November, Getting to Know Quartzsite

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!

Kofa Mountain RV

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.)

Lapidary orientation

silversmithing

hunting for rocks

sagenite rocks and slabs

heading out on a rock trip

alunite rock, rough & finished

the alunite hill

a cotton field, it's pickin' time

ocotillo bush

local wildlife, still haven't seen any snakes, scorpions or tarantulas!

my pendant, made in silversmithing

Robin's ring he made

my ring

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.

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.

QIA craft fair

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.

heading into Palm Canyon

looking up into the canyon with native palm trees

looking outwards from Palm Canyon

Burro Creek area

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.

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.

wire weaving, earrings

pendants, wire weaving

Gringo's amazing fish tacos

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 3^rd 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!

an outdoor waiting area after security in Mesa airport!

hanging out at Shane, Sarah & Rosemary's

our adorable grandkids, Ty, Rosemary & Emma

Adam & Jen

Scott

Rosemary's 3rd Birthday

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.

sunset from the RV

entering into our park

Living the Dream!