THE ANNUAL QUARTZITE TREK

Well it’s January and time for our annual trip to Quartzite, AZ. Each year starting around October and lasting until April, thousands, and I mean thousands of RV’ers gather in Quartzite and camp out in the desert. It is estimated that over 150,000 people converge on the area surrounding Quartzite and stay for the winter. It is said that over 1.5 million people visit each year. Most come from the northern climates to avoid the cold and set up housekeeping in the open desert. There is a fee for long term stays to help pay for trash collection, water and sewage disposal, but for people staying 14 days or less, there is a area which is free.

This year we were joined by friends Gary and Diane, Mike and Nancy for a 4 night stay. Each day was spent walking though the various swap meets which appear to be everywhere, along with the numerous RV dealers selling new and used rigs. Most of the stuff sold at the swap meets is new merchandise and most of that is made in China. It used to be that made in Japan was the cheep junk you could buy at the local 5 and dime. Now that stuff is pretty good in comparison to the crap China is sending our way. We did manage to find a few bargains, but no one spent more than a couple of bucks. Although we all looked, none of us succumbed to the high pressure of an RV salesman and managed to make it home in our original vehicles.

Of course we had to sample the "fair food" which was ample. Indian tacos, cinnamon buns, and who can pass up funnel cake. Here our intrepid travelers sample the BAR-B-QUE, which, as you can tell, was a mouthful.

Each afternoon after much shopping and walking, we all gathered back at the RV's for the mandatory happy hour.

http://www.quartzsitebusinesschamber.com/town.html

5000 - NOW THERE'S A NUMBER

A milestone of sorts occurred the other day on Gassaways Adventures, 5000 hits. It happened on January 6th. By checking my site meter I can tell from what county the viewer is from, how long they stayed, and from what site they were referred from. Many come from a Google search looking from something or someplace mentioned in the blog. Others are going directly to the blog because I send them an e-mail about something new being posted. Some Internet service will only register the hit and provide me with no information about where the person is from. This is likely due to the security enhancements on their service. Cox Cable is one of those.

To give you an example, in the past several weeks, I’ve had hits from Sydney, Australia, Liberty, Illinois, Szonibathely, Hungary, and So Paulo, Brazil. I was going to give a prize to the 5000th hit, but I can’t tell who it was. It was probably me looking for the 5000th hit.