Thursday, January 29, 2004
"Boomerville", Quartzsite, AZ - Jan 18-29
The Boomer BOF (Birds of a Feather group of the Escapees) picks a fairly secluded spot about 5 miles outside Quartzsite for a two-week boondocking get-together in the desert. Even though over 150 Boomer rigs attended this year, there was so much room that it didn't feel crowded at all. We had a lovely saguaro & mesquite in "our yard".
Every year during the last two weeks of January, over one million visitors pass through this small AZ town (ever wonder how they come up with those numbers?). Included in those masses are literally thousands of vendors, artisans, and flim-flam artists single-mindedly trying to separate you from your money, in what is billed as the World's Largest Swap Meet. It is also the greatest demonstration of the viability of solar power, since many, if not most, of the RVs parked here draw their power exclusively from the sun. And it really works -- our panels provided us with enough power to live pretty much as we're accustomed, watching TV or entertaining guests every evening.There are swap meets everywhere in Q, some year-round while others just come for specific dates. They say "if it's made you can find it here". While not specifically true, the variety was amazing. Even more amazing was how much of it was JUNK! There were lots of rocks for the collectors -- not a wise hobby for a full-time RVer.
During the day we found plenty to do. There were numerous Boomer-sponsored activities, including Boomer Day and a bird-watching trip where we saw a new lifer: Eurasian Collared Dove (yes, they've made their way to the Colorado River). We took a day-trip back to Salome to retrieve our tardy mail, then drove up to the little town of Bouse. We had lunch at a mediocre restaurant (but the desserts were quite good), then took the scenic route back to Q. The terrain around Bouse is similar to Q, more scenic, actually, but since Bouse does not have the name, we saw less than a hundred RVs as we drove through the thousands of acres, quite a contrast to the hundreds of thousands of RVs blanketing the desert around Q.
Our most fascinating stop was at the Fisherman Intaglio. Intaglios (or more correctly geoglyphs) are a form of Native American rock art where lighter rocks are pressed into the darker desert surface to form a pattern, with additional marks scratched in the ground. The Fisherman, best seen from above, clearly shows a man holding a spear, while 2 fish swim below and the sun shines down above, and may illustrate the story of the god Kumastamho, who thrust a spear into the ground to form the Colorado River. There are a few remaining intaglios scattered around this area, due to the dry desert climate. The only other known intaglios are found in the Acama Desert of southern Peru & northern Chile. They are said to be 10,000 years old, and the fact that they have survived this long is almost miraculous, considering how fragile they are.# posted by Doug and Willie @ 5:34 PM 
