Quartzsite 2014

Sunday, January 26, 2014. Well I safely arrived home from my trip to Quartzsite, Arizona to attend the Annual RV Tent Show. It was another fun time RV camping under the Arizona Skies, even though I did spend some money on gadgets for the Rig.

Yes I did purchase some useful items, like a 90 watt portable solar panel and 14 LED lights, plus a few other items.

The new solar panel at work...

Got the panel from Off the Grid, Surprise, Arizona

However, let's start at he beginning of my trip. My dear wife Jean was unable to go with me on this trip so it was a solo adventure until I got to The Rose RV campground in Quartzsite. Wednesday was my first day of travel, first off I had to stop in Azusa for some personal business, but later that day I was going to meet my cousins Tony, Patsy and her husband at the Islamorada restaurant located at the Bass Pro Shops in Rancho Cucamonga for dinner.

After an enjoyable dinner and visit with my cousins it was now time to go and make my first destination on the trip - Chiriaco Summit.

I have mentioned this location in several other of my posts. It now seems to be a tradition to always over-night at this place. In the morning I had breakfast at the cafe and I was again on my way toward Quartzsite, Arizona.

First stop of the trip...

Thursday, January 23, 2014. It was around 10:30 a.m. when I arrived in Quartzsite and I stopped at the Pilot Truck stop for fuel. While I was filling the RV's tank with gas I decided I would take a shower at the truck stop. It cost me $12 dollars for a shower, but the stall was roomy, I got a bar of soap, a bath towel and a wash cloth to help me freshen my day!

With gas in the rig and a clean me, I headed over to The Rose Campground to set up camp for the next few days. I was expecting my old chief ranger Ken Smith to arrive later that afternoon with his trailer.

By 1 p.m., Ken had arrived and our camp was set. No sooner were we sitting back and relaxing when the Quartzsite Fire Department arrived to extinguish a trailer fire...

Quartzsite Fire Dept in action!

The cause of the fire was the generator...

What was interesting about this fire, just last week I was helping to put out a trailer fire, I hope this not some kind of omen. Any who, that evening Ken and I were invited over to dinner at some of my Elk's Lodge friends camp at another part of Quartzsite. We were glad that we went, Bill Sears from Simi Valley cooked up some awesome Pork Chop Steaks that evening and they were delicious! That was a great way to spend my first night in Quartzsite.

Rolling Magic at camp, The Rose Campground

Friday, January 24, 2014. It was the RV Big Tent Show day! What's nice about staying at The Rose campground is the close proximity to the Big Tent. In the morning we started by having breakfast at the Bad Boys Cafe. Once we finished with breakfast we headed over to the Big Tent to see what was going on. Well I managed to find all the items that I was looking for and them some. On the list was LED lights, a 90 watt solar panel, some cleaning supplies and a new sign for the rig.

By the early afternoon Ken and I were back at camp waiting on Ken's wife Susanne who was due in around 3 p.m. The plan was to go meet up with the Simi Valley Elks group at Silly Al's for Pizza and Beer. By 3:30 p.m. all three of us met up again with the Simi Elks and enjoyed Pizza and Beer with them all. It was good that Susanne was our designated driver cause Ken and I were feeling no pain. That evening after a short nap, we had a campfire under the Arizona night.

Saturday, January 25, 2014. Well since Susanne need to go check out the Big Tent, we started off again having breakfast at the Bad Boys Cafe and walking over to the Big Tent. We left Susanne there so she could shop without us distracting her and Ken and I went to the other side of the street where the Tyson Wells swap meet vendors were.

You can basically find almost anything you need here...

By 1 p.m., it was time to go find Susanne at the Big Tent, but Ken and I got distracted. We decided it was time to get a beer as we were walking by Beer Belly's. As we entered Beer Belly's we manged to find a place to sit down, enjoy the music and beer. Ken called Susanne to meet us there because we were not moving!

Nah, how can you bypass a jumping place like this?

Susanne finally found us at Beer Belly's and she showed us all the stuff she picked up at the Big Tent. There was a solo Country Singer/Musician (I think he called himself "Smokin' Joe) playing away to the crowd at Beer Belly's. In fact the singer/musician was so good Ken and Susanne got up to dance to his music. At last, we need to head back to camp because it was my turn to cook dinner for us.

My two stepping friends...

Finally back at camp, we settled in and relaxed for a while till it was time for me to start preparing dinner.
I was going to cook a meal using my "CanCooker" for Ken and Susanne. The ingredients were Corn, Carrots, Celery, Baby Potatoes, Onion, can of Tecate Beer and a link of Beef Kielbasa. By 6 p.m. dinner was ready and the campfire was on.

In goes the beer...

 It was my last night in Quartzsite before the drive back home. It was a nice trip and now I'm back already making plans for our next road trip. I should also mention that in Saturday I saw two friends of ours Francesca Puccio and Craig Crowell at Quartzsite who were visiting family that live there. Talk about a small world, that was a surprise to meet them there!

With my friend Francesca at Tyson Wells, Quartzsite. Photo taken by Craig Crowell