A Quartzsite Christmas

We have been down in Quartzsite a little over a week and have gotten settled in and are enjoying the warmer weather here in Arizona. The spot we are in is the same one we occupied during our first full winter down here. Dino and Lisa are about 100' to one side of us and Steve and Dianne are about 200' to the other side. No getting lost wandering home after happy hours in the dark!

We opted for the $40/2 week LTVA permit rather than the $180/6 month permit. We just don't know how long we are going to stay, all depends on whether or not we sell our rig. So for now we are going to take it 2 weeks at a time. 

This week was filled with getting the rig ready to sell and catching up with friends we have not seen in quite a while. Our first order of business was to get the rig washed. We called Roberts Mobile RV Wash to see when they could fit us in. They quoted us a price of $90 for a 40' 5th wheel and an additional $25 for the truck. Both were absolutely filthy from our drive down. The bonus was that they said they would be there in 30 minutes!

While the rig was getting wash we settled in to our first happy hour around the community fire pit.

Dianne giving the dogs treats, Steve next to her, Marilyn, Jim, Cec, and Earl

(l-r)Colin, Dino, Lisa, Barb and Dianne still feeding the dogs treats

First sunset with the clean rig!

The next day Barb and I went into town to see about buying a new toilet. Why a new toilet you ask? Well, even though we winterized the rig when we were in Salt Lake Barb went to use the foot flush and it broke right off! Bummer, but not a big deal, we will just get a new foot pedal. Until after doing a little research we found that they do not sell just the foot pedal and had to buy an entire new toilet for $249.00! Luckily RV Lifestyles had one in stock and we had it installed 20 minutes after getting it home. 

So what do we do out in the desert all day? I have a list of other things I want to fix as well. One of our push button overhead reading lights went out, a thumb turn latch on the belly is not working right. Nothing serious, just some things that we did not have time to work on while we were in South Dakota. Finding a match of the reading light was a pain. We went to a few stores and no one had any. We looked on line and found what we thought was it for about $30 but were not 100% sure. Then when we were at K&B Tools in town Barb found the exact same light on the shelf. It was marked down from $25 to $12.50 to $9.00 to $6.00! They actually had about 6 of them so we bought 2. They also had the thumb turn we needed to $5.00. Two more items checked off the list!  

Dino and Lisa brought their small camper and 4 wheeler down on this trip. They have been out 4 wheeling a few times otherwise I see Dino outside playing with his balls. 

Another day we went into town with Steve, Dianne, Dino and Lisa and walked more of  the flea markets, we found a few treasures and ended at Beer Belly's for an adult beverage! 

Our first Beer Belly's trip of the year!

The next day we were working in the rig and discovered that the tv in the bedroom was not working! I plugged it into other outlets and nope, did not work. Luckily we were going to Phoenix the next day and were able to pick one up at Costco. The real reason for our Phoenix trip was to see Kevin and Cheryl who were in town visiting their parents who are both in the area. A nice bonus visit with them! We were so caught up in talking that none of us took any pictures. 

Christmas Eve day was pretty mellow. There are a number of us getting together for Christmas dinner and we needed to make a wind block for the big event. Borrowing some piping from another neighbor Steve, Jim, Earl, Dino and I made a wind block for the big event! (thanks for the pictures Dianne!)

After that we got our chairs and tested it out.....

Christmas Day was a little cooler and windy but at least the sun came out and we were able to get some solar. The two days previous to that we had to run the generator for a little bit to maintain the batteries. We have been here a week today (Wednesday). So I thought it would be good to dump our waste water tanks and fill up with fresh water. Steve was nice enough to let us borrow his barrel wagon for the job!

Thanks Steve!

I have said it each year we have been on the road and I will say it again, we just cannot get used to Christmas on the road where it is warm and there is no snow. We are fortunate to be able to spend it with such good friends but Barb and I have already talked, next year we think we will stay in South Dakota until after Christmas. We did get to video chat with all the grandkids which made our day!

10 of us got together for Christmas dinner Steve and Dianne as well as Earl and Allison each cooked 1/2 a turkey and brought a salad. Jim and Cec brought veggies, Dino and Lisa brought potatoes and of course Barb brought the dessert. It was a great dinner with only one mishap when a particularly strong wind knocked over the table with the salad and potatoes on it. Luckily we all had gotten one serving prior to this mishap. 

It was a great event starting at 2:00 and going well into the night. Well, it felt like it was well into the night but in all actuality we were back in the rig and ready to crash about 7:30.

Week 1 is in the books, we have had some interest in the rig but not the right person yet. The real crowds start showing up after Christmas so we think things will pick up in the next week or two. Until then our goal is to just keep whittling away at my "to do" list and keep healthy. With all the people walking around the flea markets coughing and hacking that might be a chore in itself!

Merry Christmas Everyone!