Quartzsite, AZ January 2014

Road Runner BLM Campground
Exploring the Quartzsite Area
Sun., Jan. 26 - Tue., Jan. 28

Quartzfest is finished.  Many people are leaving, so our section of the desert is becoming sparsely populated.  We and some of our friends are going to stay here for a few more days and do some things that we haven't had time to do earlier.

The first order of business that we need to take care of is to get the trailer cleaned up, organized and resupplied.  We have been out for about two weeks and at this location for over a week, so it is time.   Since Quartzsite is a seasonal town made up of "snowbirds" who winter here mostly in their self contained RVs without hookups to water, electric and sewer, those holding tanks must eventually be emptied and fresh water tanks refilled as well as refilling the propane tanks that are used to heat water, cook and warm the "house".  Now I usually do not talk about the everyday maintenance that we do while on the road, but Quartzsite has what we think is a unique answer to this task.  It is a one stop location where you can take care of everything in one spot and reasonably quickly.  It's called the ...

As you can see, they even have a website.  Here we are at the first station filling our fresh water tank.  The attendant has collected our money according to what services we need, a note is placed on our windshield so that other attendants can guide us to where we need to go.  We actually fill our own tanks, so we know that we get a full amount of water to fill up to the top.

You can see that the line forms on both sides of the water station.  While we were filling the water, I took a photo of the propane station.  They do fill those propane bottles for you.  It is a little more tricky and dangerous than water.

After we finished filling the water, we were guided to the line for dumping our holding tanks.  It was very busy at the time we went, so we had to wait in line while others dumped.

Our truck is directly behind the Road Warrior trailer the vehicles in the background are in lines for water, propane and the dump station.  The attendant in pink has quite a job directing all of the motorhomes and trailers as well as folks who may just bring water jugs or propane bottles to fill.  Well, it finally became our turn at the dump station.  Like the water and propane stations, both sides are put to use.  We do this job too, so we know that it is done like we want.

That job is done, so now we will head back to our campsite and settle in for a few more days, confident that we will be OK for at least another week.

 

Along the same lines, one of the Laundromats in town has another useful service that they offer.  They provide private showers for a fee.  We use them so we don't fill up our waste water tank with bath water.  Plus, we can take a more leisurely shower than the quick one we take in the trailer.  It is a whole different world in Quartzsite.

 

Quartzsite is an interesting town in other ways, too.  Many of the temporary winter residents open businesses that are there in the snowbird season only.  That includes restaurants and shops as well as the multitude of  flea market type stands that do resale of purchased products, others display crafts of all sorts that the occupants have been working on specifically to sell at Quartzsite.  Some have specialized food items.  We went into town to see what was available, one day.  This is a sample of what we found .  Places to buy clothing, kites, jewelry, food staples, RV supplies and accessories, rocks and beads of al types and sizes, food of all kinds to eat and much more.

Our favorite hardware outlet.

If your doggie needs to have some dental work done, here is the place to go.  You can see some of the other booths nearby.

There is even a drugstore for over the counter items that you may need.  There was a "grocery store" among the booths, but you need to beware.  What we saw there was recently expired boxes of cereal and other boxed products. 

There are permanent grocery stores, gas stations and restaurants with delicious food, etc.  The bottom line is that you can find just about anything that you need, want or didn't know that you just had to have, in Quartzsite.  It is very interesting to walk around just to see what is out there.  Everything from top quality to cheaply made items and very expensive to bargain basement prices.  Buyer beware .

We enjoy going to Quartzsite.  In the next post I will tell about what else we did during our extra days of camping.