January 29, 2014


Our time at Quartzsite is coming to an end. We spent the last two nights in our favorite spot, after trying two others for a few nights. The end of the road proved to be perfect for us. The first two spots we picked in La Posa South turned out to be on the pathway for the Jeeps and ATV's heading up into the mountains. Lots of dust churning traffic mornings and late afternoons. Sunday we drove back to the Phoenix area two hours east of here. I broke a tooth and found a good holisitc dentist, Dr. Nick Meyer, there who gave me a temporary crown. After laundry, showers, and a night in a very crowded snowbird rv park in Scottsdale, we were happy to get back to Quartzsite to use the last three nights on our pass. At least we found a Trader Joe's so we could jam the fridge full of good stuff again!

 

First campsite 100 feet upwind of the busy and dusty main trail

Second campsite near a busy ATV track

We have never seen this at Walmart before. What do the Chinese factory workers that make these think?

I guess these keep away those nasty Quail infestations.

Driving to the end of the Long Term Visitor Area we found the sign that says no overnighting beyond this point. Previous campers spent a lot of effort lining a “driveway” with rocks and “decorating” with rocks and dead tree limbs. There is a small wash behind us, so we have a few trees for shade and our own stand of saguaro cacti. We can see about a dozen other campers scattered across the flat desert, but no one within shouting distance. It has been very quiet here.

Last campsite in the shade of a towering Paloverde tree.

Birds nest in a Mesquite tree

View toward Kofa National Wildlife Refuge

Paloverdes rarely grow leaves but have green bark and twigs

Fishhook Barrel Cactus

Our three most common cactus: Cholla, Barrel, and Saguaro

Greg has been riding his bike back up into the mountains on the ATV trails. The roads are way too rough for me, so I am just enjoying camp, with some short strolls to enjoy the desert. Note from Greg: The ATV trails through the New Water Range gave me several loops of 15 to 20 miles over desert pavement, alluvial pediment and loose wash channels, and lots of lava and pyroclastic flows, such as welded volcanic ash. I followed one trail that dead ended at an old gold mine where hydrothermal deposits daylighted under the oldest volcanics. Nearby I encountered modern hobby prospectors sieving sand in a wash as they looked for placer gold.

Barrel cacti growing out of welded volcanic ash

Baby Barrel Cacti

Baby Cholla, about 3 inches high

Trail through the knee-high Cholla forest on the back side of Elephant Back Mtn

Nest in a Lava cave completely lined with cactus spines. I never saw the resident.

Abandoned gold mine just inside Kofa Wildlife Refuge

Tomorrow we will replenish our water to prepare for more boondocking and drive a short distance to Kofa Wildlife Refuge to hike into Palm Canyon, that has the only native palm trees in Arizona. Supposedly, we can boondock there before we move on to the Yuma, AZ area. We can see the jagged peaks from here, so we are anxious to explore them!

Sunset over Dome Rock Range

Crazy Fun in Quartzsite!

Tuesday, January 21, 2013

Wednesday, the 15^th, we said goodbye to the funky rocks of City of Rocks State Park. One more night on the road before we reached Quartzsite. Eleven years ago we visited a great food co-op in Silver City, so we traveled north a short ways to search it out. We also had a lead on a shop selling grass fed meats. Both were on the main drag through the old part of town. Silver City is a university town, and has a nice mix of coffee shops, bike shops, alternative medicine practitioners and art galleries. We found both stores, bought some yummy food, and took off west around the Gila Mountains. Sometime when the weather warms up we will return to explore the Gila Wilderness.

We bought local organic meat at River Ranch Market in Silver City

Knitted downspout cover - maybe it was too rusty to paint.

The pavement west took us up a twisty winding road and into Arizona. Much more fun than another slog across I-10. After crossing the mountains we reached Safford, and followed the Gila River valley northwest into the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation. Outside the reservation at Globe, we headed due west into the Tonto National Forest south of the Superstition Mountains. We found a small free national forest campground at Oak Flats just off US 60, and pulled in for the night. After settling in we noticed cow plops everywhere, and realized this was a free range area. Hmmm... would we wake to cows rubbing against the rig?

Mountains of the Gila Wilderness

Nice Basin and Range volcanics. Where does the road go?

Our road winding off in the distance.

Eroded remnant of a volcanic neck

Off we go in the morning. No cows, until we get to the main road to drive out. Then we had to wait until they finished crossing the road. Come on, move it boys! We had a short drive down into the Phoenix valley and the smog. Phoenix and the suburbs are sprawling, so it took quite a while on the freeways to make it across. We picked a Walmart on the far side to stop and stock up on disposables for our upcoming boondocking. I found a new pair of cheap jeans Yay!!! Living in them year round and shrinking them up in commercial dryers, is wearing my old ones out fast! (Can't decide how much is shrinkage of them and creeping up weight gain for me!)

Our fellow campers at Oak Flats

The Queen Creek Tunnel heading into Superior, AZ

Winding down the Queen Creek canyon

Getting into Mesa suburbs near Gold Canyon

Saguaros do not seem to mind the Phoenix smog

Superstition Mountains

REALLY tall palm tree (with cell antennas)

Time for lunch. Did we want to eat in the rig, or did we see a sign for El Pollo Loco down the road? Yes, it wasn't a mirage. Our favorite California fast food restaurant has come to Arizona. A short time later we were satiated with their yummy goodness, and ready to finish the last part of our 10 day trek to Quartzsite.
We made it into Quartzsite by mid afternoon. There are traffic jams everywhere! The rally with the other View (Winnebago)/Navion (Itasca, but same company) owners was scheduled for one of the four Long Term Visitor Areas run by the Bureau of Land Management or BLM. In 1983 BLM began to regulate the use of the desert areas around Quartzsite. Boondocking in the desert had become so popular that the desert needed protection. Four areas south of town have registration. You can sign up for 14 nights for $40, or six months for $180. For your fee you get to camp anywhere in the large designated areas and use the dump station and water located in one of them. They all have dumpsters and vault toilets.

We signed up for 14 nights and can move around among the four. Our group was in La Posa North, closest to town. The leaders picked out a large spot in the desert, a half mile walk from the main activities in Quartzsite. We drove to La Posa South and joined the line to dump tanks and fill up our water tank and four jugs. We didn't have dump facilities for the last four nights, so our poor little RV was crossing its legs!
Back at La Posa North, we called Gerald and riding his scooter, he escorted us through the maze of dirt roads to our spot. A lot of rigs were already parked and we found a spot we liked away from the main group. Our area eventually filled up too. By the end of the weekend we had about 60 rigs, almost all with two people, so well over 100 View/Navion owners showed up. The first year they were made was 2005, so we had all years and floor plans up to brand new ones. Most were from the western states, a few from the mid-west, and a few from the east coast.

Camper dumping his "Blue Boy" at the sewer dump. External tank so you don't need to bring your rig to the dump. Just pull it behind your truck or ATV.

Filling up with clear cold drinking water. BLM shuts the well down at night to recover from the hard daytime withdrawals.

Gerald leading us a mile to the rally site.

The weekend brought potlucks and campfires, wine and appetizers, tours of the rigs to see the modifications the owners have done, and on the last day a pancake breakfast and tech talk to answer questions about the rigs. Byron was the informal tech guru of the group and was a big help to everyone. Greg and I are not big joiners and as this was the first rally for us, we weren't sure what to expect. I have to say that we enjoyed getting to know people, yakking, sharing stories and tips. We made fast friends with Tim and Sylvia and their dogs Teddy and Bear, from Huntington Beach, California and hope to meet up with them again. (Hi guys!) We met Harry and Marge from Oregon, who had lived in Alaska, then sailed the South Pacific for 17 years. A small world story involved a fellow owner, who went to my high school in Maryland 10 years before me, and had been hauled into my Dad the vice-principal's office! The Allstays people were here in their View, who run a great phone and tablet app for finding campgrounds, that we use every day we are on the road. Gary and Kay and their dog Paco, from Texas, were next door to us and had recently been to Antarctica, not in their RV! Bob from the San Diego area was our neighbor on the other side, and gave us some great tips for the next part of our journey. We got to listen to a lot of Neil Young tunes coming out of his rig! Everyone had great stories to share. We only met one other fulltimer, John, who is a professional photographer. He climbed on top of a rig and took a group shot on Saturday night.

Our rally site with 64 Views and Navions

During the day we made treks over to the circus that is Quartzsite in January and February. There is a huge tent with the pricier, more sophisticated vendors, and then surrounding that are RV dealers from other areas, who have brought in dozens of rigs to sell here. Then there are all the smaller metal buildings and temporary set-ups in rows and rows nearby. RV supplies, hardware, food, clothing, motorcycle stuff, pet stuff, lots of rocks and gems, jewelry, beads, hardware, rugs, the list goes on and on. It reminds me in some ways of a state fair or boardwalk, but without the games or rides. The only ones riding are some of the dogs. Doggy strollers are in vogue as well as chest carriers.

Really nice sinks carved from fossil-bearing marble

Fossils in a coffee table

Hood ornaments

3 Poodles wearing visors and sunglasses

Seeing where your BBQ came from!

Ask the price before you lick the cone - $10

The majority of people in the BLM areas and at the vendor area are older than we are. Business has been down in recent years, but as the Baby Boomers retire and start RVing, business is beginning to pick up again. We surveyed all the booths and decided what we wanted to buy before we went back yesterday. Too many great RV gadgets to spend money on! We vetoed the extra wifi antenna and the wind shelter for the grill. I vetoed the black t-shirt with the rhinestones with the cute sayings about women and wine. Really, I'm not the rhinestone type, but I almost got sucked in! Such is the power of Quartzsite! I did give in to the great priced, funky Indian sundress and shirt after a fun conversation with Linda who ran the booth. (Shout out to you, Linda!)

New Indian hippie top!

Greg shopping for the last few LEDs for the RV

Tacky visors with hair on top

One of our fellow Views stuck in the traffic madness

Cheap hardware is irresistible to one of us

Dogs everywhere! In snugglys, baby carriages, and cargo carriers, as well as on their own feet.

Cool folding tent trailer for jeep camping

The big tent with the premier vendors

Back at La Posa North, a lot of the rigs pulled out Monday morning for either home or further travels. Some are headed to Florida for another rally. Sorry, we just left there, not in the cards for us. More left this morning. There is a small group of us still hanging out in the desert enjoying the warmth (70's). Today's plan was to go to another area closer to the mountains, since we are finished with our purchases. We dumped and got water again yesterday afternoon, after a 25 minute wait. Not bad, most people waited an hour.
Today Greg decided to tackle a repair that has been on hold the last few weeks until we were camped somewhere we could get it fixed, if he couldn't. Our water heater cold water supply has been leaking into the outside bin it sits over. The water drains out the hole in the bottom of the bin, but needed to be taken care of. So all water was turned off today and he hoped he could just replace the plastic elbow himself. He discovered the elbow was cracked and was unable to get it out, so that started a couple hours of calls to find someone to help. There are a lot of businesses around here doing repairs, but with so many RV'ers here now, they are busy. The dealer in Yuma, an hour and a half from here, couldn't give us an appointment for two weeks!

Beautifully converted old bus joining the dump line

Finally Greg drove up to the office at the entrance and they gave him a list of mobile repairmen approved to come on BLM land. Greg called and the first one said he would be at the entrance in 15 minutes. So, Greg rode his bike up there to lead him back to our site. The work is progressing, the sun is setting, the water tank had to be completely removed, but now we have water and everything works!

Tomorrow we may head down to La Posa South. Bob, our neighbor, told us that we can drive four miles way back into the area and have some solitude and be close to the mountains. We have nine more nights on our pass, and for $2.86 a night, with water and dumping privileges, great weather and desert and mountains, an amazing almost full moon, it's worth it to stay longer! We might go back into town. Greg wants another tri-tip BBQ sandwich, but maybe not another $10 ice cream cone!

Selfie coming back through La Posa North after hiking to do my shopping. Lots of rigs!

The end of a perfect day at Quartzsite!