Quartzsite AZ: Bluegrass & RV Show

     On Thursday morning we departed Indian Wells Carefree RV Resort, and made the short drive across I-10 to Ehrenberg, NM.  It was only 120 miles or so, and as soon as we crossed the Colorado River at Blythe, CA, we arrived at our destination of Arizona Oasis RV Resort.

 Notice to GPS users: As we exited I-10, "Satellite Sue" our GPS, was directing us to turn left and cross over I-10.  The road first requires a right turn, into a roundabout, and then cross over I-10 to the south.  In the middle of recalculating, Sue froze up and had a meltdown.  That was kinda strange since we had been using her for a couple of years now, with no problems.  I decided to give her a second chance, and the following day, we drove the same route back to the resort, and she froze up a second time.  I guess she just doesn't like roundabouts???
     After getting our rig settled into our spot, our neighbor invited me over for a cold beer, and I decided almost immediately that I was going to like this place.  Mike and Iris are from Alberta, Canada, and were a welcome source of information around the area.

 Another young couple were visiting also, and even though we spent a few hours visiting around the campground, I never caught their names.  Is that embarrassing or what??  And we had so much in common with them.  They are from the Tampa, Fl area, and have been traveling around the country for several months now. Amazingly, they were camping at Meacham Lake during the manhunt for the escapees from Dannemora Prison!  I think there's going to be a pretty good chance that our paths will cross again, since we're both heading to South Texas and over to Florida.  We met another wonderful couple, Ben and Mary from Chino, Ca, on Mike's patio, and our last night in Quartzsite, we all went out for pizza and beer.  It would be really nice to meet up with them someday.  So the Arizona Oasis RV Resort gets a big thumbs up!
 

     We actually had 2 reasons to stop over in this part of Arizona.  We wanted to attend the 29th Annual Blythe Bluegrass Festival, in Blythe, CA and we wanted to checkout the RV Show in Quartzsite, AZ.  Friday morning we were up bright and early to get over to CA for the festival.  Our favorite bluegrass band,  The Gibson Brothers were putting on 3 shows, and they are always a pretty good time.  The weather was just a little cool, and there was just a slight breeze.  The snowbirds were pretty well bundled up, and Debbie actually brought along her wool sweater and jacket, and was just right.  The festival was utilizing 2 stages, so attendees were always able to find music to listen to.  This is a quiet festival.  There was no alcohol, but the snowbird crowd really seemed to enjoy the music from all the bands performing throughout the day.  As we walked the festival grounds between shows, Debbie spotted a booth selling Bonfire in a Can, which is actually a candle in a cookie tin.  Inside the can is a tightly wrapped cardboard roll soaked in about 9 lbs of paraffin.

      The website claims that it puts off a pretty good flame for heat, and when the paraffin burns away, we just need to place a block of paraffin on top of the rolled cardboard, and as that melts, the "candle" continues burning.  Sounds pretty easy, but we haven't tried it yet.  If it works, it will sure beat lugging firewood around.
     Saturday and Sunday we made the plunge into the RV Show in Quartzsite, AZ.  As we approached Quartzsite on I-10, a massive tent could be seen in the distance.  Exiting the highway, we began to understand what everyone told us previously about Quartzsite.  RV's of every shape and size were parked everywhere, with more traveling up and down the roads.  Jeeps, and ATV vehicles zigged back and forth across the road and into the desert, as everyone struggled to find a parking spot somewhere near the tent.  After a few trips through several parking areas, which were nothing more than desert/dirt roads, we managed to find a spot to park the Cherokee.

     A huge white tent was spread out in front of us, surrounded by hundreds of new trailers, 5th-wheel rigs, and RV's parked all around it.  Parking was free and admission was free, so how could we go wrong.  Entering the tent, we were met with thousands of people moving in a circle around every conceivable tool or gadget or anything, you could possibly need.   You could even get your concealed carry permit!

     People were doing a lot of shopping, and if you really needed something for your rig, you could find it here.  I was able to get some answers about my broken sewer hose, and Debbie scored a slicer/dicer that is going to get a big workout on our journey.  But the show didn't begin or end at the tent.  All around Quartzsite, every nook and cranny, it's a massive flea market on steroids happening. Anything you need can be found.  And rocks seems to be the hot commodity.

Everywhere, there are vendors selling rocks or crystals, some polished into jewelry, while others are just buckets of rocks.  That seems to be the snowbirds life out here in Quartzsite.   There are multiple RV parks around the town, but most choose to boondock on BLM land along the outskirts of town.  We had the impression that Quartzsite was going to be pretty wild in these campsites, but they seemed to be pretty well organized by BLM.  Each campsite was controlled by a Camp Host, and those camping on BLM land, need to sign in.  There didn't seem to be the massive numbers of campers out boondocking, and discovered that because of the weak Canadian dollar, they have decided to stay home.  It was quite evident, since there were lots of empty sites all around Quartzsite.

     Today we moved over to Benson, AZ where we will spend several days exploring the area.  We fueled Big Red for $1.89/Gal which truly amazed us.  If that price can continue for a few more months, that would be fantastic.  Debbie and I are still looking for some warm weather, and as I look around at the snow capped mountains all around us, I think we're gonna have to keep looking.  But there's lots to do here in Arizona, so we'll have to wait a little longer.