Enjoying Quartzsite

January 01-15-2018 thru 01-21-2018

We have been very busy here at Quartzsite, visiting, shopping and exploring. Everyday we have spent some time with our Escapee friends and almost everyday there are new arrivals to meet. Most evenings we visit around the campfire and look for stars and satellites.

Visiting with the Escapees group

Playing Corn Hole

There are many things happening in Quartzsite as well as places to explore. We visited Tyson Wells Market Centre and Sell-A-Rama a few times. This is a ongoing flea market selling anything and everything you can imagine. We purchased a few things including two sets of solar string lights to put under the camper. The theory is the lights keep the mice and pack rats away. We shall see.

Tyson Wells

Thursday we headed east to check out the nearby town of Bouse. On the way we saw a sign for a historical marker and when we got to the parking area it was full of cars. We were thinking that this must be a very interesting place however found out it was the Quartzsite Roadrunners Gem and Mineral Club (QRGMC) on a rock trip. They were searching for Green Banded Rhyolite. Huh? Pretty green striped rocks. We spent some time talking to the trip leader. Recently Dennis has been interested in Lapidary (cutting, polishing and engraving stones and gems). Well we found the right group to help us out. They have a clubhouse with lots of equipment to cut, polish and finish rocks and gems of all types which members can use for a small fee. In addition there are plenty of classes to learn about working with stone, glass and beads and making knifes and weaving baskets. We were sent back into Quartzsite to the Quartzsite Improvement Association (QIA) Gem and Mineral Pow Wow to sign up to become members of the QRGMC. We will have to attend some orientation sessions next week before we can make anything.

On Friday we were contacted by a couple heading to Quartzsite in their Heartland Bighorn. They had contacted Dennis through The Heartland Owners Forum and were interested in talking to him about our solar setup. Mike and Terry are from Washington State and have a house in Port Townsend. They are retired and are younger than us (49 and 51). They are touring the country in there RV just like the rest of us. We had a nice visit with them and later invited them to the nightly Escapees campfire.

Saturday – One of our neighbors invited us to go for a UTV ride in the desert. First we needed to go into Quartzsite to attend orientation for the QRGMC. We were able to sign up for orientations sessions for Lapidary and Silversmithing which will be on Thursday.

Shortly after we returned to the camper we took off in the UTV. It was a little cool and windy (60's and 15 mph wind) so we had to bundle up a bit. We wore face and eye protection to protect us from the wind and dust. After riding through the desert and between the mountains we headed back to Quartzsite and stopped for lunch. By then there were showers in the area. We got a bit of a chill on the way back but it was still a very fun day.

UTV Ride

UTV Ride

You'd think it was cold out!

Sunday – Today we took our truck on a trek into the desert with a group from QRGMC. This was a rock trip to look for red, white and blue agate. After arriving at the meeting place we all headed east on I-10 then took the Hwy 60 exit and continued east to the town of Brenda. Then we turned off onto a dirt road. As we got further and further into the desert the road became narrower and rocker. We were on this “road” for about 3 miles. Once we reached the parking area everyone got out and spread out to search for the agates. We were not sure exactly what we were looking for but we found a few stones which we thought were good. We will see once we do an exploratory cut through the stones. The ride back over the rocky, bumpy road did not seem to take as long as the ride in. Once back in Quartzsite we stopped at the Pow-Wow then went across the road to the RV and Sport Show.

Red, White and Blue Agate Rock Trip

Back at the camper we spent most of the evening talking to Mike and Terry. They told us all about their truck and fifth wheel purchase miss adventures. They purchased both of them used and ran into some major issues. I felt bad for them but they can laugh about it and have put it behind them.

Quartzsite Plomosa Road Short Term Visitor Area – (33.7674661,-114.1694770) We parked at the extreme eastern edge of the visitor area. The Escapees Chapter 21 folks were a short walk away. This is free dry camping area with a 14 day limit.