We just returned from a ten day run out to Quartzite and on to Joshua Tree NP (then headed down through southern California). The Q was a blast (as always), but like many others did notice the crowd dropping off for the fourth straight year. There were actually empty booths in the big tent (never saw that before).
We stayed at the Rice Ranch RV Park (large dusty gravel lot), which is just east of the show and big tent. Hard to beat $7 a night for dry camping though they do offer full hook ups for about $36. Here is a sunset shot of our dry site:
As usual two days and nights are just about enough at the Q. The weather was great but got very windy on Wednesday. The drive over to Joshua Tree was less than fun in the 35 mph northerlies but once we got off of I-10 and up into the park it was nothing but gorgeous.
We drove from the Cottonwood Visitor center off of I-10 through the entire park coming out in 29 Palms. We camped up in the rocks of the Indian Cove CG and had the place all to ourselves. Not many sites will accommodate RV's, our 24'C just barely fit into site 95. There are a few sites that had RV's down lower but most of the sites are sized primarily for tent campers. Here is a shot of our site:
The next night we moved down to the Black Rock canyon CG closer to Yucca Valley where we have some family friends who joined us for dinner. We had a great view from our site out across the valley. Admission to the park was free with our Geezer card and camping was $7.50 a night.
We stayed with friends in San Diego (two different locations), for the next 4 nights {ya gotta love the "Friends and Family" RV parks}. We broke up the 430 mile return run from San Diego to Tucson with a night at Copper Canyon RV Park in Tacna just off of I-8, 40 miles east of Yuma (nice large park, $20 a night). This gave us the time to stop and explore the old Yuma Territorial Prison. This is a must see if you are passing through Yuma. Total camping expenses - $49 for 9 nights and way too much fun.
We stayed at the Rice Ranch RV Park (large dusty gravel lot), which is just east of the show and big tent. Hard to beat $7 a night for dry camping though they do offer full hook ups for about $36. Here is a sunset shot of our dry site:
As usual two days and nights are just about enough at the Q. The weather was great but got very windy on Wednesday. The drive over to Joshua Tree was less than fun in the 35 mph northerlies but once we got off of I-10 and up into the park it was nothing but gorgeous.
We drove from the Cottonwood Visitor center off of I-10 through the entire park coming out in 29 Palms. We camped up in the rocks of the Indian Cove CG and had the place all to ourselves. Not many sites will accommodate RV's, our 24'C just barely fit into site 95. There are a few sites that had RV's down lower but most of the sites are sized primarily for tent campers. Here is a shot of our site:
The next night we moved down to the Black Rock canyon CG closer to Yucca Valley where we have some family friends who joined us for dinner. We had a great view from our site out across the valley. Admission to the park was free with our Geezer card and camping was $7.50 a night.
We stayed with friends in San Diego (two different locations), for the next 4 nights {ya gotta love the "Friends and Family" RV parks}. We broke up the 430 mile return run from San Diego to Tucson with a night at Copper Canyon RV Park in Tacna just off of I-8, 40 miles east of Yuma (nice large park, $20 a night). This gave us the time to stop and explore the old Yuma Territorial Prison. This is a must see if you are passing through Yuma. Total camping expenses - $49 for 9 nights and way too much fun.
