Camping Out In The Desert-Quartzsite, Az

Our two weeks at Desert Shadows RV Resort went by quickly. It was time to move on and head to one of the largest (if not THE largest) RV "camp outs" in the country, Quartzsite, Arizona. It was the 25th annual Quartzsite Sports, Vacation & RV Show. This years event was being held from January 19 - 27th. To get there we took Riggs Rd. around Phoenix which takes you through an Indian Reservation.

As we approached Quartzsite from the east on Rt. 10, we began to see RV's camping out in the desert...miles and miles of them! It is hard to imagine if you don't see it yourself. Check out the photos we have here for a bit of a perspective. Remember, you can enlarge them by clicking on the photo.

We dry camped (no water/sewer/electric) for five days in the desert with folks from the MCOA list on the internet. MCOA stands for Monaco Coach Owners Association. We had met several of these folks in Orlando at a rally. It was fun to get together with them again. It was also nice to meet new folks we had seen posting to the MCOA or Monacoers internet lists and put faces to the names. We had some interesting discussions around the campfire each evening.

The Quartzsite show was incredibly large. It covered many acres of ground. There was also a huge flea market across the street. You could spend several days there and not see everything.

One of the local anomalies we were told we had to see was the Reader's Oasis Book Store in town. You see, the owner of the store does business in a rather unusual way. If you are curious what we are talking about, double click on the picture to blow it up and look around the store front. I think you'll quickly see what we mean.

The desert seemed to grow on us. We were fortunate to have nearly a full moon most nights. The desert seemed alive, even overnight. During the day, Peg policed our area being sure everybody that passed had enough to drink!! Look at the photo!!

So many people had solar panels to charge their batteries so they did not have to run their generators that we decided to add another panel to our roof. Of course there were solar panel vendors there in town so we got a good size panel. Now all I have to do is install it!

It was sad to see our group slowly breaking up but we all knew we would meet again on the road in the near future. Many of us were going to the rallies in Lancaster and Pomona California. So we said our goodbyes and headed back to Casa Grande via route 8 through Gila Bend, Arizona. It was a good road with more interesting terrain....