Saturday, January 17, 2004
Desert Gem RV Park, Salome, AZ - Jan 13-17
We chose this smallish, pleasant Passport America park as a stepping off point for Quartzsite -- we don't like rushing headlong into anything before checking it out first. We squeezed into the last available spot; lucky us -- they parked the next rig at the dump station (gross!) and another dry-camping by the office. We utilized the time to stock up on staples and fill our fresh-water holding tank with potable drinking water (the water at Quartzsite is notoriously salty). We also drove to "Q" and checked out possible parking areas.
The park is actually in Harcuvar (from the Mohave aha, "water", and coobar, "there is very little") but advertises itself in Salome (pronounced suh-LOAM), two miles east. Salome was established in 1904 as a speculation of where the railroad would be, then moved 1 mile to its present location when the tracks were actually laid. Co-founder & local colorful character Dick Wick Hall achieved some level of fame with his one-page mimeographed newspaper "The Salome Sun" (a thinly veiled ad for his "Laughing Gas Station"), which hosted numerous fictional town residents, including the infamous Salome Frog ("seven years old & can't swim") and Mrs. Grace Salome Pratt, who took off her shoes & danced when the hot sand burned her feet; thus, "Salome -- Where She Danced".
Our stay coincided with the annual Salome Fiddle Fest, a 3-day celebration of bluegrass music. Performances took place in the local Lion's Club (levels of talent ranged from 1st-time performers in public to players in their 80s who started before they were ten), but we found some of the best music at the impromptu jam sessions outside the RVs. Once again we were blown away by the level of talent in a couple dozen musicians in a music festival hosted by a town of 1200 people. Willie especially enjoyed the expert yodeling performance by Les Reynolds, a regular "on the circuit".
Doug was amused to find his parents had ties with Salome: while on a cross-country trip their car broke down "nearby" and had to be towed to the only garage, and one of Doug's father's sisters used to spend the winter in a mobile home there. Small world.
The park is actually in Harcuvar (from the Mohave aha, "water", and coobar, "there is very little") but advertises itself in Salome (pronounced suh-LOAM), two miles east. Salome was established in 1904 as a speculation of where the railroad would be, then moved 1 mile to its present location when the tracks were actually laid. Co-founder & local colorful character Dick Wick Hall achieved some level of fame with his one-page mimeographed newspaper "The Salome Sun" (a thinly veiled ad for his "Laughing Gas Station"), which hosted numerous fictional town residents, including the infamous Salome Frog ("seven years old & can't swim") and Mrs. Grace Salome Pratt, who took off her shoes & danced when the hot sand burned her feet; thus, "Salome -- Where She Danced".
Our stay coincided with the annual Salome Fiddle Fest, a 3-day celebration of bluegrass music. Performances took place in the local Lion's Club (levels of talent ranged from 1st-time performers in public to players in their 80s who started before they were ten), but we found some of the best music at the impromptu jam sessions outside the RVs. Once again we were blown away by the level of talent in a couple dozen musicians in a music festival hosted by a town of 1200 people. Willie especially enjoyed the expert yodeling performance by Les Reynolds, a regular "on the circuit".
Doug was amused to find his parents had ties with Salome: while on a cross-country trip their car broke down "nearby" and had to be towed to the only garage, and one of Doug's father's sisters used to spend the winter in a mobile home there. Small world.
# posted by Doug and Willie @ 10:14 PM 
