Quartzsite, AZ
Our trek to the west continued as we just had to see what all the fuss was about regarding Quartzsite, AZ. This town is near the California border and is known as the rock capital of the world. It is also known as a hotspot for the full-time RVer community because of all the free dry camping around the area on public lands. Many RV gatherings happen there as the town grows from just a few thousand during the heat-of-hell months to over a million in the cool winter. They really try to cash in on those months by having many RV-centric businesses from repairs and supplies to solar installation and sewer dumps. From what I could see in just two days… there are virtually no groceries and nothing healthy to eat in the area. It struck me as a mix of desperation, greed and warped thinking that I shouldn’t have been able to notice on such a short visit!
We spent two nights on BLM land at the Dome Rock Mountain area a little bit west of town. It was pretty and just what we wanted not far from the highway. We could hear the traffic, but we had a level spot with mountain views for FREE, so who could complain? We saw evidence of tourons in the form of dog poop everywhere and a gallon of pee left behind, of course. We had a nice little hike and saw a mysterious cave halfway up the mountain. Sadly, I don’t have a desire to return to Quartzsite. Not my cup of tea at all. We will BLM camp in other places, though. It’s fun! And in the last five days we have spent a total of $36 on camping AND did laundry for free! Bonus!
Twentynine Palms, CA (NOT to be confused with twenty-nine palms or 29 palms)
As we crossed into California we went through our first agriculture checkpoint. There is a list of produce you cannot bring into the state, mostly citrus. I made sure we didn’t have any of that and then they didn’t even check us out. We could be lemon mules part of a larger citrus crime network for all they know!
We are finally headed north. Only 1,000 miles to go to our initial goal of visiting Leslie in Port Orchard, WA. We realized after 150 miles that we never passed a single gas station once we turned north. We were on mostly straight roads in mountains headed to Twentynine Palms. Why don’t they use a hyphen in twenty-nine? I want to go around the town with my sharpie and correct this error. It has been a STRUGGLE getting the computer gods to stop autocorrecting me on this! It’s just wrong, people!
We’re staying on the Marine Corps Base in Twentynine Palms at Twilight Dunes RV Park through Christmas just so we don’t have to fight holiday traffic. We can hunker down and enjoy full hookups, a great commissary and other creature comforts like a car port and shed. Luxurious! Joshua Tree National Park is right here, too, so we’ll check that out for sure. For the record, there are more than 29 palms in Twentynine Palms.
200 Square Feet with Catio Views 
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