What?! You’re Still in Quartzsite?
So I admit we’ve been lazy….very, very lazy. We had the best of intentions to move ourselves out of our boondocking spot at least 5 days ago. I swear we did. I’d even mapped out our route, scoped out the next 2 boondocking locations and geared myself mentally for the big move. Then, the big RV show ended and other people starting leaving. First our caravan buddies left (sniff, sniff), then the other rigs in the desert started leaving (hmmm…quite nice really), and then suddenly we were practically alone (well, tickle me silly I do declare I like this).
So there we were all by our lonesome and we just couldn’t see any reason to leave. In fact it was at this point that our travel plans took a bit of a turn, as RV jello plans tend to do. Paul found out he needs to make another emergency trip home, I managed (by some ridiculous stroke of luck) to book the last (the only?) RV site remaining in all of Maricopa County and we decided we were going to stay here until he needs to fly from Phoenix. A whole slew of random RV plans magically fall into place and there you have it.
So we’ve been spending our last few days laaaaazing around and (of course) being a bit social as we tend to be. I made friends with a fascinating lady who was truck-camping just down the hill from us. Ruth is a vivacious 75-year old gal who travels with her doggie Jade. She lives in Redding, CA but loves the desert and is passionate about rocks so she decided, the gumptious lady that she is that she’d just take her truck over to Quartzsite and camp by herself in the boonies…no RV, no fancy get-up…just her and her dog rock-hunting by day and sleeping in the bed of the truck by night. I’m always interested in folks like this so I got into the habit of wondering down for a doggie-play and chat everyday. Not only did I meet a lovely lady, but she taught me a ton of stuff (which I admit I would be hard-pressed to remember) about rock-types and gems in Quartzsite. How cool is that?
We also had a wonderful visit from Luke (one of the folks from the Monaco iRV2 group), lovely and vivacious Ingrid & her doggie Bear (from LiveLaughRV) and…believe it or not…the big white Beluga with Sue, Dave, Lewis & Sasha rolled back through town for another overnight stay and play with us at the site.
Don’t worry about us baby, we ain’t gonna be lonely.
So now we finally have a plan. We are staying here until the 3rd at which point we’ll roll into Usery Mountain Regional Park in Phoenix where Paul will (once again) dump me unceremoniously so I can get into trouble by myself for the next few weeks. I’ve got a few social engagements lined up, an interesting move (I’ll need to move the rig while he’s gone) and who knows what other mayhem I’ll get up to? Either way it’s all part of the great unplanned journey of life. It’s not always rosy, it’s not always what you expected, so the best thing you can do is go with the flow and enjoy the scenery while you’re at it…I sure plan to.
Hi Nina, we call those high altitude ice rainbows, “Sun Dogs” here in Virginia. Please be sure to tell Polly & Lewis!
Very cool name! Polly approves!
Nina
Nina, We stunbled on your blog a few days ago and have to tell you we have enjoyed folloiwng you and Paul on your travel adverntures! Anyway we live in Virginia and plan on leaving here as early as we can in April in our Holiday Ramber Endeavor coach and head west to the coast. Who knows maybe our paths will cross!
Travel safe!
Dan & Carolyn
Nina, there is also Cave Creek County Park, just north of Phoenix. You probably know about it already, but wanted to mention it just in case. Howard and I have camped at Usery and Cave Creek and loved them both!!
Yup, I heard of it but sadly no sites available at this short notice. Nothing in McDowell either. I think I must have lucked into a last minute cancellation at Usery ‘coz I’ve seen nothing on the system since. Glad to have a site anyway, and I’ve heard good things about the park so I’m looking forward to it.
Nina
I’ll be really interested in what you have to say about Usery Mountain. We’re heading that way ourselves in a few weeks and have been trying to decide which of the Maricopa Parks we want to make our base. Best to Paul in his journey home.
Linda Z
I’m curious to see this place myself. We stayed at McDowell last year and LOVED it…simply awesome park (I have a review in the archives), but sadly there were no open spots there for my timeframe. Hoping Usery is just as nice.
Nina
Thank you for your blog. I was a full time nomad for a year and half, but I am back at a desk job, and craving the road. I spent a lot of time in Southern California and New Mexico, so at some point during every day, it is a sweet respite to read your blog and enjoy the photos and dream of my escape back to the road.
—Nan
Lovely to have you along for the ride! Thanks for the compliments 🙂
Nina
While your there alone take the rig out to the Phoenix Raceway and see how fast it will go…… LoL…… Be safe….
Now there’s an interesting idea…hmmmmm…
Oh, i know i was gonna ask the same question, still there ? Oh so those are ice rainbow? I captured the same thing while at Pahrump. Thanks now i know what it is called.
Yeah, they’re formed high in the atmosphere by the sun hitting ice crystals in cirrus clouds at just the right angle. They’re sometimes called “fire rainbows” or “circumhorizontal arc”. I’ve managed to catch the full circle once or twice & it’s an awesome sight! You can read more about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumhorizontal_arc
Nina
Thank you. I learned something new.
Here’s my best picture EVER of a full-circle ice rainbow. This was caught in the Sierra Nevada mountains in Oct:
High country and high rainbows -> an awesome moment![/caption]
[caption id="attachment_11304" align="aligncenter" width="213"]
Nina
It was great meeting you guys yesterday. Our initial 5 day stay in Quartzsite turned into 17. We’re happily set up at Cave Creek and just met LuAnn. Safe travels and we’ll see ya soon for some hiking.
Oh excellent. Really looking forward to seeing you all again next week. Hopefully your other half will be feeling better by then too.
Nina
He’s doing much better and we’re happily settled in next door to Lu and Terry…..although with all the vegetation, we can’t see them. Ready for a hike!
Sitting in a laundrymat in Quartzsite & I pulled out my phone to see what was happening. Top of my email screen it says “still in Quartzsite?”
Whoa! What is this? Who is watching me this close? So I take a look and it’s my favorite RV blogger hanging out awhile longer too.
Just a coincidence ….. 🙂
The weather is nice, I’m comfortable, it’s affordable too! why not? There are still a few things I want to do/see in the area & there is nothing pressing right now.
Have a good time Nina!
Oh how funny! I just spent a few hours in that same laundromat a few days ago, but it was crazy crowded..people lined up for the dryers and old ladies fighting over carts haha! Hoping it’s a little more relaxed for you.
Nina
Isn’t that just the best part of this life style…changing plans whenever! That seems like all we’ve done in the last couple months and we changed them again last week.
Glad you are enjoying the quieter side of Q.
I bet Polly was excited to see her friend Lewis again. What a great surprise!
Good luck with your move! Travel safely!
It’s definitely nice to have the flexibility. Not exactly the plan we had for the next 2 weeks, but it’s worked out all around. I’m actually looking forward to my time at Usery.
Nina
(And yes, Polly was OVER THE MOON…she loves Lewis)
I love Sara N. Dippity 🙂
Box Canyon Mark
Yup it’s great when random plans work out like that. I’m a total believer in that gal 😉
Nina
So you were the one who took the last spot at Usery!! We too are leaving Quartzsite on Sunday and heading to Phoenix. Terry’s flying to Portland for some doctor appointments. Oh well … next time!
Yeah I fear I may have been the one that hogged that last spot 🙂 Not a lot open in those parks these next 2 weeks. I think I was supremely lucky to get away with only 1 site move in that timeframe. Sorry we missed you. Hope the appts go we’ll.
Nina
I think everyone is going to McDowell. We just booked sites at White Tank Mountain (no hook ups), McDowell (but not when we wanted) and Usery. We spent 10 days at Usery last year and loved it. I attended a yoga class in the visitors center in a room overlooking a field of beautiful yellow flowers.
Oh that sounds lovely. I’ll be on the lookout for those yoga classes for sure!
Nina
Great black dog pictures! Thanks for welcoming us back to the desert. We look forward to seeing you at Usery or McDowell.
Jello Plans Rule!!!
Yup out of about 50 I managed 2 black dog pics that worked haha…see you soon!
Nina
If you keep this up, I might actually meet you one of these days. Unfortunately, I’m back in Q at Dome Rock and will be while you’ll be about a mile & a half north of our home in Mesa. Enjoy Usery!
A passing of rigs on the road…..enjoy your time here. Q is not nearly as crazy as it was last week, but there’s still lots o stuff going on. Saw the gear-up for the Classic Car Show at the big tent yesterday. Looks like it’s going to be fabulous. Lots of reaaaaly, reaaaaly nice cars out there.
Nina
Love Usery Mtn Park– most site are gi-normous! If you’ve not ever driven the Apache Trail, it makes for a wonderful adventure (just don’t do like I did the first time and drive your motorhome down it’s 1-lane mountainous dirt road! ha!) but your toad should do just fine on it 🙂
Just heard about that trail from someone else. It’s on my list to do in the area…toad only 🙂
Nina
Hey why not enjoy that gorgeous desert while you can. Try not to get into too much trouble while Paul’s gone.
That’s what we figured too…plus we still have water to spare so we can manage a few more days without hook ups.
Nina
Nice to see you enjoying your active social life and being so relaxed there in the sunshine. Did you see your shadow there today? Groundhog Day today you know. Our journey through life can be as good as we make it…you know how to enjoy it. Thanks again for sharing.
Groundhog Day…already??? Goodness time flies.
Nina
We are at Dome Rock. Will head for McDowell Mountain Regional Park on Monday. Just sent you a text message. Let us know if we can help in any way
Oh cheers. Thanks so much for the offer. I’m sure I’ll be fine. Doggie and I will find enough ways to get ourselves into trouble 🙂
Nina
Just love following your fun! Forwarded this to 5 friends, incl. one full-timer. Thanks so much! By the time you get to Mt. Shasta, we’ll have a full hookup for you & the Boondock club. Say Nina, what WordPress system do you use? I’m trying the free basic but it’s harder than the Blogger one I had for years, imo. Bet you pay for premium help? Do you have an easy template that you plug the essays and pix in? Do you have to resize to fit pix on sides, etc? (Maybe this can be a column while Paul’s away.)
The pix were getting hard to handle on Blogger, so I switched, but I’m stymied. All three blogs I follow almost daily (Time Goes By, White Feather Farm, and you) use WordPress, so I figured it was the best choice, but….also, I’m stuck with dialup at home, which affects everything. It looks so gorgeous and smooth when you gals do it! Cheers and happy time in the WARM…
Cheers for the wonderful offer in Shasta!!
As for wordpress I use their basic, free version. Haven’t paid for anything yet. I use the Coraline Theme and simply use the “add new post” feature whenever I need to do a new blog post. I input my pictures in “medium size” format (you can set your standard picture-sizes in the “settings” (then click on “media”) section of your dashboard), and if I need to move them I simply click them in the dashboard and align them left, right wherever. It takes a little time to get used to the dashboard, but when you do it is very, very easy. There are several youtube videos and online tutorials on using the WordPress dashboard. I’d probably recommend looking at them.
Nina
Usery is a great place to stay, and very convenient to stuff in Mesa area. There are a couple of big dog parks in Mesa you could check out. Be sure you look for the GIGANTIC saguaro in Usery that is actually a cell phone tower–it’s kind of funny.
By the way, did you get the email I sent you with links to some cool places to stay in Scottsdale and Tucson?
Have fun–we’ll be in Mesa yet again for Ron’s implant crowns on Tuesday–maybe we’ll see you!
Tina
Awwww, how cute is Taggart….