The year-round population of Quartzsite, Arizona is somewhere around 3,400. In the winter months, the population swells almost 300 times to around one million. That’s greater than the population of eight individual states in the U.S.! And the snowbirds? They’re almost all RVers, and right now we’re two of them.
Sunrise Behind Arvie (Photo Credit to Brent, Link Below)
We pulled in to one of the 14-day camping areas (Dome Rock) on Thursday late afternoon, and immediately happened upon our friend Brent walking on Dome Rock Road. Things were looking up. We found a spacious and level spot to call home and settled in quickly in a desire to hike Dome Rock before sunset. The hike up is fun and quick, and we returned twice on Friday with friends.
99% of Quartzsiters Are Senior Citizens, So All Of Their Strollers Contain Small Dogs
Our group here has a nightly campfire and hosts a wide variety of folks, from van dwellers to people in monster fifth-wheels. When looking out at Quartzsite and its LTVAs* from Dome Rock, the massive scale of this RV city is apparent. And little did we know that we would be in town on the busiest day of the year. Saturday marked the beginning of a huge RV show, with plenty of brand new RVs to explore and have sticker-shock over, and hundreds of vendors selling miscellaneous products. (We easily spotted the one Israeli guy hawking a hair product. Our Israeli-dar is pretty refined.)
Ayo With Fellow Campers Johnny and Jen
Barbara, Ron, Yair and I With Surprise Guests Diana and Phil
The afternoon in town was fantastic. We roamed around gem shows, RV gadget dealers, and a general merchandise store with ridiculous discounts – which Ayo swooned over. We listened to live country music, were recruited for jobs at Amazon.com’s workcamping program, and met up with Barbara and Ron from The Road Less Traveled.
Quartzsite ain’t bad, but we’re heading south toward Phoenix and Tucson this week.
Look For Us Down At The Bottom Of This Photo ((Photo Credit to Brent, Link Above)
*The Long Term Visitor Areas are where the huge “RV Cities” are. They allow stays as long as seven months for a fee of $180.
posted by yair
The 2 Brent pictures are amazing. You should definitely have them framed. Then submit them to a magazine.
I know, his photography is amazing. To rub it in more, with the sunrise picture? He said that all he did was shoot in RAW and tweak the contrast slightly.
Wow! Those are gorgeous pictures! (Brent’s not the one of us – HA) It was great to see you. Meeting up with great people is one of the best things about being on the road. .
Too true! And thanks for surprising us with Diana and Phil!
It was great fun meeting you in Q! Brents photography is amazing!
Likewise. Meeting you was a wonderful surprise!
And yeah, Brent’s photos rock. Strangely, in the first photo we were in the RV fast asleep.
I can’t speak for Yuma, but the other LTVAs are pretty small and much more sparsely populated. You can move freely between them on your pass, which is fun.