Tequila and Tacos!!!! (double post)

It can't get any better than this, it is a 12 minute walk from our rig to the gate into Mexico. As I said it can smell tequila and tacos from our trailer. Los Algodones is a border town when thousands come to get cheap dental work, glasses and drugs. The Yuma area has rv parks everywhere and some dry camping areas. Lots of snowbirds and fulltimers come here for the weather. Crossing the border is just one of the many thing to do here. We found a taco stand where you can get $1.00 tacos. They give you a basket of chips and salsa while you wait for you food. The building with the balcony is a nice place to sit and people watch while having a beer and chips. The purple building is one of the many drug stores and liquor stores. The liquor store gives out sample of tequila and tequila flavored drinks. There are 4 sample stations, I found that a $1.00 tip gets you a lot of samples. Each station has about 6-7 bottles to try. So if you hit all of the stations you are going to feel pretty good when you leave. We walk so there is not problem trying them all TWICE!! We have ate the food, drank the booze and not got sick or killed by the local people. We have had friends (Bill and Bev Edwards) staying about 30 mile east, so we have been getting together. Jackie and I will start exploring the area Monday. A lot of local thing to see and do.

part 2

Here are a few pictures of the area. Some of the locals asked me to take their pictures and thought it would be fun to be on the internet. When you walk along the sidewalks with all of the vendors selling their wares, they can be a little pushy. Buy this, buy that. You want teeth work done, eyeglasses, look in my store etc. Just shake your head no and keep walking. But most are nice and actually fun to talk to.

Friends, family and strange people (double post)

You will have to decide whom is which. I just supply the photo's!! This will be the last post from Quartzsite. We wanted to stay until the rv show started and it started a few days ago. It was a little to long of a stay but we had a lot of fun. Got to see our daughters Carrie's in-laws Gene and Polly, Jackie's brother John, friends John and Renee and Bill and Bev Edwards. We are now in Winterhaven Ca which is 7 miles west of Yuma. We are so close to Mexico I can smell tequila and tacos. We walked across the boarder today. It took 12 minutes to walk from our trailer. We will be here for about a month exploring the area. I am going to enjoy Mexico. Not worried about any trouble from Mexico, just the same danger we faced in Quartzsite, old men driving................

Last days in Quartzsite (part 2)

We had a great time while here. Seeing Quartzsite grow with the thousands of people coming in was something that you have to experience to really get a understanding of it.

Flying above our rv park (another double post)

Jackie's brother flew over from Ventura Ca and spent a couple days. John landed in Blythe which is about 25 miles from here. We gave him a ground tour and he gave us an aerial tour. This is the rv park we are staying at. As you can see there is alot of open land to hike in. John took both Jackie and I up, we got to see the surrounding mountains and all the people parked out in the desert. Jackie and John are planning future places for us to go and they can fly in to visit. We are heading to Yuma in a week or so and John and Robin may fly there. Yesterday it was 80 degrees and no wind. Today a friend of ours John Bingham from where we lived in Nevada is passing thru. He will be staying in the BLM area and should see him sometime today. Around the 23rd Bill and Bev Edwards will be coming here, then on to Yuma. We may hookup and follow them on down when the go. Getting to see a bunch of family and friends this month.

High above Quartzsite

Just a few pictures of the town and surrounding area. The pictures of the BLM land is where people dry camp (boondock). I think it costs $40.00 for 14 days or $180.00 for the season, about 5-6 months. The large tent is where the rv show will be. To the left of the tent is where the majority of the vendors are located. You can see by the pictures that alot of people camp alone and then there are groups that park together. There are many areas near town where you can boondock. They have dump stations and fresh water.

Sights around Quartzsite

There is another post after this one. Just a few pictures of the vendor booths. Wednesday we went to Yuma to check out the next rv park we are going to. It is within walking distance of Mexico crossing. Today we are going on a walk and trailer cleaning. It doesn't take to long to clean 340 square feet. Jackie's brother and wife are ready to fly over here. The wind is the only issue. They were coming today but now it is a wait and see schedule. There is about 5 areas here that have vendors Where these were taken there are about 150 vendors, across the hwy another 50 or so. On the north side of the freeway there are 2 areas each have 50 or so also. Next to us there is a rock and gem show with at lease 100 booths and one bbq stand! Weather is perfect, mid 60's.

Enjoying a beer

Spent some time people watching yesterday. We sit and have a brew or two and watch the shoppers. In this post you can see the big tent going up for the rv show. 68,000 square feet. In it will be rv stuff and around the tent hundreds of rvs for sale. The quartz rock is huge, you can see by the pallet it is sitting on. If you want to buy it bring $15,000 and something to haul it in. The rv show starts on the 22nd, that is one of the main reasons we are here.

chili cookoff at rv park

Haven't been doing much the past few day. We did laundry, shopping and things like that. I went riding on Carrie's in-laws quads a couple days ago. We rode about 25 miles, got to see alot of the desert you can't see in a car. Quartzsite has filled up and driving around town is slow due to traffic. You have to remember most drivers here have bad vision, can't hear, have the shakes, trouble walking and the attention span of a nat. Most do not check for traffic when they pull out or change lanes. Thank goodness I have a lot of patients and don't let things like that bother me. We had a chili cookoff here last night. As you can see it looks similar to the Christmas Party. I even think some sat in the same place again last night. As for the chili, there were about 11 entries and they tried. A couple were fairly good, none great, most were just ok. The best part of the cookoff is we didn't have to cook dinner. Weather is perfect!!!! Shorts and tee shirts. We went to the beer belly stand Saturday and had a couple beers and people watched. They had a one man band playing, doing country music and he was very good. Heck, I think I am going to post this and go get a beer.

Pepper and I climb quartzsite mountain

Went back up the hill and took pictures again of the area. The last 2 pictures are the same spot 1 month apart. You can see how many vendors have came in. We can walk to that area. The good news is a bbq cart is opening there Wednesday. Pepper and I will be walking alot more. Not much new to report, we go and look around every few days. New vendors are still coming in so there is always something new to see. Carrie's in-laws have been here for a few days, they are staying only a few hundred feet from us. We get together and have dinner and cocktails. FYI Pepper is doing great. She is now 12 yrs old and has fun running around the desert Just like me she has drugs to take after a long walk but no scotch and I am not sharing mine.