Why to Quartzsite and beyond.

There were just way too many photos in my last post to leave any room for any travel updates, so will try to get caught up a bit with this one. 

So we pulled out of Why, generally headed for Quartzsite as usual this time of year to take in some of the big RV show.

Any trip through Gila Bend of course involves a stop at the Shell station at the far east end of town.  They have a great dump site, with water, propane, food, fuel, and an RV park.

From there it was on north up to Buckeye.  I’d been keeping an eye out for a convenient location to get some new shocks in the old truck and a check of the brakes as well.  After more than 350,000km, I thought it deserved a bit of TLC.  On the way by Buckeye Hills Regional Park, we checked it out and decided it would make a fine place to stop for a day or two and get the work done.  Unfortunately, it was about the last days that the camp area would be open for free camping as plans are apparently underway to re-develop the area possibly into a pay type campground?  But we camped there for a couple of days and got the work done in Buckeye.

After that, it was off to Quartzsite!  Even before the show had officially started, traffic was chaotic and parking at a premium. 

While I have some patience during the day to deal with the crowds and traffic, I have no desire at all to deal with that at night, especially the constant din of generators and dust clouds from the ATV’s.  With that goal in mind, we headed a bit out of town to a very isolated spot known by only a select few, where peace and quiet and scenery predominate.  As a bonus, the AT&T service out there was much better than the overwhelmed networks in town.

After a few days, we got the helicopter up in the air for a look around to see if we had any neighbours.

Don’t see any in that direction.

Or this direction!

There was very little bird life as compared to Why, but eventually the hummingbirds discovered the feeder.  Nothing discovered the seed feeder, and even piles of seed on the ground went undisturbed for a week, so Hailey had to settle for hunting lizards.

At the show in town, I have tired of taking photos in the big tent, but did find some bargains in some of the more eclectic vendors booths.  For example, anybody in need of the latest outboard motors with fuel injection, electric start, digital controls should not shop here!

Likewise, anyone needing some new cutlery for the RV, or a handy adapter for an Atari computer …

The overflow parking in the wash to the west of the big tent always seems to trap the unwary, unused to the consistencies of loose sand and gravel that lies in wait for them there.  I don’t think I’ve been there once without seeing some poor soul, with their 2-wheel drive vehicle, or large Class C hopelessly mired in gravel up to the frame.  Most years, there is a Toe truck (that’s the local company) stationed nearby to assist.  Late in the show I saw an elderly couple in a class C mired in the sand.  A group of men pushing couldn’t quite get them free of the sand, so I hooked on with my tow strap and the big GM soon had them back on solid ground!

I saw a couple of cute spare tire covers around town.

Friends Ernie & Deb camped nearby, but their rig couldn’t get as far off the road as I managed.  The local ham radio guys (Quartzfest) meet up near mile 99 every year and this was no exception.  Ernie and I attended a couple of their demonstrations, including one on drones.  Darn it.  Now I have to go buy some more toys!

I’m also enjoying the flight simulator included with Google Earth when I have the bandwidth available – after a long and eventually successful search for a joystick.  I have flown the Grand Canyon, Mt Everest, Lake Louise, and even Quartzsite!

As usual, I picked up a few new LED lights from the vendors in town and picked up a length of seal for one of my slides at RV Lifestyles.  And amidst the crowds I even managed to do a bit of laundry one day.

It was time to move on again, and we decided to head down Tucson way.  After a late start, we ended up finding a fairly quiet spot for the night west of Tucson.  I think it was freecampsites.net that showed a bit of BLM land out there, and sure enough we found a nondescript ‘pasture’ spot in the Ironwood National Monument (BLM).  It was only for the night, but was quiet with the exception of some coyotes that insisted on serenading Hailey.  She was not impressed, and made no move to go out and join them.

If you want to find out where we headed next, you’ll just have to wait till the next installment!