Opposites Attract ~ Palm Springs and Quartzite

Feb 13/15   Weather  88 in Palm Springs !!!  It just keeps getting warmer.   All good things come to an end and we have to move on today.   The RV park is full and so are 3 others that we looked at to try and get in for another week.   This area has so many events going on that it almost requires a reservation beyond our normal wandering method.   Date festival, car show, car auction, President Obama is in town for the weekend, RV show and so on and so on.    That is part of what makes it a great place to be.  Lots and lots to do.   We will come back someday.   This area has moved way up on our "like to be" winter destinations. 

Town sign,,, Do you know why the Camels are in it??  for Hi Jolly

Looking at the maps we will be heading east to Quartzite, Arizona.  It is an easy couple of hours move.  And we have not been there but heard quite a lot of chatter about it..... camping in the Desert off the grid; largest flea markets, and a Pow Wow and Hi Jolly (Hadji Ali).

Hi Jolly's gravesite , he was from Jordan.

Hi Jolly was the camel driver hired by the US Army in 1856 as an experiment in the Great American Desert.  He had 33 camels and Quartzite was his last camp.  Billy kept humming the folk song Hi Jolly by the New Christie Minstrels.  Oh my God he is so funny sometimes.   I had never heard of it !!!  But then again in 1963 I was only 4 and he was 13.  Ooops telling secrets.  Ha ha.  

see the solar panels?  either that or generators for power and they take their own fresh water

We understand there are thousands of campers in the middle of the desert, on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) public lands ~ paying "almost zero" to stay.   Zero $'s gets you no water, no power, no sewer, no security, no defined site, no concrete slab, no patio, no picnic table, no wifi, no cable.... in the wild desert.   Many like the freedom and peace and quiet that comes with Boondocking.     This is one of the largest free camping areas in the world.  14 days for free and longer for a nominal fee.   There are thousands if not millions of RV'ers each winter that frequent Quartzite.  Many clubs camp along with each other.  Comradery at its best! 

our site in Desert Gold had beautiful Cactus landscape

Honestly we like the campground atmosphere and yes our hookups....  So we are going to stay 10 miles away in Brenda at Desert Gold RV Resort.  Everyone in this large RV park have 4 wheelers, side by side ATV's or motocross bikes.   The ATV's are everywhere!!!!   Looks like fun - taking the desert trails and climbing the hills.

There go the ATV gang in our campground