AZ | 2014, Feb 7-9: Quartzsite Gathering

[Steve Hammel]

Tons of flea market vendors there I'm sure. Last year we spent quite a bit of time looking. There were some great deals on folding chairs.

[DeadEyeDan]

Last year it was the last weekend for most of the vendors. They were selling out and going home.

[Bob Starr]

How come this is done in Feb instead of Jan?

[Donna D.]

Bob, I'm kinda thinking it's more about the gathering of all molded towables and less about the HUGE show at the Q

[Wallo]

Do most of you all travel with water, or fill up when you get to Q? If you, fill up when you get there, where do you get the water?

[George Campbell]

Wallo
We do travel to Quartzsite with water, however, it's only about 90 miles for us. If going further than that, we would just put in a small amount for travel.
In Quartzsite,, i'm sure there are several places. I might recomend "The Pit Stop" on Hwy 95 about 1/2 a mile or so north of I-10.
George and Betty

[George Campbell]

Originally Posted by Bob Starr

How come this is done in Feb instead of Jan?

Bob
The first year, the Gathering was held on Super Bowl weekend and people complained, so we moved it to the following weekend. There are still plenty of vendors in town and things to do. Donna D is correct, this event is about the people and the camping, not the town.
January in Quartzsite is crazy, lines and traffic, plus the area we hold the Gathering would have motorhomes and fifth wheels everywhere. As this event has grown, we take up almost 1/4 mile of the frontage road.
George and Betty

[Bob Starr]

Originally Posted by George Campbell

Bob
The first year, the Gathering was held on Super Bowl weekend and people complained, so we moved it to the following weekend. There are still plenty of vendors in town and things to do. Donna D is correct, this event is about the people and the camping, not the town.
January in Quartzsite is crazy, lines and traffic, plus the area we hold the Gathering would have motorhomes and fifth wheels everywhere. As this event has grown, we take up almost 1/4 mile of the frontage road.
George and Betty

Honestly, to me Quartzsite is a piece of cake compared to the crazyness of when I ffirst started going many years ago!!! I was shocked a few years back when I came and found sidewalks and the main event 1/10 the size of what it used to be! I use to park my school bus conversion where Mc Ds is now and sell from there. By Feb. I would be in Tuscon which is still total insanity. Still a lot of things to see in the Q, but disappointing and over priced anymore. I stayed in behind the Main Event and except for MLK weekend there wasn't many around.
In past years, I would stay by Wiley Wells. Instead of going into the rest stop you could just drive out into the desert. And still be close enough to use the dump station and get water. Stay out there for months!!! A full timers paradise! That's all shut down now. Times sure change

[Roger C H]

In the SW, food stores all carry dinking water about $1 per gallon.
We carry two apple juice jugs for water. Those can be filled many places for $.25 from Glacier water filters. I understand the problem is salt in the water.

[Wallo]

We do travel to Quartzsite with water, however, it's only about 90 miles for us. If going further than that, we would just put in a small amount for travel.
In Quartzsite,, i'm sure there are several places. I might recomend "The Pit Stop" on Hwy 95 about 1/2 a mile or so north of I-10.
George and Betty

In the SW, food stores all carry dinking water about $1 per gallon.
We carry two apple juice jugs for water. Those can be filled many places for $.25 from Glacier water filters. I understand the problem is salt in the water.

I'm just looking for water to shower and do dishes. Hate to drive 350 miles carrying all that extra weight sloshing around back there. I bring bottled water for drinking in the cooler. Guess I'll fill up at the Pit Stop, and bring an extra 5 gallon container.

[Bruce H]

Sunday Feb 02

A few Casitas already here.

[Jon Vermilye]

There will be an Escape 17 there tomorrow!

[Bob Starr]

Plenty of places to get water at the Q!! Take some gallon jugs with you when you go into town and look for faucets. I found some faucets behind the main event; some more at Tyson Wells over by the buildings in the parking lot by the bridge. There is a faucet in the park in Blythe for filling RVs. Get off the 10 at Lovekin and go south

[DeadEyeDan]

We travel full fresh and empty holding if planning to boondock.

[stevebaz]

We were in Quartzsite Jan 24-27 the last weekend of the RV show and the Gem and mineral Pow Wow. The events in town have been declining for the last 5 years or so. Next year will be a big change as the town is currently dealing with sewage upgrade and added fees to RVs to pay for it and how it will effect the events in town. Allot of restaurants in town are changing format or closed. We struggled to eat out every night in town due to the changes in vendors. Too few places and everyone struggling to find a seat unless you want fast food. The town rolls up the side walks at 4:30 and everyone heads out for food. This is weird being from LA on daylight savings time and Arizona doesn’t have daylight savings. We camped in the BLM lot north east of town. We didn’t see any eggs there. As we past Dome rock there were about a half dozen eggs spread about. If we go again we will probably target MLK weekend as I think there will be more vendors that haven't left yet. We like walking the miles of junk we don’t seem to buy anything except food but we get in a good 2-1/2 days of walking. The weather when we were there was so nice. Another issue is during that weekend we crossed into Arizona on Friday Jan 24 on the 10 freeway from California there was heavy border patrol presence going into Arizona and when we left on Monday the 27 that presence was still there going into Arizona. They stopped every car and eyeballed everyone and a good percentage of the cars they walked the dogs around. They had several people in immigration detention and other issues. I talked to a couple of vendors in town that had issues with getting a sellers permit because of either ID issues or not having a birth certificate. That was a new problem that cropped up this season. There were no issues in or out on the California side.
During a popular weekend I don’t see how you could have a rally out there on open land you could never get a group together all in one place.
Have a nice rally.

[Arizona Eileen]

As George mentioned, I'll again be hosting a Swap Meet at Dome Rock on Saturday, Feb 8th, 9 am to 12 noon.

This is your opportunity to recycle those items you no longer use!

SELLERS:
* Items must be camping-related...basically anything having to do with RVing. Also included are include books, CDs, electronics, etc. -- basically stuff you'd use when traveling
* Purchase a box of small envelopes at the Dollar Store (I'll also have some on hand). On the front of the envelope, write:
1) Your name, 2) the item name, 3) the price, 4)your cell phone number, 5)and either FREE or SELL ONLY.

SELL ONLY means the item will be retrieved by you if it doesn't sell, and FREE means the item will go to the FREE STUFF table at 12 noon.
* You must be willing to accept either cash or checks for your item(s).
* Payments will be placed into the envelope and deposited into a slotted box.
* If you have a table or ground cover we can use for a few hours to display items, please bring it along.
* At 12 noon, sellers will be expected to come back to the tent to claim their payment(s) and/or item(s

BUYERS:
* Acceptable payments will be by cash (correct change appreciated) or check.
* Buyers may want to write their name and cell number on the envelope before depositing it into the box if they have questions..

MISCELLANY:
* There will be a table for FREE STUFF. Same rules apply — the items must be camping-related.
* At 12 noon, unsold items that Sellers don't want back will be moved to the FREE STUFF table.

Look for the adjoined 10x10 tent(s). I'll be there from 8:30 am (when you can start dropping off your stuff) until around 12:30 pm and will keep an eye on things, so you're free to roam and enjoy the Rally, or bring your morning beverage and just come to hang out with everyone.

I will have the A-Z Casita Owners Guide for sale.

Questions? Suggestions? Post here or email me at lovemycasita@ymail.com

Eileen

[Philip & Catherine]

We just finished lunch after setting up camp with the solar.
We can see about 12 fiber glass trailer below us.
P & C

[DeadEyeDan]

Originally Posted by stevebaz

We were in Quartzsite Jan 24-27 the last weekend of the RV show and the Gem and mineral Pow Wow. The events in town have been declining for the last 5 years or so. Next year will be a big change as the town is currently dealing with sewage upgrade and added fees to RVs to pay for it and how it will effect the events in town. Allot of restaurants in town are changing format or closed. We struggled to eat out every night in town due to the changes in vendors. Too few places and everyone struggling to find a seat unless you want fast food. The town rolls up the side walks at 4:30 and everyone heads out for food. This is weird being from LA on daylight savings time and Arizona doesn’t have daylight savings. We camped in the BLM lot north east of town. We didn’t see any eggs there. As we past Dome rock there were about a half dozen eggs spread about. If we go again we will probably target MLK weekend as I think there will be more vendors that haven't left yet. We like walking the miles of junk we don’t seem to buy anything except food but we get in a good 2-1/2 days of walking. The weather when we were there was so nice. Another issue is during that weekend we crossed into Arizona on Friday Jan 24 on the 10 freeway from California there was heavy border patrol presence going into Arizona and when we left on Monday the 27 that presence was still there going into Arizona. They stopped every car and eyeballed everyone and a good percentage of the cars they walked the dogs around. They had several people in immigration detention and other issues. I talked to a couple of vendors in town that had issues with getting a sellers permit because of either ID issues or not having a birth certificate. That was a new problem that cropped up this season. There were no issues in or out on the California side.
During a popular weekend I don’t see how you could have a rally out there on open land you could never get a group together all in one place.
Have a nice rally.

Come back this week end and you will find out!

[Jon Vermilye]

I'm here, and Steve, there is lots of space!

[Wallo]

Hey, Will someone save me a space by a bush pleez? LOL I'll probably be there late on Thursday. Stopping off in LV to do some grocery shopping at Winco.