The Spectacle: Quartzsite in the Eyes of a Newbie

[RussOnTheRoad]

An excerpt from my new blog post:

Quartzsite, for those of you that may not know, is a little town in southwestern Arizona. Among other things it is home to an RV show that takes place about the middle of January for some 10 days.

From the home page of the show's web site: "Every January something happens that is hard to believe, unless you have seen it! According to the Arizona Highway Department, as many as 750,000 to 1,000,000 people, mostly in RV’s, converge on this sleepy little desert town, located just 20 miles east of the California border on Interstate 10, for the rock, gem and mineral shows, plus numerous flea markets and the Quartzsite Sports, Vacation & RV Show. This phenomenon started over 40 years ago and is now billed as “The Largest Gathering Of RVers in the World”..." I couldn't have said it better myself. That's why I quoted the show's site! Ha!

The full report is free with all the other free goddies on my blog RussOnTheRoad. Like it? Sign up for free email notices when I make new posts.

[tsetsaf]

A weird place indeed.

[amandasgramma]

We saw a guy pulling a TT get stuck in the wash this year...:( 😞 THAT was a dumb move.

[SCVJeff]

That wash is no joke and can be deceiving... Don't feel bad.. Some idiot in a BMW parked out there and buried the car clean to the chassis. There's no way he didn't break something getting pulled out of that one.

[Gonzo42]

On our first trip to Q last year we were looking for parking and DW says 'park here' which was the wash and several other vehicles were there.

The bad news is that we got stuck in the deep gravel and I had to dig out. If you don't have 4WD or an ATV, better be very careful there.

[SCVJeff]

There was one in the main tent and another across the street.

Sure WAS goooood...... 🙂

[amandasgramma]

RussOnTheRoad wrote:

amandasgramma wrote:
Valkyriebush........yesterday's traffic WAS bad. There was an accident on I-10 we're told that routed everyone thru Q. I can't find anything on the newsfeeds about it though. We discovered the "wash" yesterday....free parking all around!!!!! Look for the banner across the "driveway" of the wash that says PROGRESSIVE. 🙂 🙂

Russ -- read your blog....GOOD JOB!!! 🙂 🙂

I will say one thing about the BIG TENT this year as compared to other years. There were only a couple of jewelry booths. One year, there was at least 2 on every row. Don't think they did so well. 🙂 We found ways to spend our dollars. Went back yesterday morning early to pick up something we wanted......then tried to find that fudge booth. Dang....DH didn't want to roam to find it -- THAT's got to be a first!!!!!

Fudge booth? FUDGE BOOTH??? WHERE? I MUST KNOW!!! Hahah.

Thanks for you kind words about my blog. I work hard to provide useful and entertaining info, and that includes my photography for which I'm known.

🙂 🙂 I wish I could have remembered!!!! Guess I'll have to make some. 😞 Your pics ARE great! 🙂

[RussOnTheRoad]

amandasgramma wrote:
Valkyriebush........yesterday's traffic WAS bad. There was an accident on I-10 we're told that routed everyone thru Q. I can't find anything on the newsfeeds about it though. We discovered the "wash" yesterday....free parking all around!!!!! Look for the banner across the "driveway" of the wash that says PROGRESSIVE. 🙂 🙂

Russ -- read your blog....GOOD JOB!!! 🙂 🙂

I will say one thing about the BIG TENT this year as compared to other years. There were only a couple of jewelry booths. One year, there was at least 2 on every row. Don't think they did so well. 🙂 We found ways to spend our dollars. Went back yesterday morning early to pick up something we wanted......then tried to find that fudge booth. Dang....DH didn't want to roam to find it -- THAT's got to be a first!!!!!

Fudge booth? FUDGE BOOTH??? WHERE? I MUST KNOW!!! Hahah.

Thanks for you kind words about my blog. I work hard to provide useful and entertaining info, and that includes my photography for which I'm known.

[amandasgramma]

Valkyriebush........yesterday's traffic WAS bad. There was an accident on I-10 we're told that routed everyone thru Q. I can't find anything on the newsfeeds about it though. We discovered the "wash" yesterday....free parking all around!!!!! Look for the banner across the "driveway" of the wash that says PROGRESSIVE. 🙂 🙂

Russ -- read your blog....GOOD JOB!!! 🙂 🙂

I will say one thing about the BIG TENT this year as compared to other years. There were only a couple of jewelry booths. One year, there was at least 2 on every row. Don't think they did so well. 🙂 We found ways to spend our dollars. Went back yesterday morning early to pick up something we wanted......then tried to find that fudge booth. Dang....DH didn't want to roam to find it -- THAT's got to be a first!!!!!

[Valkyriebush]

Yesterday the traffic was awful!! I rode up from Yuma for some BBQ at the Texas BBQ trailer in front of Gem World. That Scooter is the best vehicle for QZ this time of year.

[RussOnTheRoad]

Golden_HVAC wrote:
Yes it is interesting. Have you been in the 'wash'? It goes from the south side of I 10 to the north side up the dry creekbed. It is a good and normally hard packed sand roadway, that I have taken a dune buggy, Honda CRV, Windstar van, and a few years ago a Ford Edge on it. It avoids a lot of the Quartzsite traffic. Though now that there are traffic signals on highway 95, traffic moves along much better.

Have fun!

Fred.

I don't think I've seen that... well maybe I've seen part of it as Ive walked along 95. My toad is a little motorcycle and the washes with all the sand and gravel are places I generally avoid with that.

[Golden_HVAC]

Yes it is interesting. Have you been in the 'wash'? It goes from the south side of I 10 to the north side up the dry creekbed. It is a good and normally hard packed sand roadway, that I have taken a dune buggy, Honda CRV, Windstar van, and a few years ago a Ford Edge on it. It avoids a lot of the Quartzsite traffic. Though now that there are traffic signals on highway 95, traffic moves along much better.

Have fun!

Fred.