WHAT A WEEKEND!

Friday, January 15 – Had our usual morning walk, today with a twist.



As we walked down one of the trails, we came on a sign



It was too chilly for them to be strutting themselves this morning. We will stop back later.

We finished walking through the Tyson Wells Flea Markets downtown Quartzsite today. Took 4 days to see them all. We had the air conditioner on in the car, yesterday and today! We did buy a new Mexican Train game today. One Paul was looking for....saved $20.

We also went to Celia's Rainbow Garden…part of the Quartzsite City Park. (If you get the time, please visit Celia’s link above. The story is amazing.)

From Celia's mother......Celia was a miracle baby. Having tried to have a child for many years and being told it would never happen, I had given up trying and made peace with it. Then, out of the clear blue, I found myself pregnant at 37 years old. It was quite a shock for both of us. I found out I was pregnant on Christmas Eve 1985, and before I had even had a chance to get into maternity clothes, Celia decided to make her entry on Good Friday, March 28, 1986.1 was only 23¼ weeks pregnant, so when she was born, the doctors said she would not make it. She came into this world weighing only 670 grams or 1 ¼ pounds, and was Canada’s smallest surviving baby in both weight and gestation at that time.

After her death on October 25, 1995, Paul Winer, the naked bookstore owner, and his wife,needed to find a way to give back to the community some of the love they had shown us. They got permission from the town council to plant a botanical garden in her memory in the town park in October of 1996, a year after her death. What started out as a small nature trail has grown over the past 6 years into a mosaic of beauty, like a patchwork quilt made by many loving hands and hearts. A garden of plants, cactus, and trees with memorial plaques in remembrance of friends, family and others.

Celia is not buried here



A little child’s garden


An example of a tribute to a loved one.


Really cool cacti everywhere.


More neat pictures from the garden.

On the way back, we stopped at the bakery. It is just a little place but has tons of delicious breads, donuts, cookies, etc. They have delicious old fashion donuts. The kind Paul loves!





Another beautiful day in the 80's. We'll be sitting around the campfire tonight enjoying each other's stories. Tomorrow is the big day.....THE MAIN EVENT starts in the huge circus tent. It one of the largest RV Shows in the country.

Saturday, January 16 – Heard Coyotes in the area last night. Quite a few howling at the moon. They say to watch your pets. These Coyotes will come right in camp for a tasty treat!

We got ready and went to the Big Tent Event. We hurried through because Bill Adams of Internet Anywhere was coming by to upgrade our TV satellite this afternoon. The crowd was huge. It took a while to get from one end of the tent to the other. There are four separate walkways so there are tons of vendors to see. We did buy a few things (a new freshwater hose, a break-a-way wire for the toad, and an electric heater) but overall we were disappointed with the RV Show. There wasn't as many RV items as we envisioned. Lots of jewelry, clothing and food demos going on.





Recognize the guy in the black jacket?



People beginning to arrive.

    
At 1 p.m. Bill Adams arrived and installed a new Winegard Trav'ler Slimline Satellite. This replaces the dome satellite we had that never worked. We were using a dish we set up on a tripod. It worked pretty good but when we boondock at Walmart, we can’t set up the dish. This new dish is completely automatic. With the push of one button it opens up, locks on the the satellite, and is ready for TV viewing. Pretty slick!










I also took our tow bar into Blue OX Tow Systems to have it serviced. They recommend this every five years.

Are last item on today's agenda was the campfire. Tonight we had a Chile cookoff. Marsha prepared a very delicious recipe. I personally thought it was very good, and the best on the table. But she didn't win....I believe it was a little too spicy for some of the judges. Karla won. Congratulations!

Karla receiving her prize from our leader, Sandie.



We had the traditional “burn your mortgage” event to officially welcome us to full-timing and received our Class of 09 diplomas.

The group presented a gift to Sandi, our class president, for all the work she did in organizing our little get together. Thanks for all your time in planning such a great week of activities.



Sunday, January 17 - Went for our morning walk. Beautiful walking in the desert with the sun coming up.



We headed up to the Nellie E. Saloon Desert Bar. The "Nellie E Saloon" (DESERT BAR) is situated in the Buckskin Mountains, in Parker, Arizona, on land that was an old mining camp. The "Nellie E Saloon" is located 5 miles off the Cienega Springs Rd exit on Hwy-95. We had to drive down 5 LONG miles down a dirt road. They are open Labor Day weekend through Memorial Day weekend, Saturdays and Sundays only from high noon till sunset, and holidays during these months. THE BAR IS CLOSED DURING THE HOT SUMMER MONTHS. They are open one night only, New Years Eve, if it falls on a weekend.
The pictures below show the beautiful landscape.



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The saloon is powered by solar, with electricity stored in batteries and run through inverters. There was a good band playing and the dance floor was full all day. Here are some pictures of our group and some of us dancing.

Our group



Paul and Marsha….how cute



Don and Joyce



Ed and Linda



They are only open from high noon to dusk. All kinds of 4 wheelers, bikers, and people from Quartzsite enjoy the unique atmosphere.

The 5 miles of road looks like.



The outside of the building.



Bridge over to bar.



One of the eating/drinking areas.


These pictures are in the ladies restroom. Very unique! The first two are inside. The bottom left is looking out the windows….no pane in the windows….and yes that is Paul and Eric. The bottom right is the view from the mountain looking into the restroom. Very interesting what you can see looking in.









Here are some pictures of the entrance to the inside bar, the bar, the outside bar and the dance area.









The church was started in 1993, completed in 1996 and dedicated in October. The church is made of solid steel and the walls and ceiling are made of the same stamped tin used inside the bar and the roof is made of copper. The names inscribed on the plaques in the church are people who donated money to help build the church. The church is a unique place for weddings and a great photo spot.

There are no services held in the church and all religions are welcome.



More pictures of The Desert Bar.

Thanks for visiting. Y’all come back again!

ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL DAY AT QUARTZSITE

Thursday, January 14 – Got up and turned on our new heater this morning. It is called a Blue Flame Heater. It is a ventless heater some there are precautions that must be taken. It uses no electricity and about a third of the propane as our furnace. I hope that helps Marsha keep a little warmer. Thank you, Paul! I love it!!!



I cooked breakfast of bacon & eggs on our new grill. Kelly and Carrie gave the grill to us for Christmas. It really worked well with the built in griddle! The food was soooo delicious! And Marsha was happy the bacon didn’t splash all over her counter tops.





We climbed Q Mountain this morning. COOL!  The view was so awesome. You can see for miles. It was really windy as you will see by the pictures below. We didn't know anything about this and ended-up taking the hardest route to the top...ha ha! Marsha couldn’t believe it when she looked down and saw the two easy paths to the top. Needless to say, she made me take one of the easy routes back down. It was still challenging but not like the one we took up.

The way we went up



On the top



Easy path down



Looking straight down




Below are different views of Quartzsite. All the white areas are RVs. They are coming in fast and furious.





More pictures from the mountain.

We shopped a little in Tyson Wells flea market. The seasonal swap meet is open from November through the end of February but the main show is January 10th - 25th. The "Main Event" is located close to Exit 17 on the North side of Interstate 10. The cross streets are Main Street and Quartzsite Blvd. Tyson Wells is like the downtown of Quartzsite, but it is not like any downtown you have ever seen. In 1856, settler Charles Tyson built a fort at the present site of Quartzsite to protect his water supply from attacks by Native Americans. Fort Tyson soon became a stopover on the Ehrenburg-to-Prescott stagecoach route. It had become known as Tyson's Wells by the time the stage stopped running and the town was abandoned. Our good friend, Red Burgess, back in Ohio sent us a link for an overview of Quartzsite. You may want to check it out here.
Another windy evening so no campfire social again tonight.

We are both going to take long hot showers because tomorrow I'll dump the holding tanks and fill up with fresh water.

Thanks for stopping by.

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.