Quartzsite Continued

It is the the 19th of January and at the moment I am sitting in my motorhome out in the desert with the wind blowing the coach all over the place and the rain is coming down.  It is supposed to be bad for the rest of the week, but it just seems to rain at night.

I hung out with the SOLOS singles group for the past week and between Hugs and Mugs in the morning and Happy Hour in the afternoon we did fun things during the day.  After I got back from Blythe with a new roof, it deadens the rain now which is nice.  Before it used to be so loud that I couldn't hear the TV.  Every group has happy hour so we visit them all.  One had great entertainment with one of the singer with the Sons of the Pioneers.  Of course they had finger foods, I did resist this time.  We checked out a couple of other places and stopped at the famous Reader's Oasis Book Store.  This guy, Paul Winer, has been around it seems forever, a really nice guy that doesn't like cloths.  He seems to be the only one that can get away with it.  The last time I was out here I didn't get a picture so here it is.  Only in Quartzsite.  He owns this bookstore and has every book and tapes you could think of.  Just ask him and he will find it.  He is a poet and has had his poetry published, boogie and blues piano player and singer.  He performed all over the northeast U.S. and coast to coast in Canada.  He was the naked boogiwoogie piano player.  He is a nudist and has been all his life.  If you are ever in Quartzsite stop buy and say hi.

They have almost everything you want in this little town, lots of restaurants with very reasonable prices.  A place where you can get breakfast all day.  Thursday was a veg out day, but that didn't happen a friend called so we walked around one of the flea markets along with the wind and dust.  We tried to find the Pipe Museum and thinking it was a building looked for awhile.  It was in one of the tents in the market.  This museum houses over 1,500 smoking pipes and stands from as early as 1600's.  For the $2.00 admission it was well worth it. Pipes have been made of everything from corncobs to silver and gold and other prescious metals.  One popular material is meerschaum (meaning Sea Foam in German) was the superior material.  They receive these pipes from all over the world.  There are also metal advertisements all over the walls.  Ashtrays  that brought back memories of my childhood.  When a lot of people smoked one thing or another.  They are trying to raise money to buy a truck to house the collection so they can travel around showing people the history.  Quartzsite had a bad wind storm come through in December and it did destroy a few of the display cases.  Tents are used and the wind can destroy them very fast.  There is also a gum museum, but I didn't have time to check it out, always next time.
Friday was dancing day, a group of us went to a place called "Somewhere" in Bouce.  We stopped and had supper then went to this bar.  It is very small with very little dance floor, but it was packed.  They had a live band and I danced almost every dance.  The group I was with has a policy that a guy has to dance with all the women and the women can ask the guys to dance.  Another late night.

Saturday we took about 8 cars and went to the Desert Bar.  This is north of Parker and about 5 miles off the main road and is dirt it winds through valleys and up into the mountains.  This place was an old mining town and this guy bought it in 1975and turned it into a bar.  It is only open for the winter and only on Saturday and Sunday from 1.00pm till dusk.  They have no electricity only solar.  They serve hot dogs and hamburgers (not very good) didn't have any.  A band plays all afternoon and you can dance.  The water was trucked in for years and now has a well that only goes down 367 ft.  There is a church there but it is only a wall that is built like a church, weddings are held there, but no services.  The windows in the bar are old refrigerator window doors and the bar stools are made of steel and they sway from side to side.  The top of the bar is brass and the ceiling is made of stamped tin purchased from a factory in Missouri.  The womens washrooms have stalls of thick steel and the sinks are overlooking the hills, a beautiful view.

After we left there we headed

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to the Blue Water Casino in Parker.  We stopped and picked up their players card and received $10.00 in cash. While waiting for the card we had a late lunch out on the patio right beside the Colorado river, what a view.  There is a marina there, no boats too cold, but lots of ducks. When we picked up the $10.00 I was just going to put it in my pocket, but decided to put $5.00 in.  Well I played three times and the machine started dinging. $59.95 later I quit and cashed it in.  So I came out with $66.00.  

The RV show started on Saturday, but I waited until Monday to try and avoid the crowds.  I go over early like 8 am to get a parking spot.  You can't move in there most of the day and forget getting a parking spot.  I met a friend and went for lunch and the rest of the day I tried not to spend any money.  That was a lost cause.  I needed water filters 2/9.95 so bought four, they are that for one in Canada.  I almost bought a flag pole, but talked myself out of it.  They now have lights that are brighter for your RV and use less wattage, picked one up, but my coach is too old and it wouldn't work. I also got some orthotics for $200, in Canada over $400.  So back I went today to pick them up and take the light back.  Oh then I bought an external hard drive and a flash drive. 

I got to talking to the lady that was helping her son with the orthotics and they host camp up in Utah right where I want to go so she invited me up to camp with them free.  She is going to take me to all the great places I want to see.  Its amazing who you will meet and what they do, that is what is so nice about RVing.

 I am glad I am heading back to Yuma tomorrow if the rain and the wind dies down enough to drive. I have had enough of dry camping for awhile. Have a great week everyone.