Somehow, I lost all the original writing I had done about Quartzsite, AZ. I didn’t realize it until today when I was hoping to get this entry published and start writing about Slab City experiences. I’m sure those of you who are writers can understand my utter frustration. It had been a bit of an emotional trip at Quartzsite and to find what I had poured out once already completely gone was a bit of a downer to say the least!
We arrived at Quartzsite On January 8, 2019. We stopped along the way for fuel in Reva, spending just $40-we hadn’t driven much since fill up and the generator doesn’t seem to use much fuel at all-fortunately for us! We then made an RV Pitstop once again to dump, refill water tanks and get propane. This was another $44.00. Then off to find a good spot on BLM land.
Quartzsite is kind of like Spring Break for Seniors it seems. There is a huge RV show that starts mid-January there and goes for like 10 days to 2 weeks.
I believe another one of the draws to Quartzsite is the availability of LTVA areas just outside of town. While BLM is generally free a visitor must move after using an area for 14 days. These LTVA areas (Long Term Visitor Areas) are a bit different. I’ve done a little research and it looks like the rate is $180 for a seventh month period of time, or $40 for 14 days. This is popular with snowbirds. There are several of these LTVA areas just outside of town. Further out, there are free BLM areas, but again there is a 14 day limit.
We chose Tyson Wash LTVA area which is just a couple miles out of town. Since the government was shut down, there was no one to take money or issue passes, so it was free for us!
It’s nothing but a flat desert wash area with lots of cool cacti with a couple mountains on the perimeter. It’s easy to find a level spot and people just do their best to give each other as much space as possible. I’ve seen posts on many of my FB camping groups asking if there’s room…there is always room. It may get tight during the show but there is so much BLM land I can’t imagine someone not finding an area. There is a dump station somewhere on this property. We never looked for it. There are a few vault toilets located throughout the area and some dumpsters for trash.
Our first stop after setting up camp was to Discount Solar to look for new batteries. We had met a nice young man named Jake at Craggy Wash. He was driving his cute little green bus through looking for a place to park when we were getting ready to leave. We gave him our site and visited for a bit. He caught our eye, not only because of his green bus with furry walls inside, but because he had crab pots on the roof. Crab pots in the desert is a conversation starter if you’re a fisherman lol! Turned out Jake was from Oregon and was spending the winter in Quartzsite working at a solar RV company and had come to Lake Havasu to check it out for the weekend. A very nice young man, we were excited to stop in and say hi when we got to Quartzsite.
Discount solar had a great deal on Trojan 105S 6V batteries as well it turned out. So, we scheduled installation and they could get us in same day at 2:00 pm. Okay, time to go get Reva packed up and get her back to their shop! For $872.00 installed, Reva Mae had a new bank of batteries that will hopefully last several years.
During the battery installation, we went down the street to Satellite Advantage to see about getting our tv game going finally.
Paul was initially very nice and recommended a Pathway satellite and Dish package that would be around $850 installed and set up. AND he could get it done first thing the next morning. Wow, I think I love Quartzsite! Getting any RV tasks completed is usually a major chore. I had been checking since November and some places had a 6-8 week wait to get a satellite installed. This was great!
Mike was wise enough to get up on the roof and take pictures prior to the installation. He’s always more cautionary and much less trusting than I am. Perforating the roof is a bit deal and not something we wanted taken lightly.
We dropped Reva Mae off at Satellite Advantage and drove about 20 miles away to Brawley, CA, to buy some groceries and supplies. Quartzsite does not have a major grocery store. When we returned, the tech had several boxes on the ground and was literally standing next to our RV, pulling on his hair with both hands. This does not look good. At one point the tech took off in his truck and returned with a pack of cigarettes and smoked one shaking his head. OMG!
He said he could not get the satellite to lock on and asked Mike to turn Reva around to see if that would help. Ummm……ok. So, Mike turned her around, no luck. Then I suggested changing the Wally receiver to a different model that another RV’er had suggested to me. That seemed to help. Okay, we’re getting there, right? WRONG!
Once he mounted the satellite, it quit working again. He tried 3 different Pathway satellites with the same results each and every time. He consulted the owner, Paul, and they thought they could put some feet on the mount and be fine. WRONG!
Paul then asked us if we’d like to try the Playmaker satellite, saying the Pathway wasn’t going to work. Playmaker only came in white and everything on our roof is black. No, we don’t want that. He said we could spray paint it…..really??? WTF?
Mike asked if we could just order another Pathway. Paul started getting frustrated and said it won’t do any good. “We’ve tried 3 brand new ones. It’s not going to work,” he said. Then he asked us to come into the store to look at other satellites. The other models were much more expensive and larger-and they ALL had different mount patterns, meaning more penetrations on the roof. Paul could not explain why the Pathway wasn’t going to work, nor could he guarantee the other models wouldn’t have the same problem. Ridiculous.
Mike told him to take everything off and that we were leaving-quite calmly I might add. Considering his youth, I was quite impressed with the way he held his temper. Paul on the other hand, came unglued. His tech had spent 4 ½ hours trying to get a satellite to work and we were done. Paul yelled to his tech to take everything out and caulk the holes, “they get nothing!” I was so livid.
We drove back to the campsite and Mike got on the roof to inspect. Here’s a picture of the sloppy caulking job with 9-yes 9-damn holes in the roof. He even stepped in the caulk and there are caulk foot prints all over the roof. Exactly what we didn’t want to have happen had happened.
I was so upset. Mike refused to let me go to FB or yelp or google. I was ready with my scathing review. I was ready to warn the RV world about this clown. Mike hates that shit. I know, those of you who know him from years gone by won’t even believe this. The same man who fought at a drop of hat in his youth, prefers not to rock the boat. He’s MORE tolerant that I am? How did this happen?
So, since I couldn’t spew my anger online, I walked the dogs. The upside to this was I took a very fast paced, and very long walk. Before I knew it, I had walked all the way over to another LTVA campground. I was still PO’d!
Mike agreed to at least let me send Winegard-an Iowa based company-an email about our experience with their “Winegard Trained Dealer”. So, I did. That email was beautiful! I even attached our before and after time stamped roof pics! I resent it 5 days later and 7 days later they finally responded that they had forwarded my email on to their “dealer team”-whatever that means. They expressed their regrets and gave me the same list of dealers in the area from their website. So much for any help from Winegard. Back to the drawing board, I guess.
Mike and I went to the swap meet the next day. There are a lot of vendors who appear to be permanently set up outside of the annual RV show area. There was a little area called “Adult Day Care” that had a bar the ATV’s could drive up to and park. Looked like they were having a good time. There was a discount grocery goods area-lots of expired stuff-and tons and tons and tons and tons of rocks and gems. For my NorCal friends, DeNio’s is WAY better than this place.
We stayed 2 more days at Quartzsite, thinking we might stick it out until the show to see if there were any satellite dealers that came, but in the end, we just couldn’t stand to be there any longer and bugged out on the 6th day. The show was still another 5 days away. We were both too frustrated-no television reception in Quartzsite and very, very slow Verizon because of all the RV’ers using it. Had we stayed longer, we may have ended up back at Satellite Advantage with a piece of our mind or more lol! So off we go to Slab City,CA. Overall, I’m giving Quartzsite a thumbs down, except for the sunsets-and Discount Solar. If I was looking for a place to spend the winter without paying, I’d be in Havasu City-a little more inconvenient, moving every 2 weeks and finding dump and water fill areas not as easy, but much prettier, lake access, and interesting things to see and do.
