James Stoness | Stoness Travel Blog

A Return to Quartzsite

If you go south for part of the winter, where do you like to go? Many Canadians will turn their RV’s south looking for sun and sand, and some of them will turn up at Quartzsite, Arizona. During the hot summer, Quartzsite is a quiet

whistlestop off Interstate-10, baking under the summer sun. In the winter, the temperature is pleasant in the daytime, and a little chilly at night. That doesn’t stop the mass migration to the area. It’s suggested that perhaps a million snowbirds visit the shows that have made Quartzsite famous. That may be an overstatement, but there are a lot of people.

Sun loving folks keep busy visiting the abundant flea markets, rock, mineral and gem shows, craft shows, car shows, and the monster RV and vacation show. The RV show’s 240 display booths are displayed in a 650-foot long tent and have almost anything you’d ever want for your RVing fun. You can have some of the items you purchase installed on your RV in an outlying tent garage while you stay inside and enjoy the show. On both sides of the interstate a conglomeration of booths display rocks, minerals, gems, in fact, there are piles of things you never knew you needed.

One of the greatest attractions to the Quartzsite area is the free camping in the desert. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has set aside over 10,000 acres of desert just for you, and upwards of 50,000 RV’s take advantage of it. The facilities range from only a place to camp for a few days with no charge, to a modest US$40 for two weeks, or US$180 for seven months with a few services available, such as dump station and water. You should check on these prices as they may be higher for the 2017 winter.

In the past, traffic entering Quartzsite in the winter has frequently created massive traffic jams stretching back along the highway for miles. Road improvements were made, but I suggest that you stay at one of the La Posa Long Term Visitor sites south of Quartzsite along US-95. Drive in to the show in the early morning, and park in the RV show parking lot. Leave early, and you will be heading south in light traffic. The new road improvements did not totally cure the traffic problem. Often, early in the day until noon, the opposite lane will be stop and go traffic moving towards Quartzsite. Part of the blame for choked traffic falls directly on the RVer. Instead of stopping at the white line where there is a red light, many proceed out into the intersection. Traffic ahead may stop moving, the light turns to red, and someone is stuck out in traffic. And then nothing moves.

There are many things to see at Quartzsite in the winter. There is a big mineral and rock show and some very nice pieces of jewelry are sold there. Along the streets are a few flea markets, but not near what there used to be. Apparently the city ‘cleaned up’ and many vendors left, since they couldn’t afford to stay. They are sadly missed.

In the area around town you can explore with your 4WD vehicle into some of the old mining areas. Road tend to be rough and not maintained. Go, enjoy, and return again next year.

For more than four decades James Stoness has travelled the roads of North America, photographing and writing about what he has seen. His travel articles and beautiful pictures have been published in several magazines and newspapers. He is also the author of five western novels. Visit his website at: www.stonesstravelguides.com

Happy RV’ing!

This Hill is Almost Too Big

The Big Hill is just that, a mighty steep hill. It probably has another name, but to the locals it’s just the Big Hill. It’s found along the River Road in Texas, between Presidio and Lajitas. The River Road is a terrific drive…. for a small vehicle. It’s rolly and crooked with great views of the massive cliffs along the river and the occasional far view make it very photogenic. Just across the river is Mexico, but would be a difficult trip from here.

On this road the only drawback for heavy RV’s is the Big Hill. If you are driving west, the Hill begins near the wigwam at the rest area along the Rio Grande. Ahead the thousand foot cliffs reach out almost to the river’s edge and space for a road is limited. The road builders used a winding game trail and turned it into a road to reach a narrow gap and pass down the other side of the cliffs. To do this it is necessary to climb a 16% grade for a mile, and then descend a 16% grade down for a mile. There’s no way around it if you want to go this way.

RV’s have had trouble on this hill. And lots of others have made the trip without any problems. If you have trouble you are a long way from help. This is a very isolated part of the country. We approached the hill knowing what to expect and even with gearing down we found our speed decreased dramatically fast before we had proceeded very far up the grade. It got slower and slower until I was convinced we would stop before we reached the top. We didn’t, but our speed at the top was less than 5 mph. If the hill had been 100 feet longer we would have had problems. It was after that trip that we added the Banks system for better exhaust and breathing and more power.

Top of car just appearing over the hill.

The trip down the other side was no problem. Keeping it in low gear and not allowing the vehicle to speed up too much before we braked back down kept us at safe speed down this steep and crooked hill, without heating up the brakes. We went back later with just the car. What a difference! Easy drive!

If you visit Big Bend National Park and you want to head farther west, you will find that on a map this road looks really good. Except for the Big Hill, it is.

Happy RVing

The Ever Striking Blue Ridge Parkway

If you enjoy mountain driving you will be in your element driving the Blue Ridge Parkway from Virginia through North Carolina. The parkway is essentially a mountain crest highway joining peak to peak through the long Appalachian chain of mountains. This means there will be a lot of climbing up the side of one mountain, and descending the other side for over 469 miles.

However, if the weather is good, it will be 469 miles of forests during the climbs, and tremendous panoramic views from the mountain tops. Mostly it will be necessary to use the lay-bys to see the valley sights. Years ago the forests had been cut and it was easy to see across the countryside below as you drove. Now the trees are maturing and are too high to see over.

The road is generally in good shape, but some sections are grown in to the point where you have to keep away from the edges or suffer scratches from limbs. It is necessary to watch for branches above as well or endanger your air conditioner if you have a high RV. There is a section of road at the southern end that has three tunnels too low for many RV’s.
There are several excellent campgrounds without hookups so it’s a good opportunity to try out your RV’s self containment features. One drawback is the use of noisy generators. Although there are new quiet generators on the market, many people insist of using the cheaper, noisy variety, thus ruining the camping experience for those around them.
In the spring miles and miles of beautiful rhododendrons line the route and these along with the other spring flowers make it a terrific drive. In the fall the leaves and mountain ash berries provide another colourful time to make the trip.