Quartzsite, Phoenix International Raceway

Feb 22    Buckskin Mountain State Park - Quartzsite     51 miles      1 hr 15 min

Pulled into Quartzsite and took our time finding a boondocking site on Dome Rock Road, this is all BLM land. Boondocking or dry camping refers to staying in an RV in a remote location without being hooked up to water, power, or sewer.

BLM stands for Bureau of Land Management, the agency that controls millions of acres of federally owned public land throughout the Southwest. Use of BLM land is free of charge. We should take more advantage of BLM land to boondock but Joe and I don't feel it's totally safe.

Quartzsite is a little different. It's one big flea market area after another. Stalls to sell everything and anything are all under tents with many attached to RVs. Every year in January and February, the population of this town swells from just 1,900 people to an estimated 75,000. In those two months, more than 1.2 million RVers pass through Quartzsite. There's an annual RV show and many come for the largest gem and mineral shows on the continent.

After we picked our camping spot, we went to see the vendors down the road. Yes, it's one big flea market and they sell everything.

The wind really kicked up tonight. Had to pull in the slides because we didn't want the awning ripped with all the wind.

Got pretty rocks here

Feb 23    Quartzsite - Phoenix International Raceway    

We arrived at the Phonix International Raceway in Goodyear and got our camping spot for the next four nights. This is the reason for coming to Arizona. The Good Sam RV Super Show. Lots of RV's to see along with vendors selling all kinds of RV stuff and lots of exhibits. Also got different seminars where you can learn different things. Plenty people here and lots to see.

Dry camping for the next 4 days filling up fast

Feb 24

Spent the whole day at the RV show. We both went to different seminars and picked up some tips. Little disappointed with the seminars because the two rooms they use are not big enough to accommodate all the people that are interested in attending. We looked at a lot of RVs. Wish we had money to upgrade to a nice rig......

Got to watch people practicing on the track

Feb 25

Spent the morning at the RV show then in the afternoon we went to a baseball game. It was the opening day game for spring training at Goodyear Park. This park is the home field for the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Indians. So for opening day, they played each other. We left about the 7th inning but the Indians were up 4-2.

Tonight we went to a concert at the rally. Was an oldies band and was fun to see all the old futs get up and start dancing. There was a fireworks show after the concert to end the night. 

Feb 26

Last day for this RV show. I signed up for a motor home driving lesson. I got to drive a motorhome and had an awesome instructor. Ralph Miller works at Camping World in Chattanooga, Tennessee and said if we're ever in that area, we can camp for free at their campground and I can sign up for more free lessons if I wanted to. Normally, I don't do much driving. Joe likes to drive and I don't think he trust me anyway!!

We also bought a membership for FMCA (Family Motor Coach Association). We were thinking about joining for awhile now, since they were at the show, we just signed up. We found out FMCA is having their rally near here next week. We might still be in the area and might go.

This is the last night camping here at Phoenix International Raceway. We'll be heading out to Usery Mountain Regional Park in the morning.

Last sunset here

Everyone clearing out