Our First Journey to Quartzsite...Jan 2013. (NOTE: Lots of photos!)
For those of you that have never been to Quartzsite and wondered......come along on our journey.
We left Sacramento last Fri. at approx. noon and headed south on I-5. We spent the first night at a roadside rest area near Palm Springs.
Mid-morning on Sat. we arrived in Quartzsite, taking the Dome Rock Rd. exit, we quickly found Bill & Mary. DavidMc wouldn't join us until the following morning.
Somebody was kind enough to leave us a well defined fire ring and it didn't take us long to get unhooked and set up....
Soon a couple of friends, Don and Andy, rolled in from the bay area....
I can tell you that the CVO models of Harley Davidson sure drew a lot of curiousity by the regulars of Quartzsite. My guess is that they'd never seen bikes like these off road before. As they'd pass by our camp on their razors and quads they'd slow almost to a stop as they'd stare in disbelief.
Soon we all piled in my truck and headed in to town to see what Quartzsite was all about.....what was the attraction to so many, year after year...
I have to admit.....it was really, really good ice cream!
For those of us that have spent most of our lives on scooters......scooters of a different type....there's still hope for us.
and for those that prefer four wheels.....there's always
but for those hardcore bikers that insist on staying on two wheels.....they have the electric bikes...that go 20 mph for twenty miles...
Eventually we made our way in to what's referred to as "the big tent". It's approx. 200 yds. long and has three isles that run the full length and lined with vendors of every kind for RV related products.
We got the call.....Richard was riding in from Wickenburg, Ariz. and so we went back to the camp to wait for him to arrive.....
Soon, evening approached and the sun started setting....casting off those colors that the Quartzsite sunset photos are known for....
Soon we had the campfire going and dinner on.....time to grub....
Don, playing with fire......or was that being creative for the camera
Using the auto timer, I was able to get in on a couple of these shots...
And this is the view we woke up to the next morning....taken from inside our 5er...
We want to thank Bill & Mary for inviting us to camp at this great location. As you can see, it has some great views and town is only about a mile away. Close enough, but just far enough out to still have space! Thank you Bill & Mary!
and DavidMc pulled in this morning (off to the right).....
As we headed back in to town this morning, we come across an old restored Flixible bus converted to a motorhome. Outstanding conversion, even on the interior. Such things as the little old Rock Ola juke box at the end of the formica topped, chrome trimed diner style table. Check out the twice pipes and the ball on that trailer hitch!
After breakfast, Richard was ready to get on his iron horse and ride....good to see you again Richard...thanks a bunch for coming over to Q and visiting with us.
More random photos of the areas around Q....
We hope you've enjoyed this journey.
Having been there and experienced it we found Quartzsite and all it has to offer interesting. However, it left us both wondering what, exactly, it is that keeps people coming back year after year. I mean we realize they're looking for warm temps to spend the winter but we think Tombstone, even closer to Tucson or Phoenix to be much more interesting. Even Yuma had some very interesting old history to explore. Other than the RV rally in Q, we're just not sure what the attraction is.
The following morning we got up and drove to Yuma. I became interested in their history after seeing 3:10 To Yuma and a couple other old movies that made reference to the Yuma Territorial Prison.
On our drive south we noticed a series of signs approx. 100 ft. off the road but they were legible as we drove. Finally, we succumbed to the curiosity and we pulled off the road and drove up to one of the signs. Uh-ohhhh
We visited the Quarter Master Depot first. Also where the Yuma Visitor's Center is located....
Then we drove over the the Territorial Prison...
Some of the colorful inmates of the time....
and I told Terrie "ok, you have to hard mug the camera....try to look like a prisoner...."
After it was used as a prison, for several years it was used as Yuma's High School and was used for several other things before realizing that it was a part of western history and they restored it.
Three high and very narrow beds....I can only imagine what these cell blocks smelled like when it was 112F-115F outside and it's stuffed full of sweaty men.....and women!
Front view of these cells.....
and the rear view of the same cells....
The Dark Cell is supposed to be haunted but the spirits weren't talking to us.
The main guard tower.... (I doubt they had stairs down to the main yard at that time)....
Views from the top of the guard tower....
and the road back to Q.....
We said good-bye to Bill & Mary....and Snickers and also to David....packed up and headed for Joshua Tree National Park.
Those of you that watched the Flintstones, you'll recognize Bedrock....aka Jumbo Rocks Campground. We spent a couple of days here. Met a great couple from Alaska, also fulltimers.
If you've never been to Joshua Tree National Park, many of the plants and vegitation looks soft, fuzzy and fragile. Nothing could be further from the truth.....they're all very hard, rigid, rugged plants that are very unforgiving....even those with the large leaves.
Keys View is off the main loop road several miles but well worth the drive out there. In this first photo it's the town of Palm Springs at the foot of the mountains, off in the distance.
Indio in this pic...
We left Joshua Tree NP the next day. For a change of scenery and a route more interesting we decided to head north on Hwy. 395 and it didn't disapoint....
We spent that evening at an RV park in a little town near Ridgecrest, Ca. by the name of Inyokern, Ca. The RV park wasn't any great thing but it was clean, had a new concrete patio in front of each space, had pull throughs for the overnghters and only $15 with Passport America. I didn't think to snap a pick until we were pulling out the next morning....
The whole day was a visual paradise....we were so glad that we decided to come this way!
A short break at Crowley Lake.....
Mono Lake looked distinctly different from the way I've always saw it before....
The up side of this whole trip.....when we got home yesterday it only took me about 1/3 the time to wash the 5th wheel as it used to take to wash mine and Terrie's motorcycles on a similar trip!
