Jan 17 - Quartzsite Day 1

This is going to be a different kind of journey. We are sitting out in the desert near the little town of Quartzsite, Arizona, which is just off the intersection of Arizona 95 and I-10, south of Lake Havasu and Parker. We’ll be here two weeks, so we’ve gotten out the “patio,” the woven 8x10 mat that we’ve staked down into the desert shingle, the lawn chairs and table, and put out the awnings.

We’re dry camping here with more than a hundred other RVs in the Escapees Boomers group we belong to, and this is only one of many large groups of RVs that have congregated here. A friend of mine tells of coming over the hill on I-10 one January shortly after the movie “Independence Day” came out and, upon seeing thousands of RVs scattered across the desert, frantically tuning around the radio to find out what kind of unimaginable disaster had happened that had driven all those RVs out into the safety of the desert.

No disasters, just a party that started out small and grew like crazy. I liken it to Burning Man, only we don’t have attendance fees, the desert here is not as sandy, it’s a much better time of year to be here and there’s not enough organization to even create a Man to Burn. And we have our Comfort Air bed and espresso maker.

There is a schedule for this group. We all get together for happy hour at 4 pm. If we want to. If not, no big deal. We’ve met some old friends, already made some new ones, and Gypsy was delighted to greet Cheksi and Bisshi, her two German Shepherd walking buddies from last year.

The keyword for this journey is Relax. It’s going to be wonderful.