The Social Side of Quartzsite

Now this… socializing.. was the big draw to Quartzsite for us. There are very few places where this many fellow RVers congregate in one vicinity. Actually, I’m not sure there are any bigger convergences, at least none we’ve attended.

And we just had to see it for ourselves!

The closest we can come to describing it is kinda like Burning Man, but without the whole gift economy thing. And on a much larger scale and focused on RVing.

What’s amazing about the whole thing is that ‘the event’ isn’t put on by some big group or club – like so many other RV rallies and events where RVers go.

This isn’t an FMCA, Good Sam or Escapees Rally. It’s not a Montana Owners group, Bluebird, Alpine Coach or a bus conversion event. But yet, all these groups are well represented, right along side communities of solo RVers, naturists, boomers, volunteers, kinksters, vegetarians and who knows what else.

There’s no admission fee for attending, no overall rally registration – you just show up when and where you like.

The big tent shopping, other events in the area, warm winter climates and the abundant boondocking in the area – are what brings this culture together.

But I think it’s the social element that keeps it together.

It’s fairly unorganized chaos.  People have been coming here for decades. Some have their favorite spots where they camp, and their ways of interacting. Some come to sell their wares, some to network, some to meet up with old friends and some to be solitary amongst the crowd.

Many groups, informal and formal, have their own encampments. The first arrival shares out their GPS coordinates with the rest of the group to join.

This I most closely mapped to theme camps with Burning Man.

Some of the groups were very informal – just folks camping together, and maybe a central campfire. Other camps went all out, with parking wagon masters to get everyone lined up just right, banners and full on schedules of shared meals, presentations and social gatherings.

There’s no central listing of events for all the groups or even a directory of locations, so invitations are all about being ‘in the know’. Whether following groups and individuals online, being on some sort of announcement list or word of mouth invitations.

Personally, we had just left a fairly social convergence, and were most craving alone time to concentrate on some work projects. But we didn’t want to pass up this opportunity to meet so many people in one place.

So we sucked it up and dove in.

We had multiple invitations to camp with various groups. We ultimately opted to just sneak in and camp on our own and let a few dear friends know we were in town early. We’d then plan to visit the various camps as we had time and energy to get out.

We certainly did miss out on many social opportunities and community experiences by not being part of a group, but we think we did the right thing given our already overtaxed social plate.

And we certainly weren’t lacking in social opportunity:

 

Whew.. that was one hectic week in the desert!

Some of our event highlights were hosting our own meet up to greet some blog followers, attending the RVillage Meetup, being invited to speak at the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous and meet the awesome Bob Wells of CheapRVLiving.com (who charmed our socks off with his post about our visit) and attending the Escapee’s Happy Hour.

We also had first time meetups with fellow bloggers we’ve long admired – including Brenda & David of Outside our Bubble and Emily & Mark of Roadlesstraveled.us. We hope those were first of many future meetings with these guys!

We had many other rendezvouses with friends throughout the week as well.. and each one of them special in our hearts.

But we do need to make special mention of our fellow bus nut friends Bruce & Linda Fey – who showed up to our meetup in full on Technomadia flare. They called themselves our groupies, we just had to smile.

We’ve now met up with these guys across the country in multiple locations, and we’ve sincerely enjoyed their company over the years! Thanks guys!

Related Quartzsite Posts:

• Boondocking off Plomosa Road
• Shopping at the Big Tent

Closing Thoughts on Quartzsite

And this wraps up the posts I had planned on our first ever Quartzsite experience. It was everything we hoped it would be and more. We were really expecting to come away thinking it was just it was an overcrowded rally in the desert.

But the event has heart and a long history. It’s definitely a unique experience and we’re glad we finally were in the right place at the right time.

Many long timers remarked that attendance was substantially down this year (again, not that we could tell). I asked for their thoughts on why – which ranged from increased costs by the city of Quartzsite to local businesses, which results in increased prices all around. To stricter enforcement of length stays in the surrounding free 14-day areas by the BLM. To an aging out demographic who no longer gets out on the road as often.

I can definitely see all sides of that. I also have to wonder if in today’s world of Amazon Prime and online shopping if the ‘big tent’ shopping experience is as relevant for obtaining RVing do-dads? And with copious amounts of social media keeping today’s RVers connected to each other – if it’s also just not as relevant of a social event as it might have been back in the day?

Is it an event we’d prioritize returning to? Maybe not. But would we return if we were in the area? Probably so. The social  opportunity alone is just off the charts.

What’s Next For Us?

We’ve found some sweet boondocking to re-charge a bit at and get caught up. We have some projects ahead of us and need to prepare our presentations we’re giving at the Escapade in March (update: our schedule is posted – we’re presenting 3 seminars on Wednesday, March 11 – which also happens to be the free attendance day! So come on by if you’re near Tucson!)

We’ve also decided to refresh our book – The Mobile Internet Handbook. Yup, we just released it in August, and so much has already changed in the industry that it’s time for a refresh to keep it current.

The book is currently on sale for just $6.99 for anyone who wants to snag a copy before we pull it from the shelves later this week. We’ll do a quick refresh (like remove mentions of Millenicom sort of stuff) and hope to have it back for sale as a 2015 Edition by mid-February.

We’re loving running the RV Mobile Internet Resource Center, and helping folks keep updated on this rapidly changing industry.

Travel wise, we’re planning to meander around southern Arizona for the next few weeks in search of great boondoocking locations with sweet cellular service. And then we’ll be arriving to Tucson for Escapade in early March.