More From Quartzsite

---

Here it is, the 27th, we’ve been here in Quartzsite since the 10th, and we need an update, at long last.

It has been a very interesting couple weeks in a very different kind of place.

When we checked in 2 weeks ago, the hostess invited us to sign up for the Thanksgiving Day potluck at this park. And we weren’t even checked in yet. Natalie signed up to bring her favorite potato casserole, even though she had not yet even tried either oven in this RV.

We came to Quartzsite, AZ to attend a rally of Campers for Christ, which took place the week of the 14th. We met some fantastic people and had an absolutely outstanding experience. The rally itself was held at a BLM campground just a mile north of town because the rally host was staying there, along with other RVer couples who attended. (BLM campgrounds are managed by the Bureau of Land Management, and it costs nothing to stay there. These campgrounds are just empty land and campers can set up their tents or RVs anywhere in the campground they wish, but there are no hookups like electricity or water or other amenities, and they’re limited to 14 days at one site. We weren’t ready for the “dry camping” experience yet, so we opted to stay at an RV park with the full hookups, just like home.)

One couple at the rally, just like us, is away from their home and their friends for the holidays for the first time. After checking with the hostess at our park, Natalie was able to invite them to the Thanksgiving Day potluck along with 2 bachelors at the rally.

A couple days before the potluck, I was in the office and saw only a dozen or so people had signed up, but there were more than 50 who showed up, bringing enough food that everybody was able to take home a couple days’ worth of leftovers. Amazing. The hostess cooked 4 turkeys, 3 hams, and a bunch of gravy. And we had a really good time with our friends from the rally and the people from the park. Given that Natalie had been concerned about how we’d spend Thanksgiving, this was quite a nice experience. As she puts it: Just 4 months ago I had no idea where we would even BE on Thanksgiving, much less be surrounded by so much ‘family.’ There was so much love, spirit, gratitude, peace, that I just sat in my chair taking in all that was going on and tears came to my eyes. Fellowship, new friends, testimonies, worship, Bible teachings, healings. Oh so good!!! God is with us.

Regarding Natalie and the potluck, here’s her story (and she’s sticking to it…):

I have a funny experience to share so you can pass it along.

We have been basically living in the RV since the middle of July. That’s 4 months now. I could do a couple bags of popcorn in the microwave. I just learned how to turn on the oven. I also just learned how to turn on the convection oven after watching several YouTube videos on Wednesday night. Yes, this past Wednesday. So the day of the Big Feast, I prepared my famous potato casserole in the convection oven I’ve never used. Guess what????? It turned out perfectly. Not a potato left over. I am so grateful. He made me look good. I know who gets the GLORY!!!!

**************

Now, the story about Quartzsite, an amazing and almost unbelievable town if you’ve never been here. It’s totally unlike anything I’ve ever seen or imagined. During most of the year, the population is a couple thousand, but in the winter, the population swells to more than a million, mostly snowbirds. Snowbirds begin arriving in the middle of October, and the 3rd week of January is a monster RV show, the likes of which I’ll never see anywhere else. One big lot will have RVs from every manufacturer, and the rest of the town, will be full, and I mean full, of everything else you could imagine for an RV.

Quartzsite evolved from a settlement of rock hounds who came here primarily because it’s near the center of some amazingly plentiful rock formations, as well as an abundance of old west historical artifacts from ages past. You might correctly assume the name evolved from the abundance of quartz and many other interesting rocks, gemstones, and meteorite fragments. And people hunt the area year-round for interesting rocks. One of the pastors at the church even mentioned his pleasure at cutting open rocks to see what’s inside.

It takes about 10 minutes to drive from our RV park to the center of the town’s business area, and most of the way is empty lots looking like slightly cleared and improved empty lots like the BLM land in the photos, with signs here and there announcing the names of the RV parks at the lots. But it’s kind of amazing how much the empty lots have filled in since we arrived a couple weeks ago. Interspersed with all the RV parks are some businesses selling propane, fresh water and dump sites for the dry campers from BLM and state free camping areas, and all kinds of RV services. Of course, there are some businesses you’d expect, and most things you’d want to find on a shopping trip are available here at a couple grocery stores and dollar stores. But the nearest Walmart is at least an hour away.

We’ve needed to get some things for maintenance of the RV and other hardware type things, and people told us to go to K&B hardware. I fully expected it to be in some brick and mortar building like the Home Depot or Lowe’s we’re familiar with. But this was like a Quonset hut with some adjacent tents, and it was filled with recognizable stuff you’d expect, as well as bulk bins of things like big nails, bungee cords, rope bundles, and other things you might have found in a frontier town store’s barrel a hundred years ago. But ask one of the employees and they know exactly where everything is.

There are some interesting sites to see and tell some of the story of Quartzsite. The first one we visited was the Hi Jolly cemetery. We thought it a must see because so much around here, including the BLM site of the rally that brought us here, refers to a historical character called Hi Jolly. You can read the more complete story on the photos of plaques at the memorial cemetery, but a quick summary is about a camel herdsman brought here named Hadji Ali as part of a U. S. Army experiment to see whether camels in the desert made sense for the army. His name was anglicized to Hi Jolly and he left quite a good record.

The cemetery was noteworthy for the memorials and decorations people have placed for their loved ones. Many of the graves are quite recent, and the cemetery is still available for future graves. I don’t know what the eligibility criteria are, but the most recent we remember was 2017. It’s amazing to walk through a cemetery and read the gravestones and markers. Sometimes the indications are tragic, sometimes as normal as you could expect, but it’s difficult to imagine spending any time in such a place and not at least getting a lump in your throat a few times.

Another place we went was a museum called the Stage Station Museum, on the grounds of an actual stage station from that era, with parts that have been preserved. It is a very basic museum, probably made up of random things that could be salvaged and brought together to be displayed by a group of civic-minded hobbyists proud of their community. The biggest display consisted of several doll houses constructed of random stones and semi-precious gems by a former Quartzsite resident, and called “Barret’s Village” in honor of the man who built them all.

And we need to mention one restaurant or bar or club, or something, called the Quartzsite Yacht Club. We haven't been there, but have heard it's an okay place. But you can't even find a wading pool for a rowboat any where nearby except after a gullywasher that generates flash flooding.

We have to show a little bit about this RV park where we’ve been. It’s the first park you pass when driving into Quartzsite from the north and it has 80 total RV sites, probably half of which are peoples’ homes year-round. The rest are for transients like us.

In addition to the activities, which are plentiful and can be really nice, and the people we meet, the park features a cactus garden, and we’ve included a few pictures of it.

An unadvertised feature is critters. We seldom notice any, but a couple weeks ago, while we were at the rally, one couple mentioned seeing a tarantula just strolling through the park like he belonged. They indicated it was as big as their hand – four or five inches, anyway. Then last week we heard our neighbor exclaiming about a tarantula just outside his rig, so Natalie had to investigate, and I felt obliged to be her bodyguard. We included a photo of it next to my pocket comb, which is a standard 6 inches or so. One of the neighbors brought over a big bucket and took it to the area outside the park and let it go. We didn’t object.

People have told us it’s good to have tarantulas around because they aren’t particularly dangerous, and the rattlesnakes avoid them.

Some have told us they’ve seen coyotes, both at the BLM campground, and here at our RV park. They are not a problem for people, but people should go with their dogs when they have to go outside at night.

One event we’ve really enjoyed is the weekly jam session. We mentioned it after the first week. There were more participants last week and we’ll attend our third on the 1st. Last week, a really good chef brought his tamales, and they were very good. Wednesday this week, he came in and prepare a breakfast of his “Mexican French Toast” and it was really good. I had to be a bit of an insolent twit (just can’t help myself) and ask if it was Mexican French Toast or French Mexican Toast. He’ll be back tomorrow to cook some more tamales to go with the cinnamon rolls at the jam session.

Natalie couldn’t help herself, either, and she has given a couple bridge lessons so far, with one more before we leave here next Thursday.

Our current plan is to leave here next Thursday for Yuma, where we plan to stay until January, and maybe longer. We shall see.

And on that note, we’ll bring this installment to a close.

---

Comments

[Linda Rogers]

Onward the Journey
Sounds like you are both adjusting and having a great time in these first months of your new journey. I am looking forward to your blogs from Yuma. Safe travels, and God be with you and guide you safely as you travel.