Wednesday, January 18, 2012 (Travel to Quartzsite, AZ)

It was 9:50 a.m. by the time we were packed up, had emptied our holding tanks at the sani-dump, and were on the road...50 minutes later than we had hoped.  It was a beautiful sunny day....perfect for travelling.  Downtown Phoenix in the distance...

It took over an hour just to get from Mesa to the west side of Phoenix.   About an hour outside of Quartzsite, we stopped for lunch at a rest area...

Nearing Quartzsite...very hazy skies...

We arrived at Quartzsite at about 1:15, taking the wrong exit off of I-10...but we had no problem getting onto highway 95 south.  We pulled into BLM La Posa South Camp Area and after registering and paying $40 for a permit ($40 for up to 14 days or $180 for up to 7 months), we continued on to the water station.

After filling up with fresh water, it was now time to figure out where to set up camp...this is just one of four BLM camping areas in the area...and each is such a vast area.  You can just basically set up wherever you want...but the trick is to find a spot where you think there will be the least dust.  So after driving around for an hour, we finally decided on a spot.

As we were getting ready to unhitch, a couple of fellows came over from a group of RVs nearby and introduced themselves.  As it turned out, Earl is from Courtenay (well, Royston) and Art is from Washington State...and have been coming down here for quite a number of years.  They spend the whole winter here.  They also have ATVs and know the trails well...sounds like we will be going out riding with them sometime this week.

It was almost 5:00 by the time we were all set up...time to sit outside with a bevie.  Our neighbours Earl and Alison came by taking their dogs for a walk.  We chatted with them for a bit, learning more about the area.  It turns out that you can ride ATV`s into town...you are allowed to cross paved roads, you just can`t ride on them.  They told us how to get into town by taking the trails and the old Yuma road.

After our chat, we put the chairs away and headed inside...as usual, it cools down quickly once the sun gets low in the sky.  We are looking forward to getting the quads off-loaded tomorrow and exploring the area.