Arizona 2024: Day 26: Quartzite, AZ: A Quartzite 9
Sleep comes to those that sleep. And sleep I did. No strange dreams about operatic infants. No coyotes howling outside the van (although that would be a little bit cool, but maybe not right outside the van).
Beautiful warm morning. I took a walk east on the “road” for about 2.5 km then turned around and came back. I am looking forward to not walking on rubble (Saturday).
While on my way back “home” I saw a bunch of side by side off-road vehicles (ORV) coming up the road towards me so I stepped over to the windward side of the path while they went past. It was like a scene out of Mad Max as they all had goggles and masks to avoid sand destroying eyes and breathing parts. Except in this Mad Max, everybody was older than me. I think the rally they were attending was sanction by the Cialis Off-Road Club of Quartzite. The good news is that none of them appeared to be aged hooligans. No real fear of them showing up later and doing donuts around our van spraying us with gravel. I waved at them all, individually as the 20 or so of them went by at a respectable speed.
Post walk we relaxed. Made our decision on whether to stay or go and then did some relaxing stuff like reading and grooming Amy and watching the awning retract itself until we knew we had to give up. Mrs Milddogs moved under one of the trees outback for some shade around the sun’s apogee. Amy joined her and so did I. Amy was behaving like a real dog. We think it is so cute when she does dog like things.
Somewhere during the relax time we got a message from Harvest Hosts stating our stay for March 31 was canceled. Apparently the host did not know that was Easter Sunday. No big issue, we found a new one and made sure to let them know we were asking to stay on Easter Sunday. Hopefully that one will stick. So far we have had mixed luck with Harvest Hosts. It certainly is not cheaper than state parks bit does give you more options.
Post lunch we agreed that we would break camp around dinner time and go get pizza in Quartzite. We chose to order in person and then tour around town for a bit while it was being made. That tour resulted in a trip to McDonalds for a $1.25 large coke. Mmm, fountain coke. Then to the hardware store/liquor store for a fresh 12 pack of Bud Light. We also stopped at the Hi Jolly Memorial. You can read the pictures for more info or click the link. Hi Jolly is a dude, not a thing. Although these days, in these parts there are plenty of high and jolly people. Plenty high and not so jolly too.
When ordering Pizza we bumped into some of the dusty people that were in the Cialis Rally today. You could tell they were in the rally as they had dust coming off of them just like Pigpen, but while standing still.
Checklist: Got pizza. Got beer. Got fountain coke from McD’s. Saw some sites. Let’s go and see if our campsite is still available, and that we can find it again.
Apple Maps is a bit useless for offroad(ish) stuff. If it can’t plot a course, it just comes back with “server error”. I had set a pin so we just drove from memory and used the pin for reference. This place is like the suburbs, it’s all so similar you might forget which one is yours.
Our site was still ours and Mrs Milddogs guided us right back into our exact tire tracks and we are yet again perfectly level.
I was planning ahead a bit with the pizza and got enough for leftovers just in case the Sonoran hotdog place is closed tomorrow (Good Friday). You can read all about Good Friday in MAGA-Man’s new bible book. Get yours today at the MAGA RV Park in Quartzite (yes, that is a real place). I’d add a link but, you shouldn’t click it and it isn’t secure (no HTTPS certificate).
Pizza was pretty good. It’s a Quartzite 9. I’d go back.
If not previously stated, we are here at the very tail end of the RV season in Quartzite. This place gets over 2 Million RV toting visitors every winter. Many of them staying for months.
Time for an evening walk. We took the fork in the road and headed south east. We turned around when we got a few hundred meters from a grouping of other campers. That was about 750 meters from here.
And the sunset. I tried to be “creative”. Not the kind of creative they mean at work when the project is off track and the only answer is to “get creative”, which is always a way that we boss people say “I have no effing clue, someone think of something cause there are no knobs left to turn”. The creative where you get a bit artistic and since there are no consequences for failure and pictures are free, you take the picture.
If you ever come out here, or any desert type area, bring a lot of drinking water. We are going through it like crazy as it is really dry here. How dry is it? It is Sofa King Dry!
Amy had a stare at me while I was sitting at the side of the van.
Oh, we did not relocated today. Tomorrow we will be up a bit early as we want to get to our next spot by 1300 and we must stop at the hotdog stand along the way. Please be open, please be open. What could make a Good Friday gooder? A Sonoran hotdog, that’s what.
Apologies (or not) for being slightly political.
Tomorrow civilization. Showers! The kind with a lot of water and you aren’t standing at the back of your van wishing you made a better solar shower suspension system.
Oops, I forgot to rate the showers here. Well, it’s complicated. Scenery is fantastic, privacy depends on how close your neighbour is and how well you placed your shower curtain. Water is warm if you remembered to put the solar shower out early enough, but is limited in quantity. So I give it a 10/10!
Time to get a drink of water, or Bud Light as it is pretty similar. Mmm, mild, tasteless beer.
Peace be yours.
