Time Flies by In Southwest Arizona

The phrase “time flies when you are having fun” surely is true!  Our calendar has been packed with a variety of activities in addition to pickleball and line dancing, from admiring the creations of local artists at the Mountain Quail Invitational Art Show to locating more geocaches hidden within the desert. 

 

 Not only is it fun to find and log the hidden geocaches, I love seeing different areas of the desert.  Here the wildflowers were scattered like throw rugs on the desert floor.

Lots of colorful blooms in this wash.

The desert is full of interesting finds, from rock art...

...to a pet cemetery...

...to a memorial garden for human loved ones.

 

My gal pal, Mademoiselle Rochelle, and I celebrated Valentine's Day with my parents at the Quartzsite Community Center.  The town hosted an afternoon dance there, complete with refreshments and DJ, for a cost that fit right into this stuffed rat’s cheese budget: FREE!     Sadly, like the prior 2 years, this event was poorly attended.  In fact, even if I counted the volunteers, town employee who organized the event, and the DJ, we didn’t total a dozen participants.  (Obviously, they need to work on promotion/advertising!)  The good news was that we had a wide berth for dancing.  Furthermore, a lack of attendees increased our odds of winning a door prize.

 

Dad was the winner of one of the two door prizes.

For a third year, we attended the DRV Owners Travel Club Luncheon.  Held at The Hub in Mesa, it was an afternoon of good food, conversation, and camaraderie among 30+ fellow DRV Owners.   Afterwards, we had our annual visit with Marie, whom we met, along with her hubby Bob, when we all workcamped at Crazy Horse Memorial in Custer, South Dakota in 2015.  People may think the nomadic lifestyle is a lonely one.  But we have met wonderful people through the years with whom we have sustained long-term friendships.

 

We have had unseasonably warm weather in Quartzsite this year, with temps hitting 90F+ degrees late in February.  It has been so warm, the desert creatures are already emerging!

This young snake met his demise before I stumbled upon him while hiking with Mom.

Scorpion!

 

This lizard went for a swim in our makeshift birdbath.

We spent a glorious day in Parker.  First, we met up for lunch at Pirates Den with Shirleen/Hank.  (We met these wonderful folks through the now-defunct RVillage app when we all ventured North to Alaska in 2016.  We all have kept in touch, and whenever our paths cross every few years, we get together.  We last saw them in 2022.)     Then we headed out to the Kelly Hughes Band Desert Party on BLM lands off Shea Road.  Kelly ALWAYS delivers on his guarantee of a good time.

This harlot at the Pirate's Den tried to seduce me, but I remained true to Mademoiselle Rochelle.

Kicking the dust up (literally!) when dancing in the desert.

We had two off-road Jeep adventures with the Rock-N-Slow Rollers, courtesy of Clayton as leader and Helen/Ted as tail gunners.  Our first outing was a loop ride along Parker Mesa, which offered views of Vampire Mine and the Bill Williams Wildlife Refuge.  Though not a technical ride, the trails were very rough because of the effects of the summer monsoon season.  The power of water to change topography never ceases to amaze me.  

Hayden-Rhodes Aqueduct.

Ocotillo in full bloom. 

Bill Williams River in the background.

View of Parker Mesa.

On another day, we all ventured to Conglomerate Mine and Patton’s Cave.  Though we have been to the latter site on a prior occasion, we traveled along trails we had not done previously.  That is the beauty of off-roading in the desert.  There are so many trails from which to choose to traverse to a site.  And this route was quite scenic, including seeing my very first non-captive desert tortoise!

Love is in the air with these desert creepy crawlers!

Jackpot!  A desert tortoise in the wild!

How friendly the saguaro cacti are--they always seen to be waving to me!

Movie set in Bouse.

Patton's Cave.

Since we dwell in these desert lands, we thought it only fitting to join the Friends of the Sonoran Desert in their monthly clean-up efforts.  What an awesome group of folks.   We all share a desire to keep our public lands clean and accessible for us all to enjoy.   The leaders identified 16 specific areas within BLM La Posa North/Scadden Wash for us to tackle.  We saw abandoned cars, old appliances, and broken tents.  Our group collected at least a dozen broken down/rusty/tireless bicycles  We picked up more dirty diapers and underwear than I care to think about!   Dozens of cardboard boxes, pallets, and hundreds of empty bottles/cans were strewn on the desert floor.   I gotta tell ya, it was quite appalling!    And they call my Rodentia brethren hoarders!  I think you humans are worse than any packrat can be!  See for yourselves by watching this video done by a volunteer of the Friends of the Sonoran Desert.

 

Max was one of several dogs who attended the clean-up, but he was the ONLY one who actually picked up trash.

Well, time to chill out and enjoy another glorious evening sunset.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Fun-Filled First 2 Weeks Spent in Quartzsite, Arizona

It may be a dusty, desert town, but despite what some may say, there are PLENTY of activities in which you can participate when visiting Quartzsite, Arizona.  Hence, we dove right in.  We started by attending several line dance lessons at the Quartzsite Improvement Association (QIA).   We also drove up to Brenda for dance lessons at Desert Gold RV Park.  We were greeted warmly by all our instructors and fellow classmates.

 

We try to put those line dance lessons to good use.  So, we joined several of our classmates to do some fancy footwork to the sounds provided by the SkyHawk band at both the Senior Center and the QIA.

We Quartzsite line dancers don a new T-shirt design each year for our March Madness event, courtesy of our talented friend, Marlys.  In addition to creating a new design annually, Marlys hosts several paint parties during which we all “customize” our shirts, and we were just in time for the final party of the season.

We hit the pickleball courts several times with some of the folks with whom we played last year, and we met some new competitors as well.  Though the Town Park has a court, we prefer to pay the nominal fee to play at Holiday Palms RV Park ($3/day/person; $30/month/person; $125/season/person; $200/season/couple).

What we love most about Quartzsite is reuniting with RV friends.  So, we broke bread at Silly Al’s with Curtis/Stephanie, whom we met back in 2015 when we attended a Rally for Montana 5^th wheel owners.  Though we visited with them in recent years in Idaho, this was the first time they have been back down in Quartzsite since 2020.

 

There is no better way to celebrate lunar activity than attending a monthly “Howling at the Moon” festival in Yuma, Arizona.  It is 4-5 hours of great music, dancing, vendors, and, of course, photos with Wolfie.  We were joined by good friends that we met when we all volunteered at the 50^th Anniversary of the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta in 2022.

The monthly Howling at the Moon Festival in Yuma is such a blast...

...even the paragliders drop in for the fun.

Mom and me dancing in the desert.

We howled and the moon delivered!

Earlier that same day, we had a mini reunion at Da Boyz Cafe with folks with whom we work-camped at the Amazon Fulfillment Center in Hazlet, Texas in 2016.  Those were 3 months of hard, physically-taxing work.  But the wonderful people we met there made it all worthwhile.

 

There are all types of musical events in Quartzsite, from informal jam sessions, to live bands, to drum circles.  We enjoyed watching friend Chrissy perform with the Greater Quartzsite Ukulele Orchestra.  It proved to be an evening of fun and laughter for participants as well as audience members.  Where else can you listen to the gentle strumming of ukuleles accompanied by kazoos (which is one “instrument” I think I can master!).

 

We were among the 350 people who attended the Quartzsite Roadrunner Mineral/Gem Club Spaghetti Dinner.  Delicious food, great conversation with fellow attendees Maryellen/Richard, musical entertainment by Jade Street Band, and all for a good cause—raising funds for the Club’s Scholarship Program.

 

We hit the road early one morning to visit the University of California in Holtsville (UC Holtsville).  We love this place.  Pre-2020, we would attend their farm tours.   We would get an informative presentation about the protocols for agriculture within the Imperial Valley of California, a delicious lunch, and an opportunity to pick our own vegetables.  Sadly, COVID killed those enjoyable tours.  Now, UC Holtsville just sponsors pop-up u-pick produce markets every now and then.  There were about 100 of us who were happy to bring our own bags and knives and hit the fields to harvest romaine, cauliflower, and broccoli.  We picked 30 pounds of produce—plenty to share with 6 friends!  It sure brought back memories of all the u-pick farms we frequented near our home in New Jersey.  From a variety of berries to apples, from peaches to pumpkins, you name it, we picked it.  I, PoPo the Rambling RV Rat once picked a peck of peppers all by myself!  It is such a spiritual experience, reaping the bounty provided by our Creator and connecting with Mother Earth.

 

While in California, we stopped at Imperial Sand Dunes, playground for off-roaders, motocross, and dune buggies.  It was a VERY windy day, so only a few diehards were out on the dunes.  The blowing sand felt like a microdermabrasion treatment on my face, not to mention sand being stuck in every crevice of my stuffed body!

A lone buggy braving the winds. 

The  winds were so fierce, they damaged my sand art self portrait!

The wildflowers were prolific along CA-78!  While the scenery was lovely, the road was like a roller coaster.  (In fact, I saw several signs that said “dips”.  At first, I thought it was referencing my parents. But then I realized that it couldn’t possibly know that our car was approaching and that the sign was referring to the road conditions!)

We had a busy first 2 weeks!  But that is just the way we like it.  I'm looking forward to more fun in the Arizona sun.  Talk to you again soon!

Tonight's sunset!