Well here we are in Quartzsite, Arizona! We pulled into the
Kofa Mountain RV Park on October 30 and paid for 5 whole months! To date we
have not spent more than 2 months in one spot, so this will be interesting.
After ensuring that the tree didn’t block our satellite dish and that we were
square with the world (& our concrete pad) we settled in. The tomato plant,
the flowers and the lettuce, spinach & onion seeds all got planted; the
hummingbird feeder got filled up and our decorations were installed - we were
set!
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| Kofa Mountain RV |
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| our site |
First step was meeting a few neighbors, all very friendly,
then off to join the Quartzsite Roadrunner Gem & Mineral Club (the rock
club). November was a whirlwind of activities in the rock club – orientation to
the club, to the lapidary shop, to the silversmithing shop; then working in the
silver shop making rings and a pendant. Plus the weekly rock hounding
fieldtrips – we meet at 8:30, the guide shows us the desired rock in raw form
as well as in slab form and polished, ready for jewelry, then off we drive into
the desert from 10 – 60 miles one way. Once we arrive everyone scurries about
filling their buckets or backpacks with as much, or as little of the “rock of
the day” as they want. You can imagine our RV site; yes we have amassed a lot
of rocks already!! November trips were looking for Green Banded Rhyolite,
Chrysacolla, Mushroom rhyolite, alunite. Since we did not bring our rock saw we
have to get the rocks cut, for a fee, at the rock club. We did bring our
sanding wheels so we can do most of the polishing in our “shop”/ circus tent. (We
brought our 10x10 tent with 4 walls which we refer to as the circus tent – it
makes a very serviceable workshop.)
The rock club is also a social group – we volunteered in the
kitchen for the Thanksgiving dinner (first we had to take a food safe course),
there are monthly pancake breakfasts with tailgating of rock related “stuff”
afterwards (we scored a great used vibrating rock tumbler) plus weekly general
meetings. I now keep a very detailed calendar in my phone!
We are lucky to be situated almost in the centre of town so
walking or biking everywhere is doable and enjoyable. It is fun to watch
everything fill up as the days go by.
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| checking out some hats! |
We were pleased to meet up with some Baja friends, Randy,
Marilyn, Jim & Sue – but a bit sad & jealous that we were not heading
to Mexico with them.
We decided to try out a few craft fairs here so we are
signed up for the monthly QIA (town) event as well as the Seniors Centre
monthly fair. Neither was a big money maker, it seems everyone here does some
sort of craft so everyone wanders about looking for ideas, everyone is a senior
so limited budget & limited room. But still fun to chat with folks and yes,
check out what other people make. And table rent is cheap at $5/event.
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| QIA craft fair |
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| Seniors Centre craft fair |
We have been out on several day trips with friends and
alone, looking for rocks, fossils, and just hiking around. We were lucky to
have a great couple, Cheryl & John stay in our park for a month – we met
last year and we have similar interests.
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| heading into Palm Canyon |
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| looking up into the canyon with native palm trees |
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| looking outwards from Palm Canyon |
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| Burro Creek area |
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| pastelite rock, Burro Creek |
Our park also keeps us busy – a Snowbird Welcome dinner,
Thanksgiving dinner, biscuits & gravy and waffle breakfasts. We haven’t
joined in with the card games yet but hope to once our schedule slows down.
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| local event, Buck Connors Western days |
We have been taking free Spanish classes once a week, so far
very enjoyable; we both took creative wire weaving for a couple classes, now I
go alone. We are still waiting for the beginner wire wrapping class to begin.
Tuesdays are Taco Tuesdays – we have discovered a great place to get out taco
fix and we are slowly working through the many, many other places to eat here.
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| wire weaving, earrings |
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| pendants, wire weaving |
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| Gringo's amazing fish tacos |
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| more wire weaving |
This year we did something that we haven’t done before – we
flew back to Edmonton for a short visit. We wanted to be there for our
granddaughter Rosemary’s 3rd birthday which was also a chance to see
all our kids & grandkids. We tried Swoop airlines out of Mesa, AZ – easy to
get to and worked just fine. We had a wonderful visit, even got to participate
in Rosemary’s music class! And we got a treat leaving Shane’s – freezing rain
for our drive to the airport!
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| an outdoor waiting area after security in Mesa airport! |
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| hanging out at Shane, Sarah & Rosemary's |
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| our adorable grandkids, Ty, Rosemary & Emma |
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| Adam & Jen |
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| Scott |
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| Rosemary's 3rd Birthday |
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| flying over the Grande Canyon |
We are back in Quartzsite, weather is a bit cool – lows of
7-12, highs 14-22 but there is no snow! The park bunnies got to one of my
flower pots but I’m hoping it will come back; everything is safely off the
ground now. I have come down with some sort of flu/cold so taking it easy, but
still busy with the rock club. So far, so good – Quartzsite for the winter
seems to suit us just fine.
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| sunset from the RV |
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| entering into our park |
Living the Dream!
