And then the love of my life arrived for a visit – flew into
Phoenix on Superbowl weekend… the planning was maybe not the best, and we paid
for it...
First night we stayed at the RV park and went to Crazy Al’s
pizza for dinner. The band that I had
seen the ‘Adult Daycare center’ was playing, and Gene got her first look at how
the old mense in Quartzsite jol'ed (partied)…
Also saw some line dancing - which is a whole education in itself. The
band (and lead singer) were really great.
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Dis nou n sandroos
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Truth in advertising
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Campsite with some great iron works - and see the doves?
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Well, had to get a photo of the local whale - see the sign...
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My hangout
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Next morning we packed up and headed for La Posa South – the
boondockers area I had spent the previous 2 weekends doing reconnaissance. Cycled around and visited the sites. We actually found the Magic Circle – which I
had been looking for the previous visits and could not find. I mentioned it in the previous blog, clothing
optional, etc. etc. but the best part was
there was a caravan parked next to the circle (the caretaker?) who had 5 large
‘wolf derivatives’. In any case, Gene is
walking around taking photos and out pops this Jopie Adam - white hair and long
beard - out of the caravan... sans clothes.
I have rarely seen Gene speechless, but she was bowled. We moved on.
Gene did get a photo of a naked man on a bicycle who was under 60 years
old. Not sure I can quite comprehend the
naked and cycling thing…
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At the petroglyphs on our bicycles
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Jagged mountains
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Roughing it while boondocking
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| Campsite |
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Awful restaurant, but great pic
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Everyone drives around in an ATV
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BLM art
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The great magic circle. Note me watching it all unfold...
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People with too much time...
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On Sunday we took the rental car (for which we paid a pretty
penny – see above re superbowl, etc.) and went off-roading a bit.
Went to the Kofa natural reserve and in there to Palm Canyon. Long dirt road and then a 30 minute walk up
this canyon and voila – there are these palm trees in a steep gully up the one
side of the canyon. How they got there
is anyone's guess….
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Why the slot on the right?
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The walk up to the palms
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The sonoran desert in the background
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Gene the tourist
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Gene the photographer
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Gene the boondocker
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Also tried to get to some old abandoned mine – but the road
got so bad I started feeling sorry for the rental and we turned around.
On the way back we stopped at a place were we were ‘allowed’
to pick up quartz. Gene had this idea
that the park rangers put quartz pieces out there for us to ‘find’. Not so much, but quite a few rock hounds
looking at the ground, so there had to be something.
We did this walk up the mountain, and it was actually funny…
suddenly there were pieces of quartz everywhere. Seems what happens is that the mountain is
basically quartz embedded into the rock, and as the rock weathers and
breaks up, the quartz gets loose and rolls down the mountain – but there was a
distinct elevation below which there was very little quartz. Any case, we have some samples now.
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Unfortunately not what we picked up - but Quartzsite is a rock-hounds dream
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Got back to the campsite with a suspect tire – not flat,
but… woke up the next morning with a flat rear tire. Low profile tires on a Maxima is not really made
for the dirt roads around here. Luckily
the spare was good so after changing it we packed up and headed back to the
Holiday RV resort for a last night for Gene (and to get the tire fixed).
Pre-Valentines dinner was at the Quartzsite Yacht club. I am now the proud member of the club – which
should give me access to all those snooty yacht clubs around the world –
including the Royal Cape YC…
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Place in town with amazing iron works
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Holiday Palms RV park. We never got to the pool and jacuzzi
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And the next thing Gene was heading back to Boston and very
cold weather. I decided to head up north
to Parker – just over 50 miles from Quartzsite. However, stopped off Friday night to go hang out at the Lit Cactus in La Posa south.
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The furries were out in force...
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I did miss Bob, Tim and Tom
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The lit cactus
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Tough existence out in the desert
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Fishing the Quartzsite wash (not called rivers here for obvious reasons)
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Buckskin National Park is on a bend in the Colorado river and a few
people told me it was a great spot. I
managed to get Saturday night booked.
Was really fun to go. Saw some
geoglyphs – it definitely needed some imagination, but got me off on a side road that was
great to ride.
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Need to look closely to the white bit in the middle.
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Buckskin National Park was really different. California on the other side of the river... Mobile homes, rv parks and Caribbean style tiki bars on the banks and a very vacation feel. And then the odd sds speedboat roaring up and down the river.
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Becky - the rv park local desert turtle
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Sunday morning hike
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Sharing is caring
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| serene |
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The Colorado river must have broken through this part some time in the past with lots of force.
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The obligatory golf course in the desert
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Note the salt on the side of the road. The water is extremely brackish/salty and not sure if this is due to the fertilizer runoff or natural.
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The local beach bar
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The whale directly below
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| Edumucational |
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Was a great campsite
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Fun part was on a hike on Sunday morning, 2 airplanes came buzzing in and passed out of sight lower than where I was. I walked back to the rv park and as I got there, here comes the 2 planes on the water going up the river. They were evidently looking for a long stretch to take off on again, but it was somewhat surreal.
On the way back to Quartzsite, drove down the Arizona side
of the Colorado River through the Colorado River Indian Tribe land. Beautiful, but poor.
The next week was back at Holiday Palms – best wifi in
Quartzsite and a decision to leave on Friday for Joshua Tree NP and the Salton
Sea.
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Holiday Palms RV park in Quartzsite
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with a pool. American Dirt - great book. Highly recommended.
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Got myself a weber smokey joe and promptly bought a steak that cost more than the braai... but it was great
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