Quartzsite - The final day

Today is Tuesday 1/22/12 and its the last official day of the Moc Rally.

Already some holes have appeared in the circle as rigs pull out to

continue their individual journeys.

That doesn't mean the fun ends however and many folks including us will

be staying over for various lengths of time.

So let me bring you up to date.

Last night marked a somber occasion...

Our new Friends - John, Kristy, Jim, Jen, & Cathy each have lost their spouses.

In remembrance of those dearly departed we lit a hot air ballon which had

been marked with messages from everyone, and set it aloft in the dark

sky over the Arizona Desert.

Kate left a message for her mom.

We held the balloon aloft while Kristy lit it...

I move it down the desert as it slowly gained lift...

And soon it lifted into the dark sky...

Climbing higher and higher...

Till it was just an orange spot in the distance.

Today I finally broke down and we drove into town to see the Big RV Show.

It is really a mixture of State Fair, Flea Market, and RV Show.

Kate peruses one of the hundreds of vendor stalls.

Any RV you could ever dream for is on sale here.

If you want solar installed, water softeners, window awnings,

new kitchens, flagpoles, RV Furniture etc etc...

You name it...  its on sale here.

There are acres of vendors outside and then there is the" Big Tent"

The big tent is the size of a football field with hundreds of vendors inside.

Inside "The Big Tent"

Back at Fort Montana I made one more acquaintance.

Those of you growing up in the 50's and 60's might remember the hit TV Show

The Adams Family.

If so - you might remember the lead character Gomez Adams

played by John Astin.

Well guess who is a MOC'er?

Kate and her new friends..

From left

Kristy, Pat, Maxine, Shelly, & Kate.

At this point I need to also mention that one of the ladies here - Olga - had

lost a butterfly broach pin.   Many people had spent several days scouring the parade

grounds including breaking out a high tech metal detector with no luck.

Today when Kate had heard about her loss she decided to go out and join the search.

First she said a prayer to Saint Jude.

Then she was outside only about 5 minutes kicking her feet thru the dust and rocks

and all of a sudden a shiny object appeared that Kate first thought was a piece of 

broken glass but upon closer inspection turned out to be the long lost missing butterfly.

That's my Katie!

Tonight we were treated to another fine Arizona Sunset!

Upon our return to the trailer however we were treated to the newest episode

of Girls gone Wild.

One of the Doodles - I suspect Lucy - decided to pull the entire roll of toilet paper

off of the roll, and make it into smaller pieces.

Girls just want to have fun!

So do we!

Life in the Circle

Well Amber you asked for it....  and you were patient...

So here you go.

Here are the pictures of our circle in the desert.

In this photo we are at the 5:30 position in the photo with the yellow Triangle
shaped flag.   There is no one on our right side.

Here is a good overhead shot.

We are at the 10 o'clock position.

We have the black solar panels on the roof and no one to our left.

If you look closely you'll see the ladder in the back of the trailer

and I am on the roof taking photos of the hang glider taking these photos.

(Photos squared)

Our group includes all the outlying rigs below and above as well.

Where's Waldo?

I see our chairs all alone in the left center of the photo.

  One is brown.

Our rig is left with the ladder on the back.

This is a view of the nearby area...

RV's are scattered about everywhere.

This is only the tip of the iceberg and just a tiny little

fraction of the Rigs in the Area.

Sadly tomorrow is the last "Official" day of the rally.

Talk here has turned to who is going where... with whom...  and when.

Some folks are headed east - some west.

some are headed to Mexico and some Canada.

Some will leave tomorrow - some next week.

Some in groups and some solo.

The one thing that is certain is that as the ashes from the last campfire cool...

Our  little MOC family will scatter to all points of the compass 

and this little patch of sand, rock, and sky will slowly become quiet once again.  

It will be but a fond memory to all who were lucky

enough to call this place home for this short time.

The friendships made here however will be the part of this patch of

earth that remains with us throughout the year, and hopefully

call us back again.

As for our plans:

We will be here in Quartzsite till Saturday at which point we travel

90 miles south to Yuma and a commercial park for 2 nights so that I can give

Kate a good scrubbing.

Then we head back 25 miles north of Yuma to the Imperial Dam

BLM Long Term Area.

This is a picture of the general area that I obtained on the web.

We will again be boon docking there - living in the middle of the desert

and figure on staying a week or two or three.

After Quartzsite we'll be free range chickens and just go where

the feed is good.

After the imperial dam our general thoughts are to head over to Boreggo Springs

California (around Feb 10th or so) and boondock there for a while - hopefully catch up with some friends from the West Coast, then maybe around the 20th head over

to Bakersfield, Ca and the Orange Grove RV Park for a few days.

We stayed there two years ago on the way to Sequoia NP

and it is an RV park built in the middle of a Citrus Grove.

Since it's now Citrus Season - an you are allowed to pick fruit when you stay

there - Kate and I think the few hour trip is worth it for some great fresh fruit.

A trip to the San Joaquim Valley is always a good bet for great produce.

I'd also like to head up to Lone Pine, Ca and the Alabama Hills to

do some boon docking where many great westerns were filmed.

The weather this time of year can be iffy up there so we'd have to pick a good

window to make that trip.

So - Basically - I have a rough plan but nothing written in stone.

Lets see what tomorrow brings.