QUARTZSITE, AZ

Tuesday, January 12 – I was up at 6:30 a.m. in preparation for our 7:15 walk. I am meeting at the campfire ring with anyone who wants to do a walk this morning. The sunrise is so beautiful in the mountains. Marsha did not touch up the picture. This is exactly how it looks!



Went to Grandma's Heaters to buy our Blue Flame propane heater. It should be installed on Wednesday. We also went to Two Crazy Ladies to buy our Escapee name badges. Everyone wears their name badge at Escapee Parks.



We went to find Q Mountain. This is the mountain with a huge Q on it. We plan on hiking up there some day this week. We kind of drove through some small passes in the desert and down in some dry washes to get there.



We also went to the Monument for the Hi Jolly Camel of Quartzsite. Don and Joyce, some new friends went along. In 1856, Secretary of War Jefferson Davis (later President of the Confederacy) had a novel idea: transporting freight and people across the desert Southwest on camels. He eventually imported over 70 of the beasts. Along with the first batch came a Syrian caretaker, Hadji Ali. His American masters called him Hi Jolly.

A plaque on Hi Jolly's tomb says of the camel experiment: "A fair trial might have resulted in complete success." But the Civil War intervened, Jefferson Davis changed jobs, and without his support the project was abandoned. The camels were set free to fend for themselves in the desert near Quartzsite.





We stopped at the famous bookstore, Reader’s Oasis Bookstore. Very quirky store run by the famous "Naked Bookseller of Quartzite." Great selection of unusual books, both used and new. Paul is the owner of the Readers Oasis Bookstore. He has been in town many years. He is also a nudist. A visit to Quartzsite, AZ is incomplete if you have not visited Paul's bookstore. He walks around with his bare butt and a lot of other skin exposed to the sun and his customers. He only wears three socks….two on his feet and one….you figure it out. He loves to pose for pictures. We put two below but will not post the one he posed with Marsha.





We again worked on cleaning unused items out of the Motorhome basement. We threw out quite a few items we aren't using. No use hauling things around that aren't being used.

Wednesday, January 13 - Went for our morning walk with Don & Joyce. It is just wide open space.





Afterwards, Marsha and Joyce headed to Parker, AZ to Walmart. Marsha reports that some of the prices are amazing…head of lettuce $.89, yellow/orange peppers $1.68/lb. and the Walmarts in AZ are full liquor stores. She bought her beloved Absolute at Walmart. Imagine that!

Paul stayed at camp to have the propane heater installed and to service the MH batteries. When Marsha got home, we relaxed in the 80* sunshine.



Then in late afternoon we went down to Tyson Wells to walk around the flea market.



We'll sit around the campfire again after the sun goes down. That is a nightly event. Most everyone in the group gathers around the fire to talk. Here are a few pictures of our group.





Had our first wind this evening. The wind will start blowing with very little warning. I would estimate the wind was blowing at a constant 40 mph. This was only moderate for this area, but enough for us to put out the campfire, collect our blowing chairs, rugs, grills, and other outside equipment and head indoors for the night.

Here is a look at our camping spot.





Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see you back real soon.