Quartzsite Day 4

It's now Thursday afternoon.

We arrived in Quartzsite on Monday evening.

Since then we've watched as an endless stream of RV's of all

shapes and sizes arrive and take up temporary residence in various

Nooks and Crannies throughout the nearby desert.

At the turn off from the pavement there used to be just our

Montana sign....

Now there are several nearby groups and countless individuals.

Mind you - this is just our tiny little spot of this

massive Tens of Thousands of Acres open to RV Wonderland.

Meanwhile at Fort Montana our group has swelled from about 20 or so when we

first arrived to (and I'm guessing) 60 or 70 rigs at present.

There are about 40 rigs arranged in two concentric circles

around the center social area

that forms the main Parade Ground of Fort Montana

A large Montana Dealer - Paul Everett RV has even dropped

off 6 brand new Montana's for us to have our own private RV Show.

(anyone need some spare parts?)

Each night around 430 the crowd swells for the start of Happy Hour.

Everyone brings a little snack plus the Libation of your choosing

Last night was still cool enough that a fire during happy hour was called for.

The sun sets as happy hour winds down.

Then its back to our Rig for a quick dinner before returning to

the circle for the nightly campfire.

Today the weather continued to warm.

After a cold - but not as cold - night

it was semi-short sleeve weather.

Tomorrow promises to be shorts and T-Shirts at last!

On Weds Kate went with a bunch of the ladies on a bead shopping expedition.

This was in preparation for todays Beading Lesson.

One of the big items made are lanyards for our name tags.

Our name tags have our name, home town, and MOC Screen Name

so that people on the forum can identify us.

Kate made lovely lanyards for both of us, and now has learned

a new skill.

Later we took the Doods for their afternoon walk.

Each day we do about 4 miles and visit the other groups and

campsites scattered about in the general vicinity.

Just to the east of Fort Montana are the Alpine Coach Owners Group.

They are a group of Class A (Bus like) RV's.

On Monday when Kate & I arrived they were not even here.

Now they are another small city - although no group is even close to

the size of Fort Montana.

We Rule the Desert!

Looking down the road between the coaches you can see the entry to

Fort Montana in the distance.

Many of you might picture the desert as a sandy area.

And - while that is often true - the desert - like people, come

in many different shapes and sizes.

Here I can best describe it as if mother nature bulldozed the earth flat,

then laid down some "crusher run" - small 1" sized gravel, then threw in

some odd assortments of various larger stone up to perhaps 8"

 then steam rolled it all flat.

Breaking up that flat expanse will be some "Washes" - areas

where during a heavy rain a temporary stream will run and errode a channel

leaving behind a sandy depression.

It is along these washes that the small bushes, 

creosote and mesquite trees grow... 

taking every opportunity to glean some water from the barren soil when

the conditions might allow.

It was along one of these washes - just to the West of Fort Montana

that we stopped for todays self portrait.

Tomorrow we will venture into town and check out some of the vendors

who have already set up in advance of Saturday's kick off

of the Main Event - The RV Show.