Rock Hounding in Quartzite

We left Vegas behind, but I think we took a few extra pounds with us - too many buffets! We wanted to go see the Hoover Dam as it's been quite a few years, and much to our surprise we ended up driving right over the dam in the RV. There were spots to park, but not our monstrosity so we kept going & poof, we were over the dam. Security before the dam is tight - we had police search through our RV & open most of the storage compartments looking for explosives, the majority of the traffic is routed across a new bridge unless they are tourists.

Next stop for pics was the London Bridge in Lake Havasu City - yes they actually bought the bridge from London as it was no longer able to handle the traffic. It was taken apart, moved & rebuilt at a cost of $5,000,000, plus they had to create a waterway for it to go over!

We arrived at Quartzite & set up camp in the BLM land - free camping in the desert for up to 14 days. No services but you can have fires & there are miles of desert to explore. We found the 1050 year old ironwood tree in Quartzite & stopped to get a close look at a cotton field.

One of the campers gave us a "rock hounding 101" talk & we are back to collecting rocks, so much for pine cones! We also spoke with a woman in Quartzite who has a rock & mineral booth who sent us out on a day trip to Planet Ranch mine area. She promised us blue/green rock deposits- Chrysocolla & she did not disappoint. We brought back about 50 lbs (no joke). We checked out an abandoned mine town/ ghost town, Robin tried his metal detector (found some bolts), he saw a wild burro, we saw lots of little lizards & we found some sand dunes. Great day!

Had a lazy day, I went shopping in Quartzite at Beales - 4 swim suits, 3 tops, 1 pr capris for $90! We set up our hummingbird feeder & they have found it. Time spent sorting our rocks, yes we left some behind.
Another day of rock hunting - for Jasper & geodes - using out new book, Snowbird Gem Trails. Not so far to drive, but more hiking as the roads were pretty bad. Another 50 lbs or so, pretty red, brown & striped Jasper along with lots of geodes. We didn't have much luck breaking open the geodes, but we found lots open on the ground from previous hunters. We're building muscles hauling all these rocks around, hope the springs of the car hold out!

We've had many strange looks & several comments regarding our bright yellow kayak, joking about "no lakes around here!" Soon it will see water again.
We are now in Yuma, settled into a park with full hook-ups, so back to using our new Vitamix blender for morning shakes with carrots, beets, etc - actually quite good! We spent today checking out new RV prices here in the US, planning for the future. Another couple days & we head across the border to Baja, I can almost taste the shrimp & ice cream!
Temperatures are high 20's, still loving it!