Sunday, March 1, 2020 - Wow, What a Busy Day!

Sunday, March 1, 2020 - Wow, What a Busy Day!  
(Remember, you can click on any picture to enlarge it).

I was up at 4:30.  As soon as I had my coffee I set down to write the blog from yesterday.  I just didn't have it in me last night, but I felt energized this morning.   After I posted it I made our protein shakes, had a shower and made sure everything was picked up and done before we headed out the door.  We are headed back to Arizona Market to purchase a couple more LED lights for the globe lighting over the island.  While we were there I took a couple of pictures in the buildings to share.

In this section even with the tables and racks down the center, there is still ample room to walk .

We were impressed with the cleanliness of the many buildings on site.

I didn't mention this earlier, but the restrooms are quite large - just guessing, I would say 16-20 stalls in the women's restrooms were available, and again they were well taken care of.

The Market opens at 9 - it was probably between 9:45/10:00 when I took this picture.  We arrived at 9 yesterday and hardly anyone was in the parking lot.  In fact on Saturday and Sunday they collect $1 for each person, but no one was at the gate to collect both mornings when we arrived.  If you attend on Thursday and Friday, there is no fee.

We are meeting Larry & Sharon at their RV at 10:30, so we started making our way there.  I'm glad we did a drive by yesterday to see which park they were in as we drove right to it, and found their RV easily within the park.  We visited with them at the RV for about an hour before Larry drove us all to lunch at Lute's Casino in Historic Downtown Yuma.  While it hasn't been a casino for many, many years, they sure provided a good meal in the restaurant.  Dean and I both chose cheeseburgers.  I thought they were great.  We enjoyed walking approximately slightly over a block, where we could see there has been a downtown revitalization project to restore buildings, and the addition of new lighting, various sculpture pieces and road improvements in the area.  It's a very nice area with many shops, services and the Yuma county administration buildings.

For those of you who may have missed this in a previous post, Sharon is a friend of my sister Crystal's.  Crystal is the County Treasurer in Labette County, KS, and Sharon was the Treasurer in Allen County.  They have remained close even though Sharon retired several years ago.  Sharon and Larry are long time RVer's, and have been spending there winters here in Yuma for several years now.  They recently purchased a park model in the park they have been staying in Yuma, and will be selling their RV when they return to their home in Iola, KS.  It's a beautiful rig and the truck will also be for sale, just in case any of you or someone you know is looking for a gently used rig/truck.  Just let me know and I'll get you the contact information.  Their RV is a 2014 Redwood and the truck is a 2008 Dodge diesel heavy duty one ton with 69,000 miles.  They will sell them individually or together.

Sharon and Larry outside Lutes Casino

As we walked into the restaurant entrance area from outside.

Lots of pictures, signs, etc. within the restaurant.

I love the bicycle!

This is the Historic Downtown Yuma which has been nicely renovated.

I loved this sculpture with the pots, and the metal structure to it's left.

Hotel San Carlos - Very beauty older hotel in Historic Downtown Yuma that has been renovated into apartments.

After lunch we returned to Larry & Sharon's park.  We didn't stay because we have plans for this afternoon.  I think it was a little after 1 when we left their place and we headed to Quartzsite, AZ, approximately 80 miles from Yuma on Highway 95.  I fell asleep not long after we headed north on Hwy 95.  When I woke we still had 52 miles to go, so my nap was short.   

Scenery along the way

We met many RV's leaving the area, and many were parked in the outskirts of Quartzsite, with the numbers increasing as we neared town.

When I started following RV blogs in June of 2013 I soon learned about Quartzsite and the Big Tent Show.  In January of each year it draws as many as 150,000 RV's to the area, according to the website "quartzsitervshow.com".  The State of Arizona estimates as many as 750,000 - 1,000,000 people visit the area during this time - most of them in RV's. While there are many, many RV parks located all around Quartzsite, many RVer's prefer to "boondock".  Boondocking is camping with no water, sewer or electric hookups.  Most RV's have separate holding tanks for fresh water, and tanks for both gray/black water (or sewer).  Many people have solar panels on their RV's to provide basic electrical needs, however many, like us, use a generator.  The generator allows us to use 110 electric products when it is running, and it also recharges our 12Volt batteries for items we use without electric, such as the water pump, lights, and 12V appliances.  While boondocking, no one wants to listen to a generator running all day, so there are typically specific hours to run them.  Usually this is in the morning and early evening.  We attended an RV Dreams Boondocking Rally in March 2017, where Dean and I boondocked for one week.  By clicking the link above you can follow Howard's post for the week, as well as our account of the week by visiting Travels with Bentley March 2016.  We really enjoyed it, even when late in the week the temperatures were higher than normal, reaching 80 degrees for a day or two.  At that time the generator we owned, did not allow us to turn the air conditioner on to cool the bedroom down for the evening.  I think what bothered us more than the heat, was the humidity, especially when it rained the last few days. Of course, unless it was a light rain, it meant we had to keep the windows closed.  To help out, we purchased a battery operated fan at a nearby Camping World.  We easily managed one week using our tanks and our generator for all of our other needs.  Since then we have upgraded our generator and with it, we can now run one air conditioner if needed for a short time.  Our refrigerator operates on electric or propane.   While we have discussed adding solar in the past, we have determined we would probably would not use it enough for the expense. 

Welcome Sign to Quartzsite

We started noticing RV's parked in the dessert several miles from Quartzsite, and the number of RV's increased by quite a bit the closer as we got to town.  Even though the show is over for 2020, it was a busy place.  Besides visiting this community, there were a few other things we wanted to see while we were here.

The first area was the site where the Big Tent event is held along with the Tyson Wells area, another area where there are booths with items for sale.  I can't imagine the traffic during the event.  I'm sorry, I failed to take any pictures at these two sites.

The second location was the Memorial for Hi Jolly.  Below are pictures that explain the Memorial.

Other than just driving around town, the next site was our last stop before leaving.  I've heard about Silly Al's pizza since the first time I read about Quartzsite's Big Show, and tonight we get to see if the pizza is as good as we've heard.

We found it!

Sorry, I was too busy thinking about eating to take pictures - this is what was left!  It really was delicious and worth the reviews we've heard about it.  Our Meat Lover's Pizza included double pepperoni, hamburger, ham and Italian sausage, loaded with cheese.   We will have leftovers tomorrow!!!

On the return drive to the RV park, we were treated to a beautiful sunset as we neared  Yuma.  

What a wonderful day we have had with our new friends, and our visit to Quartzsite.  We still have three full days to explore the area before we move further northwest in California.

We are so thankful for the opportunity to meet new people on our journey and we've certainly met some wonderful new friends while visiting here in Yuma, AZ and Winterhaven, CA.