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| Van & RVs this year |
This has been a huge year for the RTR with probably over 2,000 people attending. It looks crowded but the positive vibe I get from everyone is still here. It's been a good time!
Quartzsite in January is RV country, RVs are scattered across the desert surrounding the I-10/ Hwy 95 crossroads. There are innumerable tents in town, with vendors selling everything!
Much of it to do with RVs and an equal amount of rocks and gems. There is a big tent RV show starting on Saturday the 20th and a rock show going on right now down at the west end of town.
I have spent two other winters in this area.
2012-2013 I was in a Class A at an RV park in town, it was cheap and centrally located so I could ride my bike everywhere around here. There was lots to see!
2014-2015 I was in a van hanging out with the vandwellers here in the Quartzsite area and down by the CA/AZ border by Ehrenberg and the Colorado river.
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| Sunset over the Colorado river |
The show was in Quartzsite in January, for the rest of the time I had good friends, lot's of sunshine and fantastic sunsets. Very pleasant. I don't recall wearing shorts all that much those winters.
The weather has been great this year, I've been wearing shorts the whole time but it does look like some cooler air is coming in this weekend.
We are boondocking in the desert & it has been good with lots of sunshine! With the cooler weather coming, we are also getting more clouds.
Our electrical needs have been met by the two 170 watt solar panels mounted flat on the roof. The full sunny days get the batteries full by Noon for the most part. Not so on cloudy days. The last winter I spent here depending on solar for my power was great until we had two days of rain & clouds. This RV has a generator if we need to charge the batteries and we are not going driving.
Our fresh water is taken care of by a tank onboard the RV, as is the propane. Our waste water is taken care of by three tanks. One for the toilet, one for the shower & the third for the sinks. The propane covers cooking, the refrigerator and the furnace.
Seven days ago we stopped in town & for $14 dumped all the tanks then filled up with fresh water (filtered with reverse osmosis) before we came here & parked. The propane was 3/4 full at that time. This morning the fresh water is almost gone, as is the propane. On 50 degree mornings we run the furnace to take the chill off, the furnace really eats propane!
The waste tanks should be just about full too, so it's time to take the house into town, to dump & refill everything!
(It was $33.05 for the dump, water refill & propane)
The big tent RV show opens on Saturday, the RTR ends Sunday & our 14 day BLM pass expires next Tuesday ... but there are a whole mess of other places to go in this area within a short drive. Picking which one is the hard part!
We're 2 hours from Yuma (south), two hours from Lake Havasu City & the London Bridge (north) & 5 hours from the Santa Monica pier/end of I-10 and the Pacific Ocean (west).
They each have different things going for them.
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| Quartzsite, Lake Havasu City, Yuma & the Santa Monica Pier |
Decisions decisions.....
And don't forget about Slab City and Death Valley!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad the RTR is going good this year. I was a little worried because of the increase in people going. Last year there were twice as many people as 2014-2015 so the trend is continuing.
I hadn't thought about Death Valley...
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot of people here but the vibe is still good.
I was looking for something & found a picture of that first "burning van", you built that didn't you?
That is not a bad price for water dump and propane
ReplyDeletethe Ol'Buzzard
I think you're correct! That's almost a months worth of propane too.
DeleteThat looks like a lot of fun.
ReplyDeleteThank you for including the cost for dumping the tanks, the cost of fresh water and your propane usage. All in all it seems like a good price.
Enjoy yourselves!
You're welcome Ms Belinda!
DeleteWe love our Wave 6 -- RV furnaces in general are not very efficient *and* the blower takes a LOT of power -- whereas the Wave 6 takes no power at all. Our furnace quit working a long time ago but we have no reason to fix it -- we never use it anyway :)
ReplyDeleteThe furnace works well for out needs and we have a small stand alone propane heater if it's needed. As a plus they are both paid for!
DeleteYou down at the slabs?