Underway from Tucson to Quartzsite. I've been intrigued about Quartzside for awhile. It's a spot on the desert on I-10 that attracts a lot of snowbirds (people from the cold north who come south in the winter in their RV's) and even a big RV show in January. Part of the interest is 'dry camping' in the desert. Public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management, are open to just drive out and camp. There are a few rules, but otherwise free camping with no hookups or designated spaces. Anyway the drive from Tucson was uneventful, and that's a good thing. There was a very nice rest area just before Phoenix. We had been seeing a pretty yellow flowering tree that we thought was mesquite, but it turned out to be Palo Verde. On the road. The laptop has a Gps Navigation program. It's sitting on a homemade 'springboard' to dampen the road shocks. We arrived in Quartzsite at 2:00pm, unhooked the jeep and drove around checking out the desert camping areas. Finally at 5pm we settled into the perfect spot we found. (it's a big area and lots to check out). This is a nice peaceful spot and we're going to relax here for two nights. It was very windy the day we arrived and the next day was cloudy and cool, with a little wind. We took off in the Jeep to do a little back-roading. That turned out to be a real experience. Our little Jeep really got a workout and really came through. Up this Hill. (this was an easy one!) At the top. And Down. Some are so steep you need to stop at the peak to see which way is down and how steep it is. Ready to head down after a steep climb. That's Quartzsite in the distance. Back in the 1850's (that's before even my time!) tried an experiment to use camels for beasts of burden in this part of the southwest. Some were brought in at the then port of Indianola, Texas, near Port Lavaca, where some of Chuck's German ancestor's came in from Germany. Anyway with these camels came a Syrian camel handler (camelboy, camelpoke, camelherder, camel wrangler???) named Hadji Ali. Right away the soldiers began calling him Hi Jolly. He served the Army very well and below is a photo of his tomb. The camel project was abandoned and they were released to fend for themselves, which they did for awhile. Quartzsite is a place of rock, jewelry, and other 'souvenir' shops. Mary Lou has a couple of 'new best friends'! Late afternoon and evening were a bit cool and windy to have a fire and cook out. Now there is a steady light rain, and we can almost hear the desert flowers 'popping out'. We'll leave in the morning for California where gas is over $4 per gallon. We'll fill up on this side to save $0.45 per gallon. Stay tuned.
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Who Are We?
Chuck and Mary Lou have been traveling in their RV since 2002 and have lately been taking longer, extended trips. This is our way to share our experiences. Trip Reports
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