Winter is not a "run around, see this, do that" sort of time for us. Instead, it is a hunker down, "Get-Away-From-The-Snow" kind of time. So we have been wandering around the southwest in search of just the right combination of weather, community, and scenery. The weather wasn't always cooperating -- we have had lots of days with lows in the 30s and 40s, but -- so far -- have not seen any precipitation that was white and fluffy.
One stop along the way was Quartzsite, Arizona in January. Quartzsite (RVers simply call it "Q") is a sleepy little desert town most of the year, populated by a dusty 4000 or so folks. Come January, however, about 1.5 million RVers descend on the tiny community, most "boondocking," or camping without hookups, for free on land owned by the Bureau of Land Management. Gem and Mineral shows, RV shows, swap meets, and the like provide a flurry of activity for several weeks as the "Winter Visitors" party.
I like to think of Quartzsite as "Spring Break For Geezers" -- lots of retirees, old hippies, and never-aging bikers are tooling around in convertibles, motorcycles, dune buggies, quads, and even the occasional moped. They buy "Wine a Bit, You'll Feel Better" flags, visor hats with fake shaggy hair on the top, ice cream cones at the ridiculous price of $4 a scoop, and even live "Pocket Pets," really a tiny palm-sized marsupial otherwise called a Sugar Glider. Did I mention you could buy a huge geode that looks like a urinal?
And they come in anything that can be called an RV:
And many find a way to bring that ATV. As long as it is balanced and strapped down, what could possibly go wrong?
Tomorrow: Quartzsite businesses
1 comment:
Welcome back to your blog! We missed you so! Tell me, how many urinal things did you and John have to purchase? Will they be next year's holiday exchange gift? It's snowing in Baltimore this morning, we will try to keep the white stuff away from you for a bit longer
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