This was our first time in Quartzsite…we had heard many things about it, but until you experience it for yourself – you haven’t DONE Quartzsite!We met up with our friends from the GS Kountry Kampers at a campout the weekend prior to going to Quartzsite, in Banning, CA. On Sunday, there were 7 couples that caravanned from Banning to Quartzsite. Soon after crossing the border into AZ we stopped
for fuel and at that point, we left the caravan. We were parking with friends from our MCOA (Monaco Coach Owners Association) group in another location. Ironically, we were probably less than 1/8 mile from each other and we walked past “their camp sites” every time we went to the RV show tent, Rice Ranch, or the other shopping areas of Quartzsite!You know you’re in for an adventure as soon as you “crest the hill” coming into Quartzsite and the surrounding areas. There are motorhomes, trailers and RV’s of every size, shape, and vintage…some even home-made…parked anywhere and everywhere in the desert, in between the cactus! It’s really quite a site! There are a few companies that take aerial shots just to show you how amazing it is!
Anyhow, once we got off the Interstate we were greeted over our FRS radio by our wagon-leader, Lew Anderson! Don was getting a little panicky about just pulling off into the desert, so Lew actually met us at the ranger station! Sure eased Don’s mind! We paid our $$, unhooked the car and Lew led us into our “site”! We were greeted by Dottie (Lew's wife), Ostrander’s, Bahnson’s, Roe’s, Morrison’s and Rea’s. Clarkson’s joined us a few days later. Once we arrived, got set-up and had our chairs out the fun began! We had plenty of shopping at the different venues in and around the desert! There are swap meet type booths set up just about everywhere you look! I think you could find just about anything your heart desired from food, jewelry, clothing, tools, RV based products, etc., etc., etc.! The ladies in the group had fun finding all three of the craft stores that are in Quartzsite and had a few “mini” classes on their own! We also found the local grocery stores as well! The men sat around drinking beer and $2 Buck Chuck (a favorite of theirs) and solving all the problems of the world and of course discussing (and disecting) our Monaco products! Lew became our own resident barber! The women kept the men fed with hors devours and their regular meals…some shared and some on our own. Don talked the group into getting $1 burgers one night! $20 fed a lot of people with some pretty good hamburgers that came with buns and grilled onions. We supplemented them with condiments, cheese, chips, and of course, dessert! We enjoyed many toasty nights by the camp fire with plenty of wood, marshmallows and peanuts! Dottie likes hers burned to a crisp (I think she likes to see them catch on fire) where I like mine nice and evenly browned! Forgot to mention we had a potluck one night where Linda Clarkson shared some of her yummy chili! It was so good that she had won a chili cooking contest with it (she says one of her secrets is buffalo)! We also had some really yummy macaroni and cheese that Glenda Roe made! Lots of great hors devours and food - we never went hungry, that’s for sure! Seems campers of every kind do plenty of eating!
Even though we were in the middle of the desert, we had several visitors! My mom, sister, Kathy and her husband, Jon came to Quartzsite on Saturday to experience Quartzsite. Bill & Kathy Corroum, new MCOA friends that “rescued” us while we were in AR came over (they were parked elsewhere in Quartzsite) and a friend of mine from an online, tole painting list, Robin Cramer and her husband, Steve also stopped by! It was fun seeing friends in the middle of nowhere! It makes you realize just what a small world we really live in!
Don and I were going to stay in AZ for another week or so before beginning our trek to Oregon, but it wasn’t to be…there were no reservations available, so we headed back to Nuevo, our “holiday destination”! I thought it was kind of sad as one by one, each of us headed off in different directions and by the following Sunday, we all packed up and headed off for new adventures! We had a lot of fun with our MCOA friends and look forward to meeting up with all of them again! Once back in Nuevo I spent about 4 hours cleaning the dirt and the dust that seemed to find it's way just about everywhere in the coach! Remind me about that next year when we once again think about going to Quartzsite! :-)
