If your'e just visiting our blog  we are still in Quartzsite, AZ  and going to the vender shows and reporting what we find. And to think the Big Tent Show isn't for a couple weeks yet. 

Now if your'e looking for handcrafted iron crafts there are several venders. I found these three in Tyson Wells. Sort of stuff for the time being in Tyson Wells as they do have it together, and their venders tend do come back year after year. Winter RVers know where to find just that they are looking for, each year they as they return for a week or the season. 

Next one.

Along with his creations. 

Now this is an artist and you will find him and others who are very talented showing their prowd creations. 
Others just truck in all kinds of stuff.  But in-between those you will find the true craftsmen showing treasures, so do check them out. Think they might relate to the gem and mineral poeple who are also creative souls who gravate to this area. Sedona has nothing over this happening. 

And this Iron Works below, whith many wind vanes. 

Put one of these up on your RV flag pole. Just a little heaver than your rainbow wind sock me thinks. 

Now let me see.  Iron looks great, but the last time I checked it was heavy and if you fulltime?  Now if you are a  snowbird and desire one of these iron gems and you can transport it back to your home place. Go for it... 

By the way you can buy all sorts of wind socks right here in Q to make your rig bloom with color without the weight. So you and your friends can find you in the grand scheme of this boondocking thing in the BLM. 
Or just bump the worng button on your existing vehicle key and be embarassed when your horn goes off and you fumble to turn it off. Anymore no one seems to mind, as it happens to all of us when we least expext it. 
So is the way of life. And watching it here in Q, is as good as it gets. 

So you can see the vender rows go on and on... and will take us return trips to see it all. 
You can see the Big Tent in the background which is going up to the south of Tyson Wells. 
 

Thursday Jan. 8

You would not believe the amount of stuff that is for sale in the Tyson Wells vender area. 
This is just a sample, south of Kuehn road they have built several new sticks and bricks buildings and we will get to them as they are full gems to blow your mind. Much more later.  This area tends to have finished gems for sale as they will get the traffic walking from the big tent show.  Up Kuehn Rd. to the west from Tyson Wells is the HUGE Desert Gardens International Rock Gem and Mineral Show  which offers more lapidary rough, which is unfinished material.  For hobbyists to finish on their own. 
    Now onward. 

All you have to do is look at the pallets of stuff everywhere, and I do mean everywhere. 

As you can see they do plan on selling all this to YOU. So get your butt on down here and dig deep as we don't want to see all these venders having to stay for the summer in the heat since they couldn't get rid of their product. 

Now If You are Hungry check out what is offered just in the Tyson Wells area. 
From their vender booklet that lists food vender locations... you can get...
Walla Walla Burgers, BBQ Ribs, etc., Mexican food, Fish and chips, Cinnamon rolls, Hand Dipped Ice cream, Seafood & Thai Cuisine, Indian Fry Bread, Polish sausage, etc. on homemade buns, Mini donuts, Gyros, Greek salad, English Banger Sausage, Meatball and Hot Pastrami sandwichs and to top it off fruit smoothes, to name a few. 

And a food court to sit down and eat it in comfort. 

Some of the food venders are on the south side of  Kuehn Rd. closser to the big tent. 
Down there I will have to get a GYROS before the season is over even if it is priced at fair food prices. I just love those things. 

I hope you have all had supper before you read the food vender offerings I showed you. 

Today was another great warm and sunny day on Q.  I got enthused and reorganized the trailer kitchen drawers and cabinets so we could better store the food which was rushed to that space as we moved into our new 5er. Now with time and good weather it just feels like the time to get our home in shape so we can feel better about how we use the space. There were boxes (I kid you not) of cans of food stashed under the bed, now moved to where it belongs in the kitchen. We now sort of know how many of each food items we have, so no more buying more cans of stuff we have three of already. Do you think that will happen, Not a chance... when in the store we'll say, do we need that, and get it just in case. After all we are in the outback, boondocking it and might starve if the thngs happen and we can't get to a store. YAH get a life. but we do that, and you do it too, don't you. 

Watching the People's  Choice Awards on TV and going to get a shower as Terry cooks supper. 
 
 
 

Friday Jan. 9
 

Some of the venders not located in the big name locations tend to be of the classic flea market, or as I say antique junk dealers. That's the case just west of the post office where you can find depression glass in all its glory back in the rows. Here up front is the bigger stuff for sale. 

Now this guy has all the angles covered. Guess where brings his finds for resale.

In this area also is the all to common rock pile. Rocks not exactly sorted, but for the bargain hunter who knows his gems, this might be easier than slugging through the desert looking with your pick and pail. I think I would bring a small pick just to look through his display piles. 

UPDATE: 8 PM Friday.  Now once in a while it does get windy in Q and that is the way it was today. (Also forcast for Saturday) Blowing sand was whirling around, but our new 5er is tight and  doing well with this new situation. We are getting a small wind whistle from the fridge vents.  The wind was out of the north but it was still very warn in the low 70s. Strange. We took the DataStorm Sat dish down after a gust of wind told me that might be the thing to do. The dish (I researched this) is rated  for 50-60 MPH. But at times when a huge gust of wind hits I yell take it down NOW.  Don't want it blown off the roof. 
Not to even think about the solar panels tilted up that also catch the wind. And the wind is on the back side of them from the north so they act like sails.  You just don't see any others up on their RVs taking them down so we don't either and just hope they are screwed in good enough to withstand it all. Looking ahead to Sunday and all next week very warm, sunny and no wind. Now that's the way we like it in Q in mid January.  My statement back in the midwest was if it's January 20 it has to be 20 below. That never made it to the Old Farmers Almanac.  Don't even want to think what those temps are about anymore. 

Had a great deal of frustration getting back online tonight when raising the dish back up, (it has been up for several weeks without taking it down) as it came back up with a config. mismatch error.  Sent Terry over to borrow Larry and Phylis, the campground hosts, laptop with internet cell tower service so I could get online to get help on how to solve my problem.  Hughes changed one of my satellite connection settings. I changed my transponder Symbol Rate setting in my D3 controller, and it still took a couple of hours to get connected to my satellite assignment 22 thousand miles up in the sky. This all works great until it doesn't, and then you need a degree to figure it out. Or for us others, searching for answers to our problems we go to  www.datastormusers.com. 
Terry is doing the fish fry cooking thing tonight.  We are having catfish nuggets and fried oysters (Safeway had a new batch of oysters in last week) with some from scratch double fried french fries. You can keep your freedom fries we eat French fries..

Have a great Friday night and if in Q hold on to your ass due to the wind , but just wait, Sunday is going to be gorgeous. 
May not get vender pictures if they are all closed on Saturday due to the wind. 

OH WOW. Weather Watcher now shows no big winds for Saturday. We love this free program which runs in our toolbar. We have used it for years without any issues. 

Seems this year so far it is much warmer in January in Q. So get your butts on down here and enjoy.  That "Get Your Butts" line might be getting old... Butt you get the point...

Saturday Jan. 10

Friday was a mess with teh wind but Saturday dawned upon us as we lay in bed listening to Cilick and Clack on NPR via XM sat. radio. There is no way NPR is on regular radio in the middle of nowhwere here in Q.  They are on 8 AM out here so we just stayed in bed where it was warm and had several good laughs. 

Now the portable showers place has added a trailer with washing machine in it. But you know what, they are higher priced than the three other sticks and bricks laundromats in Q. And the largest local one also has showers. Not sure where these people learned to do a business plan before they decided to go broke. This might work in other areas but me thinks in Q not the case.

We stopped and toured the Main Trading Post vender area. It's across the street from Pilot and McDonalds before you get to the end of the street at the Main Event.  Now they might just have a clue about how to do the vender thing as they have created a food court all the way back through their main section with product venders on both sides. The front street stick and bricks venders have opened up there back doors to all the action.  And as you can see below live entertainment. He was quite good.

The food stands go on and on in one central section that works well for the overall effect. 

One food vender was giving out free samples of Wisconsin deep fried cheese curds. The guy in the cheese head worked, and they were doing a big business. Since there are several food venders in the same area, you need to stand out. He was doing that without being pushy. Very cool. By the way the sample was very good. I want to go back and get a blooming onion but Terry thinks that's not a good idea health wise, but later he wanted an ice cream cone and I said if I can't have a Blooming Onion (I didn't use that term) what makes you think you can have an Ice Cream cone? That thought came to an abrupt end on his part. 

This year we are finding greater variety in the offerings of the venders. We used to think this was just a big flea market but this year varied and original products are being offered for sale. Sure many of the old Same O, Same O, venders are here but many new venders are here also selling interesting items. We have just started to explore the sale areas and the walks are good for us. 

Terry is fixing lasagna with bechamel sauce for supper and I said but we don't have any cottage cheese.   I didn't know lasagna could be made without cottage cheese.  Woe is me...  he just handed me his "The Classic Italian Cookbook". and said this is how to make it his way. 

Just think tomorrow we get to get a real Sunday newspaper and not just like during the week reading the USA Today online. It is good to get the USA Today paper edition online. It does look just like the paper edition (see newsstand.com) but you still have to sit at the monitor to read it.  I just like to sit back in the recliner and read a real in my hands paper so I love Sundays when I can get my fingers dirty with ink residue as I page through the paper sections. 
 
 

Sunday Jan. 11
 

I'm writing this as we are watching the Golden Globe Awards.  That was after we have been trying to make our new Suburban hot water heater light with gas. Always something with a new RV I guess. Read the manual and still no go, it just clicks and doesn't light. I know you're thinking  it isn't getting gas.  The furnace next to it is working so yes it is. Guess time to call the Suburban Service Dept. on Monday.  May have to go to the portable showers in Rice Ranch after all.  Now that would be the day we would do that after I bad mouthed them about NO ONE would need to use their services. Before that, will heat water with electric and watch the Honda 3000 rev up with the load. 
 

Found this in the Main Trading Post vender area. I may need it while Terry and I argue over how to get the hot water heater to work. 

And this me thinks is the perfect solution to our hot water problems.

Now hot water is much needed item, but not tonight as we had showers last night and no dishes to be washed. So a minor item that needs to be resolved, in the big scheme of things to come in this new year. It's not like a wheel fell off, now is it?

The weather is the best right now in January that we have seen in years. And the forecast is for more of the same for next week and beyond. We hope it holds for the Big Tent show. The venders could use a break with great crowds and money making sales. If they have a bad year, they might not come back, and that is the way of commerce. For the most part this area has turned to a state fair type event. A 10 day event with the big RV rally groups stopping buy to have fun and a week later moving on to their next rally site. 
They are fee to do that and glad they stop by to visit. Me also thinks their numbers are slowing a bit with the economy. 

We can see the RVs are pulling into the BLM areas and things will only pick up next week. 

Monday Jan. 12

You can find anything if you look up in the vender areas of Q. Again in the Main Trading Post vender area.

Now to do a kind of heavy post since it's Monday and some of you had to go back to work in the snow. It's a blizzerd in Iowa. So Sorry. As some of you who are stuck up north thinking winter sucks get over it, as even down here in La Posa County in Az. there are big problems as you can see by reading this article from the Ariziona Republic newspaper.  Life in La Paz county in Western AZ

Now Sandy in Oshkosh, NE would kid me this post is early, as it was posted very early on Sunday night and not on Monday.  So I did a post early, get over it, as tomorrow I just might be busy talking to the service people about our water heater. OK so I hit the uplaod FTP button and then said to myself, Shoot as in Sh*t  I screwed up and did that again. Now if you are reading this on Monday this means nothing. Have a great day and please do go read the newspaper aticle above about La Paz county as if you think you can just stop here for a week or two and go to the Big Tent Show you may want to see what life is about around here the rest of the year.  We are all in this together and in the next year we may all learn more about that. Sorry for the down Monday post but we as a country can and will, I believe come together to support each other, like never before because we can and must. 
 

Update 7 PM Monday night.

This is what happens when your Monday psot is posted on Sunday night (Hi Sandy) and you have things to talk about in real time on Monday. We had several visits from people stopping by our boondocking site in the BLM, who are following us online in our blog. 
Now how great is that. (sounds like Tioga George talking) 
I sat outside under the veranda so to speak.  It's not like I put up an open house for sale sign out on the road, but this is much better, as it is an open house sign on the internet. 
Like I say, People sharing with People... what the Internet does Best! 
When they are near to stop by and meet in real life, as they already know much about us from our blog so much the better. We are not strangers meeting, but like friends who finally get the chance to meet in the physical world to share a handshake and interact without a computer monitor screen in the way. 
Conversation starts right off with current life events as we are not strangers, as we share our lives online in our blogs. Like sending a personal letter each day to everyone. Scary, but expanding our reach to others is worth it we have found. When we as a group are connected we are less an unknown threat. 

Nations of the earth should learn from how us common people of the world, are interacting and finding we have more in common than we thought. Now I'm off on a rambling  thing... so...

Terry is off to a rock club board meeting as they are working on the club bylaws tonight. Board meetings are open public meetings, where detailed club business is conducted. This ought to be an interesting meeting as I think several people have ideas, to make changes on how the nations largest rock club is run. Like all clubs from time to time they need to redefine how they operate to meet the needs of a new generation of members. Just like life, change is scary, but if we don't implement change we grow stagnate and die.
I know I'm personally pretty stagnate but promise to work on it. 
Oh, so you're tired of the rock club stuff, I do update the rock club site and am not even a member as I don't give (blan) about torks and gems. Terry sez just because I'm not a advocate you could be. I just updated for Terry,  What this club is all about post on the site.  See the top link on the front page.  Ok sorry here it is again, the link to the rock club www.quartzsitegemandmineralclub.org

I think I may have to go and join just to keep him happy in a week or so. Wish me luck. He sez if I go through the Thursday orientation I might find something I would like to pusure. We shall see. 

We drove the Q loop at about 4 PM and had to stop for a large group of rainbow people walking down the sidewalk, when they decieded they wanted to cross the four lane West Main St., right in fornt of us they stepped out and stopped traffic. This was just down from McDonalds as earlier had head on the my police scanner radio the local Q cops responded to a report of 20 vagrants panhandling in fornt of McDonalds.  Now the so called rainbow tribes people are a mild manored group but this time as a group they might have gotten a little out of line. Like many, they may be more stressed with the economy as it is . 

They have a bus parked behind the Main Traiding Post vender area. 
Sorry to burst your bubble but in Q like any city that goes from 2K in summer to 100K + population in winter you need to pay attention to your surroundings. 

OK, relax the weather is not only the best, but today the best day we have ever seen in Q at this time of year. Perfect it was. 

I well ge back on track with more pleasent postings in the days to come. 

Just thought I could have made the Monday 7 PM update a Tuesday post and been done with it for another day. 

How stupid am I? 

As for Tuesday the RV repair guy is to call when he can get to us.  We shall see.  HitchHiker sez get it repaired and send them the bill. Now that is customer service. No shower tonight as no hot water. Terry did heat water on the stove to do dishes. I found my underarm deodorant stick and used it. 
 

Tuesday Jan. 13

We are in disbelief over this fantastic weather we are having here in Q. It only got down to 48 last night but about 75 or so during the day. No wind and not a cloud in the sky.  And to think back in IA they are have a real time blizzard going on.

Bill  from Mobile RV Service came by mid morning and found the water heater problem but had to run down the new part. Went looking and called to say could not get the paert till Friday shipped in as they were on back order from the main RV dealer in town. With my suggetion he found where he could get one at a little higher price, and by noon he came back and had the part installed and we had hat water again. I would reccommend him for any of your RV service needs.  He was user friendly and went above and byond to get the part we needed to fix our water heater. He is liscensed to come onto BLM lands which is no small feet with the permits required to do that. HitchHiker had agreed to pay me back when I send the parts to them so all I had to do was pay him directly and get the receipt and parts to send to them. Later in the day I did a Priority Mail package with the prepaid postage label printed out on my printer to HitchHiker.  How easy is that. 

Now after we both had a very hot shower and shave, we feel renewed as we are watching American Idol. I can hear you saying American Idol. Give me a break,  I didn't watch the first several seasons but did fall for it in the last couple of years. What else are you going to watch in the middle of winter in Q with nothing else on. Remember there was a writers strike last year. And it does grow on you.  That is the only show like that we watch.  Dancing with the Stars will never light up our TV LCD pixels. Nor do we watch Survivor. Did that at first but go tired of that real fast. I'm doing the DVR thing on NCIS and The Mentalist tonight so does that get me off the hook. 

A cheap steak later on the grill will top off another good day in the great southwest desert. 
 
 
 

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