Arizona 2007

Wow! 2007 in Arizona, sunshine and getting warmer.
We are enjoying the weather, days are getting longer and warmer and the nights are not quite as cool. On Jan. 4th we spent the afternoon by our rig enjoying the sun, One neighbour dropped by, then another and another about 10 in all and enjoyed conversation and milder weather until about 8:00pm, really nice.

Sat Jan.6th

Saturday Morning 3 couples went to the Pinal County Fairgrounds to enjoy the 21st Annual Fiddler and Bluegrass Jamboree, Arts & Crafts Bazaar and Car show. This was at eleven mile corner out in the desert. ( called 11 mile corner because it was 11 miles from Casa Grande, Eloy and Collidge) We watched a 1 hour show with a young lady who was the International Yodelling Champion, Really great singing . The interesting cars including some old wonders? that actually ran and 1957 Chev Nomad crossed with a new chevy caprice, interesting! For lunch we enjoyed a huge smoked turkey leg yummy!
Then I just had to buy another hat. This awesome palm leaf hat that is completely shapable and comfortable too.
Back at home I made another huge pot of soup with beans and sauerkraut, Steve has me hooked on, boy is it ever tasty.
Lots more RV's moving in , the campground is beginning to fill up with licence plates from most states and provinces. What a great bunch of people.

a few pics.

Mon. Jan. 15th

Overnight again was cold -10 c and according to Joe, the manager, this is the coldest winter in 17 years. But it does get warm during the days, about 16 c today and sunny.
What a busy week, tuesday night darts, wednesday happy hour and campfire, thursday seafood ( salmon, shrimp, fish, lobster) potluck dinner and games, friday night darts, saturday appreciation dinner/dance. Sunday Relax.

Monday we getting ready to roll again, Saturday night was an appreciation dinner for the Resort. What a good time, Ham, Mashed potatoes, corn, salad, rolls, butter, coffee, tea , pop, beer and cake for desert was provided along with good entertainment and dancing all free! Over 165 people there too. Took a few more pictures and met a lot of really nice people, Monday to Casa Grande for 2 nights then Quartzsite in the desert for about a month to camp with a lot of cactus and 150,000 other rvs. Then north towards Lake Havasu City and Las Vegas.

more Pics.

Thurs. Jan .18th

Well we finally got here, Quarzsite Arinzona. Arrived noon on Wednesday. Amazing as we drove along I-10 towards town seeing RV's parked in the desert. There is only 2 exits into town, Just follow some RV's and we get there. Turning south on I-95 We went 1/2 mile to first BLM ( Bureau of Land Management) called La Posa West Volunteers run these, we were told to park over there and pay our fee $30.00 cash for 2 weeks of dry camping. In line we got our stickers and they have to apply to your vehicles to make it legal. Then drive around look for a piece of dirt tro park on,(11,000 acres to choose from) Keep at least 15 feet from other RV's , and keep on roadways? Not sure where the roads are. We did find nice spot about 300 yards from the Big Tent and Tyson Wells market. With 100's of vendors there. And we have Wifi interenet too! Works good Early morning 5:00 am but slows right down by 7:30 am as more people go online.

Met some nice neighbours from Ontario, Nova Scotia, Saskatchenwan, BC, Manitoba, Washinton, Cailfornia, Florida,.. all over. One man from Mildmay Ontario was riding his bike stopped by to say hi, he has been coming here for 30 years and was 83 years old ! See him all the time riding everywhere.

On thursday morning we drove around town to become familiar and beat the traffic, there is one Bank ( and the machine was down )and a nice grocery store and some temporary ones set up in tents. Most of the town is RV parks, Also Found a New McDonalds, Burger King and a Dollar Store. By 10:00am went back to "home Dirt" as traffic was getting heavy. We took off and walked many isles of vendors till about 2:30pm . Rock and Gem show and almost anything else you can imagine. On Saturday the Big Tent opens with 69,000 sq feet of RV vendors. and many Dealers set up with some great deals. Will check them out everyday for a week. Even Camping World has a huge tent set up here too.

Friday Jan, 19th

Today was overcast and cooler, High got to about 45 F ,drizzly and rain most of the day till around 500pm when our neighbour from Nova Scotia, knocked on the door to tell us about this beautiful double rainbow that we could actually see both ends.

Walked about for a bit down to Beaudrys Rv dealer and had a great free Lunch BBQ chicken on a bun, potato salad, beans, coffee, iced tea and cookies, and a band playing too. " The Desert Rats" (suitable name). The traffic by noon was bumper to bumper everywhere, cars, trucks and lots of RV's . Many Rv's driving around looking for a nice piece of dirt to camp on. At least with the rain it kept the dust down.

Quartzsite pics

Sat. Jan. 21

8:30 am Heading out to RV show and the big tent, only 5 min. walk . Lotsa people starting and traffic too.Found some bargains that we were looking for the price we wanted to pay and got the best deals ever. Thursday we bought an anti gravity chair for Suzie that we have been looking for for a year, and got for 1/2 price. We came back to "home dirt" and dropped a few things off. Heading back to Beaudry's for another free lunch Sausage on bun, potato salad,beans,huge cookies and beverage.

Walk about and taking a few pics and looking at the bargains, got a good deal on a privacy screen for windshield too, we returned to "home dirt" to enjoy some sunshine, with our neighbours from Nova Scotia. A short bike ride back for 1 smoked turkey leg with leftover homemade pizza and potatoes veggies , supper was done, Yummy turkey !

RV Show pics

Sun. Jan. 22

Sunday brought us a cold and windy day. At 8:30 am I dropped our old tow bar off at the Roadmaster service centre to see what they could do with it. We walked and toured more vendors and accumulated some more freebies enjoying the fresh air although cold and dusty and getting very windy. found a "Dollar Tent" everthing 2 for a dollar. No free lunch today so back to "home dirt" for the afternoon, getting quite cool. At 330pm I went back to check our draw and all was closed down because of the High winds!! One huge tent had blown down. But did manage to pick up our towbar completeley refurbished with new inside arms and ends, $300.00 worth of parts not counting over 2 hrs labour, NO CHARGE! Show promotion. Thank you Roadmaster for the service. Good deals to be had.

Mon. Jan 22.

The wind is gone. Dust too. Went back to big tent area and checked out more vendors. More free stuff and all. Checked out the Rocks, gems and geodes, some are very expensive but unique. Enjoying the weather as it is getting nicer. Bike riding here is great, miles of desert and trails. Lots of interesting RV’s, bus conversions etc.. And people to talk to. We have heard estimates of 1.5 to 2.5 million visitors at this peak time.

We drove to the west end of town to the Main Event, which is more of the same only more used stuff, vendors and RV parks everywhere. This must be a ghost town in the summer with only 3,400 people here.

Monday Pics.

Thurs.

We can now sit outside in the shade, Suzie reading or computing and I can putter about the RV and have even gotten out my wood carving. Too nice!! People from Washington, BC, Alberta, North Dakota, Manitoba, Nevada, California & Ontario stopped by to inquire where we are from in Ontario. And some can relate to Kitchener/Waterloo area. A lot of talking and listening, not much reading and carving. (fun)

It was still quite warm after supper and we were able to take a nice walk around the area and watch the sunset behind “Q” mountain, about 6:30pm days getting longer.

Different people have been telling us all the areas to see and BLM lands to camp on, most are free or $30.00 for 2 weeks. Down towards Yuma there is Hot Springs BLM with natural hot springs and sand dunes in the Sonora Desert, and about 2 Miles from Mexico. We can walk across border again. So I think we will become mobile again soon.

Fri. Jan 26.

Today we went to the Country Music Festival in Blythe, California, (15 miles west). It was a nice drive seeing more RV’s camped in the desert along I-10. We changed time zones again (PST) and arrived an hour early, so we toured about the area for a bit. Arriving back at the Festival we enjoyed a couple of hours of some great country music free. Being quite hot in the sun we actually ran our AC in the car on the way home.

We relaxed in the shade for a bit before going to check out a local restaurant. The “Mountain Quail Café” (at the corner of Moon Mountain and Quail Trail), Very good home cooking , we arrived at 4:55pm and a long line up, but we were only 2 and got right in, popular spot! Clam chowder and hand dipped catfish and fries were excellent as was the service. We drove around town, (mostly RV parks) exploring a bit and enjoying the sun setting behind the mountains


Thursday pics

Saturday

We go to the north east corner of the intersection to the POW WOW ? No Indians its a huge rock and gem show inside and out. They have a farm wagon will take you around town touring the place. Most people walk as nothing is more than a mile or 2. Lots of interesting Gems and rocks, and cutting and polishing gem demonstrations. We then drove around town a bit more and found the HI Jolly Monument, the Syrian who came here in 1856 to care for the 71 camels that were imported by the war department for the desert, a project that was eventually abandoned.Interesting bit of history. After that heading back to "home dirt" we passed an old abandoned Garage called the Camel Stop and the Quartzsite Yacht Club! ( Land Yachts) Took a few pictures of some old bus conversions and enjoyed an awesome sunset.

Sat. Pics.

Sunday
We called our friends from Ontario and found that they had lost our phone number. They had spent hours the day before driving the desert and could not find us. They came over and we toured the last day of the RV show again and bought 2 smoked Turkey Legs for supper. We enjoyed their company for the afternoon as many neighbours dropped by to visit . And we were able to enjoy our first campfire of the year on the desert in Quartzsite , awesome night.

Then on monday we decided to got to the dump station, we had no fresh water left (12 days dry camping). At 11:00 am the traffic heading north on the highway was bumper to bumper rv's for miles ( traffic jam in the dersert). Good thing we were heading south with the car to see how busy it was, and there was along line up at that time. On the way back we went through La Posa Tyson Wash and took Old Yuma road back to La Posa West about 5 miles of dirt road thru the desert. Dusty drive. Good thing for car duster, dust it off and the rig every day.
The dumpstation was not too busy when we returned at 2:30pm, about 6 Rigs ahead of us, BUT, no water! Water main broke and storage tanks empty. no water for another 14 hours. We emptied sewers and took a drive back to town and fueled up the RV and managed to get 75 gallons water there, free tap. Only 40 gallons fuel thou. Back to "home dirt".

Sunday Pics.