Rocks Can Be Exciting!

Wow sunny and nice... We drove down the road to a little trailer that was selling Cinnamon Buns (for $3.25 each) and got some for breakfast. After two days of pancakes we needed a break. Ken went off to his electrical seminar and I went for a walk. After Ken's seminar I joined him for the Fire Safety seminar. This was wonderful. Everything was covered from types of fires, how to escape and the importance of practice, and maintaining your fire extinguisher - which I didn't know you had to do... I got to use a fire extinguisher, which I had never done, and put out a fire.

After the seminars we went to the rescheduled Hot Dog Bash. Then we joined Glenn and Marcie and headed for the Pow Wow Gem & Mineral Show. There are hundreds of of dealers and sellers here from all over the world. We didn't know there were so many different kinds of crystals and rocks with treasures of tourmaline, peridot, and fossils in them. It was eye opening. We bought a couple geodes (rocks that have crystals inside). You can take the rock home, split it, and hopefully you have a treasure. Rock Hounding or hunting for geodes and crystals is really popular now as a hobby.

Back to camp there was a beautiful sunset over the mountains. Later we had a great spaghetti dinner with home made sauce at Glenn and Marcie's. Then we went to the Rivoli Patriotic Show. It was good. After the show we said goodnight to our friends. We'll see them before we go our separate ways tommorrow.

The Road To Yuma

Stopped raining and it's windy and cool. This ralley is put on by the Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) and is the International Organization which we belong to. We are members of the Coach House Owners Club and they're a chapter of FMCA. There are about 350 coaches and 700 people at this rally.

We went to breakfast and I made plans to go to the "Red Hatters & Ladies Lunch" with Marcie. Then Ken and I took off to go exploring. We took Rte 95 S which is the road to Yuma. It was a beautiful drive. The water that was "gushing" through the washes and over the roads last night is pretty much gone now. The road took us through the Kofa Mountain Wildlife Refuge. We took a side road that lead into Kofa Canyon. The road wasn't too bad at first but then started to get muddier and soft from the rain so we stopped, took picures, and turned around. Ken is now talking about trading the HHR for a Jeep.... He would love to have a 4 wheel drive so we could explore more (hmmm). Further down the road to our right was the Chocolate Mountains (and they are chocolate brown). Soon we entered the Yuma Proving Grounds where they tested missiles and rockets. Lots of signs that say danger - guess you don't go hiking across this area of the desert!

We headed back to Quartzsite so I wouldn't be late for lunch. We passed some of the Long Term Visitor Areas where RVer's can stay for the entire winter. They are Bureau of Land Management sites. They have beautiful mountain views and you get to pick your own piece of desert to live on!

Back at camp I'm off to the Red Hat Ladies Lunch. The Red Hatters tell me they just want to have fun... and we had a great time. Seeing all the red & purple hats and how creative designs and decorations was interesting. The entertainment was a fashion show where our lovely "male" models from 'Husbands of the Rally' showed us the latest styles in purple 0plastic table cover dresses with feather fans and sequin purses. They were really good sports!

We hung out for the afternoon and about 4ish we headed to the Grubsteak restaurant for all you could eat Fish Fry for $9.99. We though 4ish would let us beat the rush - oops - everyone else in Quartzsite was there! There was a 1 1/2 hour wait and they weren't taking names any more.. guess everyone knew happy hour was from 2pm to 4pm. If your in Quartzsite this time of year be sure you go for happy hour so you can make dinner!

We had dinner at the Palo Verde Cafe and then headed back to camp for the entertainment. A husband and wife duo Kay & Ron Rivoli are signer songwriters who have performed with many featured artists. They are also fellow RVer's -and their songs reflect life experiences along the hi-way and bi-way like 'Making The Road Home' and Bury Me in WalMart-so my wife will visit me! Their show was high energy and great humor.The two hour show went really fast. The Rivoli Review was a great cap for the night. They will do a patriotic show tomorrow night and we are looking forward to it.

A Gusty Beginning

The rain is here, but that's OK. Rain in the desert just makes big puddles, but right now it's not real muddy. We went to the 'big tent' for breakfast and "first timers orientation". They offer different seminars during the day so we went to one on Brakes & Suspension and then one on Geocacheing. The Geocaching one sounds like fun and we'll try it out on our travels. There are a lot of cache's hidden here in Quartzsite, but we'll wait for good weather. Wind gusts are now up to 30 - 40 mph and we are rocking a little - good thing we are buffered by the big rigs.

Spent the afternoon blogging and catching up on the "old blog" entries. We made plans with Marcie and Glenn to have cocktails before we went to the Hot Dog Bash. I made a 3 Bean Salsa I found on our trip thru Wisconsin last spring. This was our first cocktail party in the coach...

When they arrived we learned the events for tonight had been cancelled. The ten is really flooded and the wind has picked up. We decided to go out to dinner so off to the Quail Mountain Cafe. A cute little place like a diner. We had a great waitress who was really quick with the one liners. She and Ken got going and when Ken ordered "little ice" in his coke she says "here you go Mr. Picky". We had a great time exchanging barbs and jokes. When we left the rain had stopped, moon wast out, and the wind was worse. The rain must have been really heavy while we were at dinner because the road we came in on was closed as the "wash" was over flowing the road. We found another way out and picked our way thru some good size flowing puddles. Good thing we were in Glenn's truck.

When we got back we learned there were severe wind warnings and a tornado watch until midnight. By 9:30pm the winds had died down. We hope the rain doesn't come back so some of the events tomorrow can go on. We make our own fun so a little rain won't bother us....

Everything You Never Wanted....

Woke up to a pleasant surprise...Sun. Just like any convention we went to register and then met up with Marcie & Glenn.

At this time of year Quartzsite is one gigantic mass of "snowbirds" that spend the winter. Many of them come here every year especially for the vendor shows. We had to go find out what it was all about. We all headed down to the RV Show tent. This is a huge tent (like a double circus tent) with wall to wall vendors inside and outside around the perimeter. There is no way to describe the mass of tents, products, and people! We spent most of the time in the RV tent, had ice cream and of course sausage and onion sandwiches (it is a fair!). Roaming through the vendors Ken found a booth promoting a massage machine and ended up sitting in the chair eating Cheetos while the sales person massaged his back and knees. Never thought he would get up....

We spent the afternoon in the Sella Rama section which is a gigantic flea market where they have everything you ever - or never - wanted!

Back at camp about 4ish. We read our rally materials and had dinner. Then it was time for BINGO.. We had a blast but didn't win anything. I was one number away from the $500 prize, but someone got there first. After bingo we said good night to our new friends and called it a night.

It was a great day. Tomorrow the seminars take place and then the Hot Dog Bash for dinner. We are really going to enjoy the rally.

Quartzsite Experience

Beautiful, sunny 70's were not expected this morning! This was a nice park and I'm sure it will be different than what we are going to at Quartzsite. We spent some time talking with new friends Marcie & Glenn from Ohio. They will be at the rally also.

Eventually we left our site and rolled down I10 W to Quartzsite. We are excited as this is our very 1st RV Rally. We travel through the Harquahala Plains with the Big Horn Mountains on the right we passed a sign "Australia Outback Plantation" (I think they are lost....) This is all wilderness area and it truly is. There are lots of RV's on the road heading to Quartzsite too. As we crossed the RangeGras Plains, the New Water Mountains Black Mesa rose to our left. It had a mesa on the top of the mountain with a hole in it. It looked like a building made of rock. The plains floor has much more vegetation and small trees. The ground is strewn with black rock that looks like it could be lava rock.

We entered Quartzsite city limits and drove over a rise. The sight below us in the valley was unbelievable.... RV's in front of us, to our left & right as far as the eye can see! They are parked on public land and in some RV parks. There are over 250,000 RV's here during this time of year. We found our way to the Rally parking which is a huge parking lot in the middle of the desert. We are next to very big class A's and our neighbors are from North Dakota. We introduced ourselves and talked for a while. Then it was time to check out the area. We walked through the rally lot looking at all the rigs and license plates from all over the US and Canada.

Later we drove down the road to see what the "show" area was all about. Holy Smokes! you wouldn't believe this... at the junction of 4 corners the Gem & Mineral Show, Sella Rama, and the RV Show are all here. Over 4000 vendors and tents! We covered 4 aisles of tents this afternoon before the wind and rain caught up with us.

Back at camp we had dinner and watched TV. Most of the folks will arrive tomorrow for the rally.