A week in the desert

A trip to Quartzsite, AZ had been planned when we embarked for Las Vegas, our wintering grounds.

For Those who are not familiar wigth Quartzsite in January, for anywhere from 2 weeks to a month surrounding the “Big Tent Sale”, this little sleepy town turns into the largest RV park in the world. The town is completely surrounded by BLM (Bureau of Land Management) free camping and cheap long term visitor area public lands (LTVA). You can camp for free for 14 days on your public lands without paying a penny before having to move or you can pay to stay in an LTVA for 7 months https://www.blm.gov/documents/arizona/public-room/map/long-term-visitor-area-map.

The Big Tent is a very large circus tent set up here in the desert to show off new RV models along with all the attendant vendors of RV and camping gear as well as folks soliciting RV users to WorkCamp. Job recruiters are on hand for a lot of different seasonal work opportunities for the full time RV’er. Tyson Wells, a part of the Quartzsite scene is a huge outdoor flea market/gem show area and holds many purveyors of items, some mundane and known, some archaic and wonderful. Multiple days are needed if the average person wants to look at every booth.

The Q is a rendezvous for thousands of RVer’s who are migratory from summer grounds to wintering digs. It is host to every type of “camping” there is from the backpacker to the million dollar Class A. You can see desert rats who have nothing but the shirt on their back and a tarp to the Titled wealthy at this true melting pot hidden in the southwestern Arizona wilderness. From October through May this oasis of dry desert becomes the home of people who don’t want to shovel snow or spend much on heating. But, come the end of the winter season and even a lot of the permanent residents (sticks and bricks dwellers) head out for cooler climates as this patch of desert becomes un-liveable, even for the hearty.

I came to the Q to meet up with a group in the Escapees Birds of a Feather, the Prospecting and Metal Detecting club. I had joined the club in December and their annual meeting/outing was scheduled for the week following the Big Tent. I arrived on Thursday before the outing to attend the Big Tent and generally re-orient myself to the town. Pulling into the designated camp area we were using; I was greeted by Rich, Roger & Marylou, Jimmie & Penny, and Ken & Joanne who all welcomed me into camp. I quickly got my camp set up for the day, see https://bigfokkerdog.com/full-circle/ for the story on the tent. We had a social hour (an Escapees staple activity) and later a crackling fire into the night where we got to know each other and share tales, both short and tall. This fellowship continued all through my stay with great snacks, good company and a bunch of information passed back and forth. Since I was a bachelor in a tent, Roger always checked to see if I had enough coffee and Rich & Peggy had me in for a wonderful dinner one evening. A great time was had, working hard, dry washing, metal detecting and learning about the mining aroud the Q area and the old time miners who braved this unforgiving land to try to make a living in the desert.

The Tent did not disappoint; it was full of the usual vendors and solicitors and I managed to not spend a dime on anything major, much to Erin’s surprise. The best deal here is to renew your Escapees membership (no matter when you expire as they date your renewal for your expiration) with a geat discount. The vendors in Tyson Wells were out in force and of course a hotdog is in order at the big vendor in the middle of Tyson Wells. There are restaurants in town that are good and everyone tries to go there. This adds to the parking issue. Oh Yeah, parking…Thousands of RVer’s in town means thousands of vehicles trying to park in the limited parking areas available in town. This extra traffic, along with bycicles, street legal ATV’s and tons of pedestrians means that your drive anywhere is slow and parking gets creative. Around the tent, people park in the dry washes and on sand berms, in town you look for alternative open lots or wait for the few parking spots near the business you want to patronize. All these extra driverrs also means a very diversified driver pool. Expect to be a defensive driver because that is the only way to keep from being in a collision of some sort. It seems that when people come to the desert they think all traffic rules and courtesy go out the window. During my stay we sadly had a fatal motorcycle wreck due to speed/inexperience and not wearing a helmet on a paved road. It’s always a bad sign to see the lifeflight helicopter sitting in the middle of the closed road and the enging is winding down.

Many of the businesses in town stay busy and are open 7 days a week from November until mid-February as this is the height of the season and the lion’s share of their annual income is made in this short time window. There were a number of shuttered stores on Main street this year, and a favorite visitors’ restaurant shut down. The long standing Quarzsite Yacht Club will be shutteing its’ doors this summer, according to the owners. A great addition to shops in Quartzsite is the Black Dog Espresso drive thru. They made a great coffee for me and I hope they survive in business. There is also a great prospecting/mining store in town that has all your needs as well as some staple reading material about the area. I did not join the local prospectors club this year but might in the future, as they have a private claim for member use.

Everyone will recommend that you do your shopping before arriving and I agree unless you like to pay more for less. Blythe, California is a short drive away and has real stores as well as a 45 minute run to the Wal-mart in Parker. Definitely make your needs list and pick those items up before making the drive.

I’ll leave you with a couple of pieces of advise for spending time here in the Q. Mark your camp site in a way you can recognize it, lights/flags/beacons/GPS pin drop, something to make you stand out from the rest in the desert. Also be very cognizant of your surroundings. Don’t camp in a wash if there is rain in the forecast and definitely watch the forecast in the winter as the conditions can change at any time.

We’ll see you out there.

Jeff