Our Quartzsite Experience

Every RVer we have spoken to told us that we must spend time in Quartzsite Arizona. It is THE PLACE TO BE if you RV during the winter months... January and February. So off we go to Quartzsite to join our friends Ray and Millie Surrette from Massachusettes, that we met in Texas. When we arrived, Ray had already been here for several weeks with his friend Mike Phelps....  this one looks different in a speedo. They were kind enough to share their piece of desert land with us. We are on the left with the white car, Ray and Millie are the dark RV and Mike and Sherry are the light RV with the white jeep. We had a campfire circle in the center and had some great communal pot luck dinners.
Here in Arizona there are large parcells of land designated as BLM land, owned by the Bureau of Land Management. Anyone is permitted to camp on the land for 14 consecutive days without a fee... but a permit is required.  You have to be "self-contained".... in other words you have your own water and sewer storage. We spent 7 days in the desert and still had water left in our tank. We were proud of how we did for our first extended dry docking experience. Our on board generator gave us electricity to run the convection oven and micrwave. It also recharged the batteries we used to power our lights.
Quartzsite has a population between 400 and 500 during the summer months but at this time of year it swells to over 10,000.... all RVer's. Because of this population boom, there are various "shows" here ranging from antique cars,  jewelry, rocks and minerals, to RV dealers and parts. Supporting these shows are Flea Markets and Swap Meets. You could shop for 8 hours per day for 30 days and still not see everything. It is amazing.
However... we experienced a few days of RAIN. I didn't know it rained so much in the desert. I have been told that this weather is highly unusual. One night we had gale force winds... needless to say I was rocked to sleep. There was flooding in various places but we stayed high and dry.

Our trip back to Cottonwood, we decided to travel through the moutain range and were treated to a sight we haven't seen  yet this winter....SNOW. It appears the rain we experienced at the 1720 foot elevation of Quartzsite was snow at the 7100 foot elevation of the Prescott area. It was beautiful to look at, but I was glad we were JUST PASSING THROUGH.

Arizona... 4 wheeling

We met up with friends we spent time with in Texas and did some 4 wheeling in the Arizona country side between Cotonwood and Sedona. Pictured here are some pictographs painted by the Sinagua natives prior to 1425. The second picture is some ruins of their dwellings.

The landscape is so different here. It has given me a whole new respect for the native american's who lived here and our early settlers who crossed through and settled this nation.

Our plans are to stay in Arizona until March. There is plenty to keep us busy and the weather is just perfect. Most of the time the day's are in the mid 60's to 70 and the nights are in the low 40's to mid 30's. We've had a few cloudy days but the vast majority are sunny.

Year's End Thoughts..

Just a few points of information and thoughts as we begin a new year.
We experienced some major events this past year: retirement & life style changes
So far we have visited 15 states, traveled 4,572 miles and spent $1,405. for gas (our bigest expense). We spent 20 nights in WalMart parking lots for free and averaged $5.91/night at various RV parks. We have learned some tricks of the trade along the way and have decreased this expense considerably.
Our entertainment expenses have been less than we anticipated due to our Federal Parks Pass. We don't eat out as much as other RVer's, so that keeps expenses down. We have taken over a thousand pictures to remember and share with our friends and family.  I can hear you groaning from here...
All in all, we are able to stay within the budget we established without hardship or feeling deprived.  We both LOVE the lifestyle. We have met some really neat people from all over the country and Canada.  We have never regreted our decisions and look forward to continued journeys.