Many rocks exist in Quartzsite, Arizona. For a moment, imagine many rocks.
Got that image in your mind?
Multiply that by almost infinity. That’s how many rocks are in Quartzsite. What I learned in Quartzsite: people really like to buy gems. And rocks. Like, regular ones. I’m not sure how else to explain this
Maybe this will put it into perspective: there are 3 small grocers in Quartzsite. We went to all 3 looking for various items. Two of the stores sell liquor. One does not. The one that does not sell liquor was selling individual pieces of produce, such as “gourd,” where exactly one squash sat by a yellow sign. It’s a very small community. However, there were over a dozen rock stores. No exaggeration. Some were mini pop up tents, and others were large brick-and-mortar stores. In January, there’s a large rock-and-gem show. If you need rocks, go to Quartzsite. And also, if you need rocks, could you let me know why?
There are other reasons one might want to go to this pebbley area. First, it’s incredibly easy to camp for free. We stayed on BLM land for nearly a week. Between the time we arrived and time we left, the amount of RVs in the camping area we were located had doubled. Known as the RV boondocking mecca of the United States, approximately 1 million people come to Quartzsite in January. (The town’s actual population is less than 2000.) It’s mostly dry, mostly warm, and incredibly cheap, so snowbirds start moseying down around November. Because of this, there are multiple RV specialty shops that we haven’t found along the way yet – Discount Solar increased our solar energy by more than double and were able to get us scheduled within 2 days. The hardware store we stepped into was laden with RV-oriented supplies, and we picked up a few things we’d been searching for and hadn’t been able to get yet.
One evening, we saw a coyote run through the campground. That night, the coyotes began howling close to the RV, which is one of my favorite sounds. I feel so safe, warm and cozy in our bed while listening to the sounds of them singing to one another outside. Bernadette, however, did not want to feel warm and cozy and instead wanted to investigate and play. Jeremiah walked her outside, and the coyotes were no more than 20 or so feet away from the RV. (I stayed in the safe zone of the bed!) The next morning, something had pulled everything out from our fire ring, and there was clear evidence the wild pooches had been hanging out outside. I’m pretty sure they wanted to be friends with Bernadette. Or maybe enemies. Probably that one. For Christmas, Bernie asked Santa for her own coyote friend. I’m not sure how to break it to her that Santa isn’t bringing her one. (Just to clarify any confusion, Bernie is a dog.)
We’ve also been full time RVers for a month now! It definitely does not feel like December down here!
Tips: Silly Al’s has awesome pizza. If you need many rocks, well, I mean, I think you know where to go at this point. If you plan on coming here, come fully stocked on groceries.
