Reunion Week in Quartzsite!

This post is titled Reunion Week because that is basically was it was, a lot of our friends we had met over the past 18 months are pulling in almost every day! When we first started this adventure 18 months ago we did not know anyone else who was on the road. Since then we have met dozens of couples who we now consider good friends. But how does one meet people on the road? Do you go from rig to rig knocking on doors saying “Hi, we are Jim and Barb, will you be our friend?” Well, kinda but not quite. We have met some while just walking the dog through the parks and stopping to talk to someone but most of our friends come via some kind of technology.

The two main sources; RV Dreams and blogs. The RV Dreams website is a great resource and connection point for both fulltime and part-time RV’ers.  In addition to their great informational forum, they also host several rallies throughout the year like the boondocking rally we attended in Florida last winter. Many of our “Dreamer” friends are also bloggers so when we find ourselves in the same area we try to connect. In the past two weeks we have created our own little “Dreamer/blogger” community where Steve and Dianne, Pam and Red, Lee and Trace, Al and Donna and Steve and Deb are all within a couple hundred yards of each other! Lee took a great overhead picture of all our rigs with his drone.....

(l-r) Al and Donna's rig, ours, Red and Pam, Steve and Dianne (center back), Lee and Trace, Steve and Deb

In addition we are expecting several more (Greg and Cori, Dino and Lisa, Bill and Kelly and Les and Sue) within the next couple of weeks! Some of us have met before in person but even those that haven’t feel like they have known each other a long time from reading each other’s travel adventures. A side benefit is also meeting their friends that are in the area like Deb and Ray just down the road a bit. Two other RV Dreams couples (Dave and Diane and Mario and Ellen) that are staying in town stopped by for a couple happy hours…. ….oh wait…. I was recently informed that these are not happy hours, they are socializing events. (we wouldn’t want people to get the idea that all we do is drink!)

Dianne and Barb "socializing"

Pam, Diane, Steve and Dave

"The Fergs" Al and Donna married 42 years today!

Ellen and Trace. Looks like Ellen's foot is on fire!

Front: Mario, Lee and Trace
Back: Al, Red Dave and Steve

Another great source to find RV or travel blogs is Hitchitch. We are members of this group and have discovered other bloggers that we have not never met but consider good friends and are hoping to meet sometime in our future travels.

RVillage is a site dedicated to helping RV’ers connect. I think of it as Facebook for RV’ers. When we get to a new area we “check in” on RVillage and you can see who else has checked-in the area. Since we have been here we have received two messages from fellow RVillagers asking to meet up. The first was Jim and Peggy who we had met last winter in Florida. When they checked-in here in Quartzsite, they saw that we were here too and met up for dinner at Silly Al’s one night. Unfortunately we forgot our camera! We also received a message from Kathy and Larry who are just down the road from us asking us if we wanted to meet up. Although we had not met before, we met this afternoon and found that we had a lot in common being somewhat new to the RV lifestyle. I am sure we will connect with them in the near future.

Last but not least, Facebook also has a group for fulltime RV’ers called Full Time RVing. In the past week we met a great couple Jim and Barb (with names like that how could we not meet them?). Jim had sent us a note on Facebook telling us they were in the area and to stop by sometime so we rode over on the 4 wheeler one day. Talk about a solar set up, they have 1600 watts of solar that puts our 640 watts to shame!

So hitting the road as a solo or a couple not knowing a sole may seem intimidating at first but before you know it you will be seeing old friends and meeting new ones at happy hour social events in the desert!

Between all these events we did get out for a couple of 4 wheeler/jeep rides. There are literally hundred of miles of trails out here on the flat land and the hills. On one particular ride we went up a pretty steep grade only to find that the trail ended suddenly, I mean really suddenly at the edge of a cliff. Good thing we did not fly up that hill! After a little maneuvering I got the ranger turned around but Barb and Daisy opted to walk down as it looked a little steeper going down then coming up. After a little sliding everyone made it down, safe and ready for another adventure.

View from the top

Sliding Down!

Until next time..........