AROUND THE GROUNDS IN QUARTZSITE

 By Barry & Monique Zander, the Never-Bored RVers

 We returned to the Quartzsite show area Friday, where we took in dozens of booths that we hadn’t seen in our first three days.  Hard to imagine, but that’s how big it is. 

 

In case the thought of all that humanity and products to look at overwhelms you, don’t be put off by it.  You really don’t need to see it all, but we’ve got the time, so we’re doing lots of hiking right here.

First, responding to a question from yesterday. The RV portion of the show ends its 9-day run this Sunday.  There are several other shows that run either concurrently or before or after the RV show, which is one of the reasons to check out the website, http://www.quartzsitervshow.com/.  It’ll tell you lots more and probably give you next year’s dates. – I’ll respond to the other question at the end of today’s blog.

 

We started the day Friday by revisiting inside and outside exhibitors at the big tent, mainly to chat with vendors who had become friends or for more information about what we looked at or had already bought. 

Then we headed back to the flea market, since we had only looked at booths on six or seven aisles, roughly half.  The vendors were there to interest us in RV-related items, jewelry, Native American crafts, tools, household items, art, clothes and hats, collectibles … well, you get the idea.

We then returned to Monique’s favorite area, the gems and minerals, many in large

Quonset hut buildings, other under canvass.  The displays are spectacular and the prices are unbelievable, even before the bargaining process begins.  Buyers from around the world pour in for the first days of the opening to get the best of the best items for their retail shops.  We couldn’t imagine how we could see such, well, spectacular left-overs.

 We wandered in and out, comparing quality and prices before making a couple of small purchases that fit our on-the-road lifestyle. 

Now we have finished the show (probably).  Yet, there were more sellers along other roads, with more products, a few of whom we visited.  One other stop nearby was an RV parts store, which was crowded with people like us looking for items like gutter downspouts, replacement light fixtures, vent covers … everything for the RV.  And in the back was another building with larger new and used parts, like sinks, refrigerators, PVC parts, and heavy stuff.  Man, what a feast for the fixer-upper guy!

Then there’s the town, with its two traffic lights for 4,000 full-time residents, but it serves over a million visitors at this time of year.  There is a Chamber of Commerce, a library and post office and all the usual small town public services.  A few gas stations, groceries and other retailers are here, but no Walmart, Kmart, Home Depot, bank or supermarkets. 

We’re parked five miles north of town, where there is nothing but desert, where we are surrounded by campfires near individual RVs like ours or groups, like the four rigs near us (rigs are scattered at random around this BLM campground).

Our favorite daytime amusement is watching the RVs coming and going on Plomosa Road.  At night, it’s the sky.  We find the Milky Way.  We have seen a few shooting stars, and revel at the darkness of it all out here.  And here’s a thought:  the light from many of the stars left their distant galaxies before those beautiful minerals we bought were starting to be formed. 

As mentioned earlier, the weather has been excellent.  I wonder why people like John McCain and Janet Nepolitano would want to take jobs in other places. 

It’s the weekend.  Our plans are to see Hi Jolly’s monument and other area sights.  We’ll let you know what we see.

And now for the other question from yesterday.  The link to Part I of Our Alaska Trip is http://blog.rv.net/2010/06/north-to-alaska-part-i/.  Most of the postings have links to the succeeding one; other times you may have to search a bit. 

Here’s my disclaimer (weak excuse) for not having a better way to access the blogs.  Being on the road full-time and wanting to soak up our surroundings has interfered with my efforts to set up my own website so I can post articles and lots more.  I’ve started the process unsuccessfully several times.  I’ll let you know when it gets done.

Oh, and Hallalujah!!! — I’ve got Internet in our RV this morning.

From the “Never-Bored RVers,” We’ll see you on down the road.

 © All photos by Barry Zander.   All rights reserved