Quartzsite, Arizona

We have been ‘on-the-road’ for 12-days; left San Diego heading for a crazy town in Arizona called Quartzsite, 20 miles east of Blyth in the middle of nowhere, Arizona. An annual pilgrimage occurs in this once truck stop town. Between January and March the population grows to over 1-million people and for the rest of the year, less than 4,000. This migration of traveling merchants has to be one of the world’s largest outdoor swap meets. A modern-day market bustling with young dirty hippies living in ratty old tents is a common sight, so are old mid-western retirees driving and living in 40’ luxury motor homes. The diversity of people extreme, the shopping fantastic! Lining dusty street after dusty street are 12-foot square stalls selling anything and everything from pieces of meteorites to custom made cowboy hats, Indian blankets, baskets, silver to African artwork, glass beads and Chinese herbs. All at a fraction of the cost; no paperwork, no tax, just cash. Though we did meet a guy from Nigeria who accepted MasterCard and Visa via a hand-held satellite credit card machine.

The one thing that was really cool about Quartzsite and the whole experience (besides the shopping) were these hyped-up 2-person all terrain vehicles. They were everywhere. We want one!

RV’ers can park in the desert for free or stop along the main street and plug into over 70 RV parks. We spent two nights in the desert and one night at a paid RV park (we needed to charge our house battery and take a real shower with lots of hot water). Camping in the desert without electric or water hookups is called boon docking and we love it. Dragon Slayer was perched atop a hill overlooking a dried river bed and beneath a larger hill called Dome Rock. Miles from town and no fire wood on board propelled me to spend the afternoon collecting twigs and dried up cactus for a much anticipated after sunset fire. Phil tooled around in his wheelchair snapping pictures of a landscape void of vegetation not taller than 3 feet and covered in white glimmering rocks, known as quartz. Hence the name, Quartzsite.

Phil’s creative side continues to flourish without the stresses of work and balance sheets. His wildlife photography is amazing and ‘Views From a Wheelchair’ is taking shape; he has over a dozen excellent photographs worthy for the book. Inspired by Quartzsite and all the beads he purchased, Phil has also taken to making beaded necklaces and earrings in the evening. I must confess his creations are beautiful.

I’m not sure what Rule we are up to now, though I do know we have broken another one. Let’s call it Rule #11.

Rule #11: Never leave the RV Park without checking with your spouse that all cables have been disconnected. As we settle into our gypsy lifestyle each of us has their own tasks to complete before departure. It goes something like this:

Phil’s Tasks: Connecting/disconnecting exterior cables. General handyman guy stuff and driving.
Vikki’s Tasks: Everything else.

The damage to our electrical connection was minimal though the damage to our egos will take a little longer to repair. Laughter continues to keep our spirits high and the neighbors guessing.

Not too much on the web about Quartzsite, though this site proved helpful. www.ci.quartzsite.az.us/about

Wheelchair Accessibility Rating: Pretty good, considering you're in the desert dodging rocks and crazy guys driving hyped-up golf carts!