Back to Coyote Ridge

I left Quartzite and the thousands (literally) of RV's and headed back south to the BLM area around the Imperial Dam.  My intention was to NOT go back to Coyote Ridge where I had camped previously and to try somewhere else but after driving through several different BLM campgrounds either I heard generators running, or all the "good" sites were taken or my cell phone showed weak reception.  So just for a goof I drove back into Coyote Ridge and there was a really nice site that must have just opened up because someone would have jumped it...like I did.

The Tank's second home on Coyote Ridge.

 This time my site is small enough that I don't have to worry about another RV'er wanting to "share it" with me...or at least this time if they ask I'm saying "No."  This site's previous occupiers had done some landscaping or maybe I should call it "rockscaping"?

It almost looks like they transplanted that cactus in the middle tier!

Then after they made the rock garden circle they set up a rock compass that accurately shows north, south, east and west.

What will archeologists 1000 years from now say about this?

My plans are to stay on Coyote Ridge until the 30th or my supplies run low (I'm almost out of dish soap of all things!) then head back down to the Escapee's Yuma Ko-op for the weekend and do laundry, wash the Tank and watch the Super Bowl.  I'll make plans to head wherever from there.
Until then I'll just soak up the view.

Thanks for reading! 

Quartzsite RV Show (Part 2)

Well I waited until the fourth day of the show and sure enough the crowds had thinned out enough to make walking through the exhibit tent a little less claustrophobic.  I actually paused at some of the displays and weighed making purchases instead of struggling to maintain a slot in a human cattle drive.

Vast improvement in walk-ability over day 1!

Unfortunately the rumors of parts vendors at the show were exaggerated and I completely struck out on finding the parts for the Tank's camper.  Oh well....I got to attend the "World's Biggest RV Show" (twice) at least.  While the desert BLM land around Quartzsite is almost indistinguishable from the BLM land further south around the Imperial Dam, the number of rigs is very much more pronounced around Quartzsite.

This was relatively spacious...1/2 mile closer to the show it was Suburbia!

Also, even though my site is probably 2 miles south of I-10 the expressway is a constant dull drone in the background, night and day.  I guess sound travels further in the desert without buildings and trees to break it up.  So if it's beginning to sound like tomorrow might be moving day you've broken the code.  My plan is to drive back down AZ 95 to the BLM land around the Imperial Dam for the remaining eight days on my 14 day BLM sticker, first stopping at the dump station to dump my tanks.  I'm glad I came to Quartzsite after reading so much online about the sheer spectacle of thousands of  RV's of every size and description and I agree with the folks who told me "If you've never been you have to see it once."  Now I've seen it but not sure how quickly I'll need to see it again.  I will miss the guy in our camp area who ran a really professional karaoke production out of the back of his 5th wheel toy-hauler though.

The karaoke guy had a complete music studio in his trailer.

 

I'll do another post when I get a campsite near the Imperial Dam BLM area.

Thanks for reading!

Quartzsite RV Show (Part 1)

From the Escapee's KOFA Ko-op I drove up Arizona Hwy 95 eighty miles to the BLM LTVA area just south of Quartzsite, AZ a small town at the crossroads of I-10 and Hwy 95. That pin in the map is my second campsite, the first night I camped in "generator city". I moved the next morning and this time before setting up a site I turned off the Tank and stood outside the cab and listened....Ah! No generators!

The sweet "sound" of solar powered RV's.....silence!

I mentioned before that the Tank has need of a few parts and the RV Show at Quartzsite was rumored to have a number of after-market parts dealers so I walked on about a mile from my campsite to the show which is on Hwy 95 about a half mile south of I-10.  The show is basically a lot of fantastically expensive RV's set up for walk through and lots of more reasonably priced trailers and fifth wheels you can also tour.

Wonder if I could argue him down to $269,000 even?

The tent with the vendor booths seemed to be the big attraction this morning.

Step right up to the Big Top!

Once inside the tent you were in a human traffic jam.  You moved at the pace of the slowest shopper a quarter mile in front of you and if she wanted to stop and look a jewelry for 5 minutes then you weren't going anywhere either -- not quite that bad but close!.

Inside the tent -- blurry because of the constant jostling!

I did see a couple of booths I might have wanted to stop by if not for being swept along in the river of humanity which made me realize I had made a tactical error.  The Quartzsite show lasts from the 18th to the 26th of January and while they get 150,000 visitors probably the majority are on this weekend (duh!).  I'm camped here for two weeks, I can revisit the show during the weekdays next week and probably have the place (comparatively) to my self.  That's why this post is titled Part 1, I'll post Part 2 when the conditions inside the tent are more navigable and I can hopefully find what I need.

Thanks for reading!