We have enjoyed the chapel services here, the music jam sessions with at least 20 musicians, the bingo nights, the golf in Blythe, AZ (20 miles west of us), the Gospel Jam sessions, watching the really pro horseshoe 'throwers', shopping in Quartzsite and Parker, AZ, hiking the desert trails, eating out at Steve's (a roadside open air dinner across the highway), working out in the gym here, visiting with folk from all over the west and Canada, checking out free novels and movies at the Resort, the swimming pool and hottub, taking photos of the multiple and fascinating cacti, travelling to Vegas for a Nascar race, etc.
Quartzsite is an interesting place...if you are a RVer. It's a town of 1900 that, in February, swells to a million people as RVers from all over come to enjoy warm weather, frequent acres of tent shops, and check out the RV sales. Here's some info re Quartzsite I found interesting:
Quartzsite, in western Arizona, just 20 miles east of the Colorado River on I-10, Quartzsite has been a rockhound's paradise since the 1960s. These days, it is also a mecca to well over a million visitors each year, most of whom converge on this small town in a wave of RVs during the months of January and February. At this time of the year, 2,000 vendors of rocks, gems, minerals, fossils and everything else imaginable create one of the world's largest open air flea markets in Quartzsite. Eight major gem and mineral shows as well as vendors of raw and handcrafted merchandise peddle their wares to snowbirds, collectors and enthusiasts, making Quartzsite the place to be the first two months of each year. Quartzsite has a classic low desert climate with extremely low relative humidity and very high summer temperatures. On the average, it receives less than 4 inches of precipitation a year. Stores, shops, restaurants, theaters and homes are air-conditioned year round in Quartzsite. 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. A small mining boom revitalized the town as Quartzsite in 1897 and it remained thus until 1965, when the Pow Wow Rock, Gem & Mineral Show began the rockhound winter migration to Quartzsite each year. These days, the population can swell to almost a million during January and February as rockhounders, jewelers and vendors, mostly in thousands of RVs, attend the eight major gem and mineral shows.
Met a guy here who says he has a cache of arms and ammo buried in the mountain; another guy who is a ham radio operator and has his own radio shop next to his motorhome and talks to other hams around the world; another guy from Canada who is a former Vietnam sniper, etc.
We see animals everywhere...rabbits, lizards, chipmonks, deer, coyotes, etc. We are surrounded by the most fabulous mountain ranges!
We will be moving west early next month to be nearer a golf course. Check out this course in Mesquite, NV that I'll play soon.
Our 'preacher' here at the chapel services is not highly educated but he is a highly skilled communicator. I am much impressed with his delivery and his messages. He leaves little doubt where he stands on the gospel message, which is not something I can say about some of the preachers we have heard in our travels. The chapel services are attended by at least 300-plus people with a Gospel/country band of 15 musicians who are really skilled.
Every morning streams of 'desert rats' head out of our RV park on their ATVs, women and men with bandanas covering their faces to ward off the desert sands and dust, to ride the desert trails. Some are out to search for gold nuggets, others to find unique rocks and still others to photo the magnificent scenery and desert animals. Most of them are in their 70's and staying young by being very active. There must be at least a 100 ATVs in this park parked next to their RVs.
What are the downsides of full-time RVing? Well, we miss our extended family, our dear friends in the Atlanta area and colleagues in ministry. I also miss puttering around in my shop and playing golf with my buddies(I do meet interesting golfers as I play at various courses in the west.)
We ususally east in the late spring, but fuel prices are limiting our long treks across the U.S.
But, make no mistake about it: we are loving the full-time RV life. How long we'll keep on keeping on we don't know. If Obama kills the economy even more and we lose our savings, or Social Security or our pension, we'll just park it. Or, if our health fails, we'll make changes as necessary. At present we are both healthy and our resources are adequate to keep on moving the Molly II.
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