Glamis, California
On Sunday, January 11th, we packed up and headed back toward California for a short excursion to the sand dunes of Glamis with Jillian’s brother, John. I had never seen actual sand dunes before and figured it was worth the short trip.
We made a quick overnight stop in Quartzsite, where I took the opportunity to meet up with some ham radio operators who were setting up for an event later that week. I randomly met N4SVD, who has been coming to Quartzfest for 33 years!
On Monday evening, we zipped the rest of the way to Glamis. John hauled down his two Polaris RZRs, outfitted with paddle tires, and brought a few friends along for the adventure.
First Impressions of the Dunes
It was amazing to see the dunes — it felt like something straight out of a movie. I didn’t get a chance to go out during the daytime due to work that week, but I made it up to the top of the dunes for several sunsets. Absolutely epic and a total adrenaline rush flying around those massive bowls.
Trygg enjoyed endless digging in the sand, bocce ball, and flying a little wooden airplane with some new friends. Oh — and ice cream treats. There’s a beat-up ice cream truck that drives around playing the same 20-second jingle on loop. Talk about a flashback to the 80’s.
Jillian enjoyed the sunsets too… of course.
The biggest upside of Glamis was also the biggest downside:
Sand.
Everywhere.
In our teeth.
In our clothes.
In our bedding.
Quartzsite – Round 3
On Thursday, I took a half day off and we headed back to Quartzsite. That evening, Jillian tackled the heroic task of cleaning as much sand out of everything as humanly possible.
We stayed for another nine days for Quartzfest and the big RV show.
At Quartzfest, I made a few new acquaintances, watched three high-altitude balloon launches, and did some stargazing with the astronomy folks (AK9K and KG7HUP). We saw: 4 moons and the blue line on Jupiter, the rings of Saturn, a peak at the Andromina galaxy, and a few other objects as well.
There were hundreds of hams present. In just a couple of days, that section of the Roadrunner BLM area turned into a massive forest of portable antennas.
Trygg participated in a metal detecting class — which didn’t start off well due to some issues with his detector — but it turned around when some of the hams gave him tips on where to dig. He also joined in on a rock show-and-tell. Props to Gordo (WB6NOA) for organizing both of those activities.
Jillian enjoyed the people watching, checking out RVs, and lots of walks. And yes… the sunsets were epic here too. Seems to be a common theme in this part of the country.
The Reality of Quartzsite in January
Traffic in town was insane — nothing like the quiet Quartzsite we experienced back in November. I’ll leave the laundromat story for Jillian to tell.
During one of our tank dumps, I spilled a couple of cups of grey water and was charged a cleanup fee. I guess I could understand if it were gallons of sewage, but this wasn’t anything like that. Besides, this is RV life. Sooner or later, a little gets leaked. You rinse it away and move on.
Needless to say, there is one station in town we won’t be visiting again.
The RV Pit Stop is the place to go. A little rough around the edges — but no garden hose gestapo.
The Quartzsite flea market (only during the busy months) was interesting to walk through. Prices were pretty high for things you could find just about anywhere online, though there were some creative, artsy pieces mixed in.
The real attraction for Trygg were the rocks.
Some were overpriced, but he scored a huge red crystal and a polished round stone that caught his eye.
The RV Show…
The RV show at Q was as wild as everything else here. $10 for a pretzel? Really?! At least some of the RV prices were good. I have no idea how many people attended, but I heard they sold over 300 RVs. One of them… to us.
Check back soon to hear about our upgrade!
Peace,
Derek
“Trygg, you know we have a lot in common with the Boxcar Children… we both live in a box on wheels!”