caheath Posted October 8, 2014 Report Share Posted October 8, 2014 Hello, We plan on attending the RV show (etc) in Quartzite in Jan 2015. This will be the first time for us... we don't mind (actually prefer) boondocking. Does anyone have any particular tips / cautions / suggestions? We have 80 gal of fresh water and 47 gal each of grey and black. And we have a grey water tote. Of course have on-board genset and also have a little Honda EU2000i. Is there a particular area where Escapees are gathering? We hope to roll in around Jan 15th - do you think we will still be able to find a good spot to park? "We" are two adults, two bigs dogs, and a cat who hates the great outdoors (probably just as well). Thanks in advance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skp51443 Posted October 8, 2014 Report Share Posted October 8, 2014 The magazine will list the local SKP rallies as well as any social functions as well as the SKP booth in the Big Tent. Camping is not a problem you just have to decide where. We liked the south access road west of town as it had easy show access, if you want further west the Dome Rock exit has good spots. Some folks like the south access road but east of Q while others go north of town to Plomosa road. There is some camping south of town and some long term visitor areas. Google maps in the satellite view mode will let you look at a lot of the camping areas in advance and pick one that you think will work for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LindaH Posted October 8, 2014 Report Share Posted October 8, 2014 Is there a particular area where Escapees are gathering? We hope to roll in around Jan 15th - do you think we will still be able to find a good spot to park? As Stanley said, parking will not be a problem if you want to boondock...just pick a spot on the hundreds (thousands) of acres of BLM land, both free and fee (LTVAs). As for SKP get togethers, the Escapees does have a happy hour which will be announced in the magazine. Most, if not all, of the BOFs and Chapters also have their own get togethers, usually out on one of the free BLM areas. If you know which group or groups you'd be interested in visiting, just contact them to find out when and where. The Boomers, for example, have a 2-week "Boomerang" on BLM land east of town and about a mile south of I-10, which centers around the same time as the RV Show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soos Posted October 9, 2014 Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 and the "classless class" will be gathering somewhere as well. (look under Graduating to Fulltime threads) We always welcome anyone who is looking for a smallish group to meet up with. If you want the coordinates of several potential sites to head to on your own, let me know and i will look to see what I can come up with. Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted K. Posted October 11, 2014 Report Share Posted October 11, 2014 The Boondockers and chapter 34 (oregon) camp a couple miles north of town off Plomosa road, while the Boomers camp about 1.5 miles off the south frontage road. Q is a blast, biggest flea market in the USA as far as I know, and we almost always find something we didn't know we needed at the big rv tent show too. The Boomers are a lot of fun with nightly social hours and about 100 rigs. Come on out and join us! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monaco Larry Posted December 10, 2014 Report Share Posted December 10, 2014 Fresh water is available that they will deliver for a fee. There is a dump station and fresh water at the La Posa South BLM area if you don't mind waiting in line for quite a while. If you stay close to town on BLM land, there is a 2 week fee of $40. If you go out a few miles, there is no fee. The Boomer group tends to run around 100 rigs and are one of the further out groups. There are owner association groups as well as groups that just share similar interests. If you can hook up with a friend for your first visit it helps quite a bit. There are several flea markets in the area that you want to visit. As stated above, there is so much stuff there that you didn't know you needed. Be sure to hit the Yacht Club for lunch and Silly Al's for an awesome pizza. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LindaH Posted December 10, 2014 Report Share Posted December 10, 2014 There is a dump station and fresh water at the La Posa South BLM area if you don't mind waiting in line for quite a while. As far as I know, the LTVA dump and fresh water are only available to those with the LTVA pass ($40 for two weeks or $180 for the 7-month period from 9/15 - 4/15). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horizon36 Posted December 10, 2014 Report Share Posted December 10, 2014 We usually stay at La Posa South as it does have water, dump and trash stations. Prepare to have a lot of fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Z Posted January 2, 2015 Report Share Posted January 2, 2015 Don't drink the water Watch your speed I'm really surprised Quartzsite is still going!... I think the last good year was 2004!... crooked cops, crooked counsel, RV dealers taking over, main events been a joke for ever, and bunches of good venders left and never returned! There really needs to be a Quartzsite!.... Just somewhere else! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Mayer Posted January 2, 2015 Report Share Posted January 2, 2015 I generally agree with Big Z. Q has been pretty much down hill since the early-mid 2000's. But it is still fun. Just don't set your expectations very high. Oh, and in general I find the cops there and the "officials" to be very unfriendly and in some cases downright hostile. But I'm sure others have different experiences - and to be fair, I have not been there for four years. But will go back next winter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LindaH Posted January 2, 2015 Report Share Posted January 2, 2015 Consuelo Heath, are you still out there? You posted your question on October 8 and have never been back to read the responses as far as I can tell. Have any of them been helpful? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BooneDocks Posted January 3, 2015 Report Share Posted January 3, 2015 Last year was our first ever visit to Quatzsite. We were camped at North Ranch prior to moving over to Q which was a help -- many people from North Ranch go over. We hooked up with people who had plenty of Q experience. We first went to the site of the Escapees Happy Hour (see details on Escapees website) a couple days ahead of the actual two days of happy hours. In total we stayed a week at that location. Two to three hundred people attended each day of the happy hours. There were campfires each night as well. It was a good location for accessing the "big tent". After a week there, we stopped at a service facility about a mile or two down the road to dump and refill the fresh tank. There was propane there as well. The second week a few of us from the happy hour site went up to another site north of Q off of Plamosa Road. We were much more spread out at that location and enjoyed watching all the old boys with their toys playing in the desert. There were even ultra light airplanes and hot air balloons among the many RAZR's. We had a blast. Any time we might be back in that area we would go again, all the dust notwithstanding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Mayer Posted January 3, 2015 Report Share Posted January 3, 2015 Plumosa Rd. is also our favorite location now. We have tried many other areas, but since we generally only stay a couple of weeks - not months - Plomosa works well for us. Generally less dust and easier access. It is worth checking out if you do Q. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N TX Dave Posted January 5, 2015 Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 Are there short stay campgrounds, I was looking at going to Q in February but DW said no not this year. I was only going for a week, after stopping at Big Bend, can you still find sites with hookups in February? We are not sit up for boon docking at all. We will have to wait until 2016 to go we can not afford this year, next year should be fine. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Joyce Posted January 5, 2015 Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 N TX Dave: You might be able to find hookups in February, since the last two weeks of January is high season. In February you will encounter a more laid back Q and it will not be the same experience as when the big tent is in town. People who visit in December and February wonder what all the fuss is about. There are also campgrounds in surrounding cities that will allow you to drive in for the day, you can stay in Brenda, Parker, Ehrenberg or even Blythe, CA, and Q is a half hour drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LindaH Posted January 5, 2015 Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 Finding an RV park in Quartzsite during February will not be a problem. While there are still a few things going on then, the big stuff (like the Sports, Vacation, and RV Show) are over with and many people will have left or will be in the process of leaving. Even in January, you shouldn't have too much of a problem finding an RV park for a short-term stay. According to one vendor we talked with (the people who run the establishment next to The Gambler), they may have to close up shop because business has been so slow the last few years, particularly this year (surprising, given the price of fuel now). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N TX Dave Posted January 6, 2015 Report Share Posted January 6, 2015 Thanks I may have to go in January next year then, if it is all over in February. I know we will not leave before Christmas because my DW will not miss it with the Grandkids. I guess I will have to plan to go straight to Q and stop at Big Bend on the way home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LindaH Posted January 6, 2015 Report Share Posted January 6, 2015 Dave, depending on what you want to see in Quartzsite, February still might not be a bad time to go. Obviously, the Big Tent (the Sports, Vacation, and RV Show) will be gone, but there will still be vendors in the area and a few shows run through the end of February such as the Hi Ali Swapmeet and the Gem and Mineral Show. If you've never been to Quartzsite, it would give you a chance to get the lay of the land without the huge crush of people that you'd find centered around the RV Show. There should also be some RV dealers still around, too. I forget exactly when they start moving their stock out, but I think it's closer to the beginning of March. http://www.desertusa.com/cities/az/quartzsite.html#anchor832166 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N TX Dave Posted January 6, 2015 Report Share Posted January 6, 2015 I have been hearing about it for several years and just want to satisfy my curiosity. I just want to go and see what it is all about, I think I want to go when the big tops (tents) are up. I am not really looking at RVs, I like the one I have and know what brand I am going to for the next one if the need arises so I don't care about that, it is more the swap meet and big tent events. I may get there and decide to stay for a couple of weeks or a month or I may leave after a couple of days who knows. How long I stay has a lot to do with my DW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kathydavidb Posted January 6, 2015 Report Share Posted January 6, 2015 Where ever you end up at the Q, just be sure to note your location. We once had a need to call the police & realized we did not know exactly within an area where we were at. They have brown marker posts that notate locations. Note the one you are close to and authorities will be able to find you quickly if need be. Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traviscarr Posted January 8, 2015 Report Share Posted January 8, 2015 Here is the location along with directions to the Escapees Happy Hour on January 14th and 15th from 1-3pm. http://binged.it/1BLJy7y Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LindaH Posted January 8, 2015 Report Share Posted January 8, 2015 Where ever you end up at the Q, just be sure to note your location. We once had a need to call the police & realized we did not know exactly within an area where we were at. They have brown marker posts that notate locations. Note the one you are close to and authorities will be able to find you quickly if need be. Dave. Maybe they do on the LTVA's, but I've never seen any location markers on any of the free BLM areas. However, you can always note your GPS location and give that to authorities if need be...I'm assuming, anyway, that police and ambulance are able to locate someone using GPS coordinates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skp51443 Posted January 8, 2015 Report Share Posted January 8, 2015 The brown markers outside (don't know about inside) the LTVAs are only along the paved roads as far as I've seen, so you'd give your directions like go to mile-marker number 3 and take the third trail past it going north and bear left at the first fork. It is hard enough to communicate your location to friends when there is no time stress involved, getting it to the 911 folks in an emergency is going to be really tough. You can see the difficulty in describing a location from this map view, lots of areas where folks have left trails and they branch and combine. https://www.google.com/maps/@33.6484052,-114.2768021,848m/data=!3m1!1e3 We thought about this a good bit for the rallies we hosted in Q and decided roadside (and dirt track side) home-made signs were our best bet for helping folks find the rally. If there had been an emergency we'd have sent out a couple folks to stand at the key turns and flag the responders down and head them the right way. You can see one of the brown mile markers here but it is too blurry to read. https://www.google.com/maps/@33.6557925,-114.2563452,3a,90y,292.01h,83.42t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s00ori8hpUBjszOLpvDfVGQ!2e0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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