January in Quartzsite, Arizona

The last two weeks of January, thousands of RV owners travel to Quartzsite, Arizona, a very small town two hours west of Phoenix on I-10 near the border with California. The large crowds stay until the end of January. All sorts of vendors bring in all types of RV supplies as well as other types of merchandise. It is a center for gemstones and rock hounds. There is a big tent which serves to house dozens of vendors.

There are endless acres of free camping on Bureau of Land Management land with freedom to park where you please for 14 days before you have to move to another area.

RVs nowadays have solar panels on the roofs often charging lithium batteries to run the pullman kitchens, lights, fans, heaters, phones, and computers. There are backup generators and appliances that run on propane when other sources of energy are not available. And Quartzsite has dump stations for your black and gray water tanks as well as dumpsters for your trash as well as plenty of fresh water.

So it is a big meet up, probably the biggest meet up in the RV world. All are welcome and the poor and middle class and some rich all convene there every year in January. (I know, I posted about Quartzsite before.)

“Only in America”

Home - Quartzsite Area Chamber of Commerce & Tourism

 

Everybody is there but to enjoy traveling in an RV takes a lot of money and the tents of goods for sale are set up for those with means. The vast camping space allows many to camp with friends without ever going into town. There is a Rubber Tramp Rendezvous headed up by a nomad named Bob Wells but it has been marginalized and been denied a free permit nearby and has seen the numbers fade away as people in vans have just merged back into the regular crowd. The American flag is everywhere. Canadians are not allowed to leave their country this year so already the numbers there are down this year.

 

They have to comply by Arizona rules in town, so yes. They people on YouTube are saying that they spent a lot of money to comply for the health of all. Apparently people buy rigs there because they have hundreds of new and used rigs brought in for sale. Rocks and gems are brought in by dozens of semi-truck trailers. It reminds me of the Indiana State Fair.