Quartzite

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Just across the Arizona border from California on I-10 is the desert oasis of Quartzite. At first glance, it is the kind of place Melisse and I would tend to run screaming from. That is because Quartzite, Arizona is Shangri-la for the R-V set. Fortunately, we did not flee but, rather, this time through, hung out and poked around to see what it had to offer. When we came through last month we just stopped in long enough to get water, some groceries and spot a Delaware license plate (a travel game we play is to spot a license plate from each state-Delaware made #50, first time ever). Our investigation of Quartzite led us to the Fagowee eatery where we were enticed by the proprietor to stop in for a lunch of boiled cod with all the fixings. He hailed from the home of the fish boil, namely Dorr County Wisconsin. He set up his trailer cantina in the market area in among all the tents of other vendors. He spotted Quito and ran out to meet us telling us of his eskie dog. Naturally we formed a bond on the spot. While he was preparing our meal, we struck up a conversation with Dr. Dingo who gave us a history lesson of the area. What we learned was that Quartzite was originally a gem and mineral mining town that evolved over time into a runaway spot for those who wanted to escape conventional living. According to Dr. D, Quartzite hit its peak of potential a couple of decades back. In its heyday, it was a sort of gypsy encampment with lots of spontaneous jam sessions and good times among the vagabonds. He spoke of getting together with other musicians in the dining area of the local McDonalds playing music for free burgers. There were other venues as well, local watering holes and campfires. To this day, behind the counter in the hardware store is a full array of guitar strings for purchase. The highlight of the season (which runs from November through February) was the camel races. People came from near and far for the spectacle. The whole thing sounded like quite a carnival. Those days are over though. The camel races are no more. Dr. D sighed when he spoke of the influx of rules and structure from the more recent immigrants. Now the town is made up largely of retirees who have vacated suburbia and planned retirement communities for the open road living out of their behemoth traveling abodes. Quartzite offers acre after acre of open desert where these folks park for the winter and establish their own community. A large percentage of them seem to be Viet Nam vets. Dr. D himself is a hobo troubadour who has made a living playing gigs for USO shows and in bars in towns across the country. He proudly said that he can be found at hobo.com right beside Arlo Guthrie. Melisse and I finished our lunch, thanked one and all for being good company and went on to wander through the market looking at gems, junk and the colorful characters. Ironically, just as we were gassing up prior to hitting the road, Melisse spotted a traveling circus trailer that housed, you guessed it, camels.

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Photos

Ruby G's real self image
Note the driver

Comments

[jill]

Wow
What a neat side-adventure! This sounds like just my kind of out-of-the way place to explore...I love stopping at all the "biggest ball of yarn" sites across the country, even if it's just for a few minutes. You meet good people wherever you go, don't you guys? Keep trucking Ruby Grace!