Unexpected Rewards

Visiting RV show booths and searching through free magazines and handout flyers yields unexpected rewards. The Quartzsite Sports, Vacation and Recreational Vehicle show led us to some deals on RV resort stays in areas where we were headed including Laughlin and Las Vegas, Nevada.

RV Journal, a magazine with focus on the U.S. West, had an ad with an offer for substantial savings on a week stay at the Riverside RV resort in Laughlin, Nevada.

The total including tax, with the value of a buffet breakfast for two thrown in, came to about $13 a day. Great place to stay. Very helpful staff. A complimentary  shuttle carries visitors across the Colorado River to Bullhead City, Arizona. Remember you might need reservations, especially on weekends because it fills up fast.

Rock Art Near Laughlin, NV

Just a couple of miles off Highway 163 west of Laughlin, Nevada is the trailhead for Grapevine Canyon.

Less than a half-mile walk leads to canyon walls covered in ancient rock carvings called petroglyphs. The canyon with its pools and streams is a great respite for walkers and hikers.

Wild Burros, Cowboy Gunfights and Lunch

Just a short scenic drive south and east of Bullhead City, Arizona leads to the Wild West town of Oatman on historic Route 66.

Slightly cooler at this elevation, the town has several authentic gold boom town buildings and wooden sidewalks. Wild burros walk the streets along with locals and tourists. We arrived in time for one of the staged gunfights in the street.

Everything RV and 1.5 million people

Winter visitors take over Quartzsite in a huge way. The town boasts a very small year-round population. And then 1.5 million winter visitors are said to descend on the area. At the Big Tent RV Show in Quartzsite, there’s plenty to interest RVers of every persuasion. RV parts and after-market RV accessories. Boats and kayaks. Employment opportunities at national parks and private RV parks, state recreation areas and membership campgrounds. RV resort deals, hotel deals and vacation packages. We scored unexpectedly. A couple of RV resorts in areas we plan to visit soon offered significant discounts available to suit our schedule.

   We are in Quartzsite, Arizona a large RV gathering location. The town swells with winter visitors, mostly RVers from late November well into April. Sports, Recreation and Vacation shows, Gem and Mineral, RV and Classic Car shows are all here. There are also Swap Meets with vendors from all corners of the U.S. The temperatures are moderate, with days often sunny and climbing to the 70s and 80s.
   The current cost of dry camping in a self-contained RV (trailer, 5th wheel, motorhome, camper) on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land is $180 for the entire seven month season or $40 for a two-week permit. The fee includes access to potable water and sanitary dump. Trash receptacles are available at each of the BLM Long Term Visitors Areas (LTVAs). We chose to be close to other campers and to town. We notice that other campers prefer to put up camp with more privacy and isolation against the desert landscape and jagged mountain backdrop. The flow of RVs arriving, including every kind of RV trailer imaginable, continues.
   According to local reports, the turnout of RVers this year, the 32nd for the event, is lower than usual. That’s hard to tell by us. We count thousands upon thousands of RVs and people.
   Yesterday we wore out our feet at the Tyson Wells Sell-A-Rama, just one of the many venues, this one with more than 850 selling spaces on 25 acres. There were motorized bicycles, unexpected African art, jewelry, beads and craft items, catalytic heaters, tools, canopies and tarps, RV shades and every other kind of RV accessories, RV parts and amethyst geodes taller than myself.
Today we look forward to the “Big Tent,” the RV show of massive proportion.

Grocery Shopping Mexico

Living close to the U.S. Mexico border creates opportunities. We shop for groceries on both sides, making frequent trips especially for produce. A huge volume of the winter produce for the U.S. and Canada enters the U.S. at the Nogales port of entry. About 1,200 trucks cross into the United States daily, and most of what they carry is fresh fruit and vegetables.

On a recent trip, for example, at a Nogales, Sonora supermarket we picked up broccoli, cucumbers, celery, onions, garlic, carrots and tomatoes. The tomato sale amounted to a cost of converted to about 30 cents a pound in U.S. The quality is usually superb. Often the packaging of some produce is identical to what we find in the U.S. Fresh herbs, fruit in season such as strawberries and bananas are also often a great value.

We are careful to review the list of permissible items for return to the U.S. before we make purchase decisions.
The bakery is also a usual stop on our shopping trips. There is nothing quite like fresh baked bolillos, small individual bread loaves, with butter or peanut butter.