Quartzsite AZ!

3 couples here for the month, we're on the left,
Sam & Tracy in the middle and Kev & Angie on the right

We made it through our first week boondocking out here in the desert! We found our NuRVer campmates - I found them online a month or so before we started full-timing. These are young or "young-minded" full-time RVers many of whom are still working like us! Some are Burning Man veterans so we have a lot in common with these folks. Anyway, our intrepid leader Kev found us a great spot & we had 5 rigs here to celebrate the new year - now we are down to the fearless three-some and we're having a lot of fun. This is much like the Burning Man experience except that there are no dust storms or costumes...that's about it. We arrived to FREEZING temperatures, fierce winds and rain which lasted through New Year's day. Our rigs are circled up like an old wagon train with a great campfire in the middle. When it's too cold to be outside, like most of last week, we congregate in each other's rigs for drinks and meals. We have done a lot of pot-luck dinners & are enjoying getting to know one another. The other rigs are 40ft diesel pushers, one with 2 slides and one with 4 & they are really beautiful and roomy, we are definitely the smallest at 35ft. But the other two rigs which were here over NYers were smaller travel trailers - we RVers come in all shapes and sizes! Jan 22-30th brings the "Biggest RV Show on Earth" with about a MILLION people here - this is a tiny little town on the border of CA & AZ with tons of BLM land where people camp out. There are individuals, groups & some very large organized peeps like the "Buffs" a "naturalist" group of about 80,000 at their peak. 

these signs are all over the place

Right now there is a lot of empty space but filling in a little bit more each day. The town is made up of a trillion flea markets & the area is also really known for their Rock, Mineral & Gem Show. But you can find just about anything here...except maybe Sushi! 

a lot of empty space right now

5ft wrenches!

We are employing our best Burning Man practices taking sponge baths, brushing our teeth with bottled water, washing dishes in basins & using paper plates we can burn whenever possible. After the first week we only created about 8 gallons of gray water which is so great! Before Bill went to "dump" using our new Blue Boy we both took nice long showers & I washed my hair - which I have to tell you felt FANTASTIC!  

first use & it worked great!

Our campmates, Sam and Tracy, have this totally cool campfire cast iron cooking skillet -  it has a rod that goes into the campfire and this large square cast iron plate which has a hole in it and fits onto the rod at various heights, it can then swing around on the rod to be on or off the fire - it is really fun and easy to cook on. Last night I brought out the leftover rotisserie chicken I had in the freezer, threw that on the griddle mixed up with some taco sauce & water, then on the 2nd griddle I threw the tortillas on & then loaded them up with the chicken & cheese, put another tortilla on & then flipped them, we made a ton of these - super yummy meal!
We haven't done too much exploring of the flea markets because of the weather and work commitments but I think we will venture out today.  Tomorrow we head into Palm Desert where my parents live to take a nice long hot shower, do our laundry, visit Trader Joes & Costco & luckily enough be there for my nephew Izak's family b-day party!