Quartzsite, Arizona

Another Big Disappointment

Saturday, June 16, 2018 – Quartzsite

Windy, 95°

“Blessed are the curious for they shall have adventures.”

Anyone who is into RV’ing and travel has heard about Quartzsite, Arizona. Every year, especially in January and February, thousands of RVs, trailers, trucks, and tents come to this wacky place in the desert for the “World’s Largest Gem Show.” Snowbirds come down from the North to spend their winter in the sunny desert where temperatures are usually in the 80’s all winter.

Quartzsite sign (notice the camels)

I had heard about this place, read about the wacky people that lived there year round and all of the neat sculptures and “yard art” out in the desert.

What was found was a mostly deserted town, most things closed or boarded up “for the summer”, two traffic lights, hardly any people milling about so needless to say I was in shock that it was a ghost town.

There was a burial marker for “Hi Jolly” a camel driver who came to the US from Syria in 1856, who for over thirty years helped the US Government with an experiment to adapt camels to the Southwestern part of the country. The camels were to be used as “pack mules” for the Army. The experiment failed, Hi Jolly died in 1902 and the camels and their descendants wandered around the Quartzsite area for many years until they all eventually died off. (Info from Hi Jolly’s Burial marker)

Hi Jolly Burial Marker

Maybe I did not go to the right place here as there were no signs directing anyone to “the site.” The GPS took you off I-10 at the right place as there are only two exits before you arrive in California. There was nary an RV in sight other than discarded ones in lots full of old junk. There was not even a policeman in sight to ask for directions to this neat “hippie community” everyone talks about.

Sadly, in the late afternoon sun, it was time to blow this Popsicle town and head across the state line toward Joshua Tree National Park where I am sure there will be no disappointment.