We stopped in El Centro at a 7-11 for fuel and air in the tires. There was a homeless man set up next to the fence, with blankets for privacy. He was listening to the financial news, shaking his head, talking to himself, rolling his own cigarettes, and minding his own business. Why did the 7-11 let him stay? There must be a story there.
We took I-8 to Yuma, and drove north on US95. The drive up was beautiful, with the Cathedral Dome and other mountains on our right. Marianne enjoys picking up rocks wherever she can find them, including on the side of the road. As we got close to Quartzsite we started to see more RVs in the desert. Then we saw the BLM long term visitor campgrounds, and finally we arrived in Quartzsite around 2 PM Mountain Time.
After driving through town, and mostly seeing funky RV campgrounds, we consulted out Trailer Life guidebook, and called one of their recommended campgrounds. The price was reasonable, so we went there. The campground looked noticeably better than the campgrounds we had seen, with palm trees and lots of retirees escaping the cold.
We headed over to the Rock and Gem show, which was a giant flea market, selling everything from tools to kitchen gadgets to quilts. But there were many booths with rocks, gems, and jewelry. We went into one large building full of stones, jewelry, and everything related to them. We went on overload, never having seen that much raw stone in one place. There were expensive items and cheap items, such as agate spheres for $20 a pound, and handfuls of strings of beads for a few dollars. We bought a few necklaces for gifts, paying 75 cents each.
Richard chatted at some length with some Anabaptists wearing bonnets selling natural food. They explained that their church had about 200 members, after splitting their church into two churches when the congregation got too large. Richard talked about our failed utopian communities tour, which included some Anabaptist groups.
Quartzsite is all about flea market vendors and small stores; we did not find a sizable grocery store, just a couple of small stores.
At the small grocery store, the man and woman in front of us were buying a quart of whiskey and a pack of cigarettes, emptying their pockets to find enough change to pay the bill. The couple behind us were a diminutive Hispanic man and a large black woman. He was buying a pint of vodka, and said that he was going to get drunk. She said that was not nearly enough. Many of the people here seem to be escapees from regular life, hippies, or just the down and out. There are dropouts, and people driving very expensive RVs. It is quite a trip for a couple of Boulderites, who don't spend much time in the real world.
All in all, Quartzsite did not seem attractive to us, but it is an experience.
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