Canadian-Traveler

Cross your Fingers
We can all make plans as much as we like but that doesn't mean it happens all after the recipe we have in our cook book.
There are sure coming up a few red flags for our 

departure here. Bea has been at the local medical center a couple of weeks ago and they have sent her off for an ultrasound.


Bea's got an enlarged thyroid gland and needs to see a specialist. With the ways the health system is working here it can take weeks or even months before that happens. And the outcome is not guaranteed. The best scenario is a heavily delayed departure (hello winter..) or worst we are not going anywhere. (I hate skiiing...)


Maybe this is the time for a solo trip to Australia. Well, we have to wait and see what happens. 


Anyway, Sunday I am hitting the road with my truck and the 27-foot Cargo trailer. It'll take me 6 days to screech through the continent, provided I don't have a meet-up with Mr. Winter somewhere in North Dakota. I'd hate that.
In order to make sure everything is working on the trailer (lights and such) I did the hitch-up today. There was airpressure needed in 3 tires and 1 on the truck. Amazingly all lights were working. That is definitely NOT normal on a trailer which hasn't been moved for more than a year.


I'm gonna be so cheap that I'll take a couple of seatpillows to sleep on in that trailer. I have the habit of getting tired after xxxxhours of driving. Well, I'm hoping that it's not getting too cold at night though. Otherwise I might find myself limping into some motel reception in the wee hours begging for a bed.


Ok, enough from today. I've gotto look whether I can find some other goodies here.... like seeing a Canyon.

The following account is about a trip on Dember 07 2006 when

we decided to do a drive to famous Quartzsite today. Quartzsite is the renown capitol of the snowbirds in America. Several TV-crews have published footage about Quartzsite and its millions of winter campers coming from all over North America.

So we follow Hwy 78 east and north. At Palo Verde the road touches the banks of the Colorado and the County offers a nice free campground right besides the river. On both sides of the road farmers are growing cotton, and now is the time of harvest.

Passing Ripley the 78 soon connects to Interstate 10. At Blythe we stop to buy some lunch.  And then we reach Quartzsite. The first thing you'll see is ---- RV's. There are RV's everywhere. Parked in the desert within the town, at RV-Resorts, the reason why Quartzsite is known to the world. It simply is the capitol of all winter vacationing campers of North America.

Besides of coming here for spending the winter people love the Gem and Rock Shows. It all kicks off in January when the big RV-show is on.  But right now we are interested in visiting the flea market. And what a flea market that  is. You have been looking for that rare kitchen item what your grandma had in the fifties? You'll find it right here. Looking for a part for your 56 Chevrolet BelAir or a couple of used tires or an old gun? You like old records of the sixties? Ok start looking at the Quartzsite flea market. Chances are you'll find it all here.   Here we also meet Joe, standing by his sales booth ready for a talk with a potential customer. I don't know what Joe actually is selling, because his personality takes all of my attention. I assume him to be around 75 years old. His face, marked by  wrinkles as deep as the Grand Canyon, is framed by gray hair growing wildly from everywhere where a mans face might show hair, forming a collar around his neck.  He's holding his 1 year old grandson (?) on his lap, while he is telling us about Quartzsite. "You wait until next month and there will be approx. 1.5 mill. people here leaving you no chance to park your truck anywhere close to town".

After parting with Joe we are heading down Hwy 95 south towards Yuma. And here, right after leaving Quartzsite we discover the biggest campground in the world.  11,000 acres (4,500ha's) of desert land are giving space to several hundred thousand campers. This is the biggest LTVA within the BLM-system. Besides of that you are free to park anywhere else outside of designated areas for max 14 days without a permit.

The area borders to the KOFA Wildlife Refuge east of Hwy 95. Here we admire peaks, towers and pinnacles striving against the blue sky out of the flat desert landscape making the perfect  backdrop for a Mel Gibson Fiction movie.

Far to the west Bea notices a huge dust cloud moving through the desert. Oh, that sure looks like the Santa Fe Stage Coach crossing.  We wonder what that might be and stop for taking a picture of the huge old giants of the southwestern desert, the SAGUARO CACTI.  A Saguaro gets many hundred years old, and it is said that it takes 100 years before the first arm starts poking out. The process of dying takes not less than 40 years, but you'll rarely see a completely dead Saguaro as their stems are popular for making lamps, selling for hundreds of Dollars at tourist places like Sedona, AZ. Meanwhile the dust cloud has moved across the desert and towards Hwy 95. Finally, a mile ahead we see a big tank truck appearing out of the cloud, and turning onto Hwy95. Of course we are disappointed of not seeing that Stage Coach we hoped for. When reaching Yuma the sun is about to drop behind the horizon. And shortly after it is dark. We have to shop some groceries and fill diesel and propane. Rolling in on our campground at 6.30 Ca-time we have a quick supper and then join our neighbors at the bonfire.

Good night folks! See you tomorrow. after that there will be a break for approx. a week as I have to be DRIVING not looking at the Internet. MAYBE, MAYBE a short notice will appear about my progress.


Go West Cowboy, Go West!!