Seeing the Desert up Close

On Friday, the 3^rd, we had a fairly short day.  About 80 miles south along the Colorado River (CA/AZ border), past Parker Dam, and the town of Parker, into Quartzsite, which was home to one of the largest RV gatherings anywhere.  The peak attendance was a couple of weeks ago.  Since we were working, and we don’t care for crowds too much, we didn’t feel too bad about getting here after many had left.  The RV show was over, but the area vendors were still set up for the Rocks and Minerals Show, and later there will be a big car show here as well.  One big drawing factor around here is the permission to pull off the road and drive into the desert for camping “off the grid” or “Boondocking” as it is called.  Our last blog showed where we were parked.  Here is a view out our windshield on Saturday morning, looking toward the town.

Not too crowded, right?  The only TV available that night was 2 Spanish-speaking channels.  The shopping in Quartzsite was mostly like a yard sale, so we chose not to stay more than one night.

Saturday we had another 80 mile drive to the small town of Tonapah, right along Interstate 10, to a very nice RV park named Saddleback Mountain RV.  Here is where we spent a quiet weekend. 

We have a little more room around us than at Lake Havasu, but not as much as at Quartzsite.  The church service put on by the park Sunday morning included music from a family with 4 teenagers who performed Bluegrass and Gospel choices.  Our Super Bowl Sunday included homemade soup and bread – a nice quiet weekend (until 3:00AM when Bob heard coyotes howling). 

We plan to spend a few more days at Paula and Tom’s place  (only 60 miles) before moving to southen Arizona by late this week.