I ended the last Hub in Quartzsite, and I am starting this one there as well.  Why?  Because if I didn't do it this way, and show you some pictures of the trip here, it would be like I left you in Benson!  And you don't want to be left in Benson, now do you?  (It gets real cold at night there.)

So jump into Vanna, and we will take you on a real quick recap of the ride! 

So, here we are in Quartzsite! Our heat seeking super van, which we lovingly dubbed Vanna, (Vannaroon if you must know!) has brought us into 60 to 70 degree days. Sweet! (However the nights are averaging in the low 40's! Oh well, guess you can't have everything, but it sure would be nice!)

Of course, we didn't just get here, find a site and get set up. In fact, we were pulling into Quartzsite in the dark! (We thought our arrival time would be early afternoon, but we didn't count on having to wait in a line of cars for workers to clear the road of a rock slide outside of Taos caused by the small storm that hit higher in the mountains the night before!) Let me tell you, at night, Quartzsite is huge! The lights seemed to go on forever, and since we were both tired and less than ready to pitch the tent in the dark, we opted to find a hotel. (Not a problem, right?) Wrong.

There are two hotels (Technically) in Quartzsite. One is a Motel 8, which charges $100.00 a night for their cheapest rooms. (Not that I am cheap or anything, but get serious! A motel 8 for $100.00. I don't think so! (However, as the advertisement says, they left the light on for us! Maybe they should consider turning it off if the electricity bills are that high they need to overcharge for their little rooms!)

I mentioned there were, technically, two hotels. The other looked pretty nice, but the sign on the door said, "Closed, permanently", as apposed to closed for restoration, or temporarily. Well, needless to say, our options were seriously diminished!

What to do?

We pulled into a gas station and inquired about any other hotels within the town limits we may have missed. After the attendant finished laughing and had caught their breath, we were directed to travel the 22 miles into Blythe, California where there was a much larger selection of hotels and motels to choose from. We did just that, and returned to the town of Quartzsite the next morning.

Once we got over the shock of the actual size of the town in the daylight, after seeing it in the dark, we made for our first stop. (Well, second stop if you count the one we made the night before) which was Hardie's Rock Shop. The largest rock and mineral shop in town.

Why did we stop there? I'll tell you. It is an interesting story, but we need to briefly go back to the place where this quest began. Yup! Back to Minnesota.

See, back home, the house we live in is just on the edge of a large alfalfa field. About a thousand feet behind us is the remains of an old farm house. (And by remains, I mean just that. All that remains of the farm house is the basement, and some very old Italion Cypress trees which sort of mark where some old flower gardens were located.) We walk our dog back there because we can release him from his leash and just let him romp. Anyway, one day as I was walking near the ruins, I tripped. After dusting off, and repeating a few four letter explatives, I looked for the thing that tripped me. To my delight, I discovered a rather large rock, which after turning over, turned out to be an extremely large piece of raw Amethyst. Whoo hoo! Further exploration, after a quick run home to announce my discovery, unearthed several more pieces, plus several other beatuiful stones and minerals.

We did some asking around, and found out the ex-owners of the farm house were indeed rock hounds, and that their last name was Hardie. We later found out, just before the trip, the family had relocated out west. Yup, you guessed it. They relocated to Quartzsite!

We introduced ourselves, and since my S.O.'s last name is rather well known in the town we live in, the owner, Steve Hardie recognized it, and my S.O., and after a quick bit of catching up, he reccomended a compground. The B-10 campground to be exact. Why it was named that, I have absolutey no idea, but I suppose that is not very important! So, the B-10 it was.

Not a bad place really, except for one thing. One rather disgusting thing to be exact. We discovered that folks who walk their dogs don't neccessarily pick up after them. I'll say no more on that subject except for this.

*****************ATTENTION*************ATTENTION*****************ATTENTION*******

**Please stay tuned for the important public service announcement to follow.**

Please, if you have a dog, and it needs to relieve itself, at least have the courtesy to push the little poopmound off to a spot where someone won't, unknowingly, pitch their tent over it because you just heaped a bunch of dirt on top to hide it. Thank you very much.

This public service announcement is brought to you by Akeejaho, who wants to remind everyone,

Only you can prevent stinky tent floors.

*********************Now back to our regularly scheduled programming**************

Now don't get me wrong. There were tons of venders, lots of rocks to see, and a bunch of other stuff, but, it seems that all the venders, pretty much, carried the same items. Rock, antiques, and souveniers. So, after one day, we  had seen what Quartzsite had to offer, as far as venders are concerned. Bummer.

We found out Quartzsite had much more to offer than just vendors and their wares! Really! Namely the people, and the beautiful countryside.

First, we met a huge variety of folks there. We met people who were obviously very well off, and folks at the complete opposite end of the scale, and all those in between. I mean that in all seriousness.

There were motor homes in the parks that just made you gasp. They had every home comfort imaginable, and a few you couldn't imagine! And we met folks who had everything they owned in life, wrapped in a blanket and strapped to their backs.

It was some of the latter folks we met that enforced something I have always believed. In fact, some even stated it themselves, in reference to others they knew. And what would that be?

Simply, that no matter how bad things are going for you, there is always someone, somewhere, worse off than you are, and to be thankful for what you do have.

To Mark and Rhonda, and Jim and Ellen. Thank you for your kindness, and your friendship while we were in Quartzsite, and I hope we do hear from you again. You all are far richer for what you have in one another, than anyone I know. Thank you, Mark and Rhonda for the beautiful day we spent together on the shores of the Colorado.

And most of all, we are thankful for the five straight days of sun and temperatures above 60!  We actually got tans!

 A very good question. 

Well, the Colorado is kinda pretty!  How about we follow it a spell? 

Actually, my co-pilot is getting tired of the desert, and there is a pretty nice lake north of here, about 70 miles.  You know.  Havasu!  So. looks like we are heading up that way.  The weather is warm, and there's a lake.  How could we go wrong?

We are all packed, so c'mon!  Jump into Vanna and lets go!  Till next time,

Happy Bipolaring!