Amanda returned to Quartzsite earlier than planned. There’s rain in the forecast for the next few days, and she wanted to find a site for her meetup and get set up before the rain started. I hopped on the bike and met her at Scaddan Wash. Together, we explored to find a spot where the 60 people coming to the meetup could camp out. Scouting is much easier on a motorcycle than in a van towing a trailer.
We had to go 1.3 miles away from the paved road to find a big enough open area, but we found one. I left Amanda to set up her own camp, returned to mine, and packed up to relocate. The Big Tent RV show is in full swing, and traffic in Quartzsite is absolutely insane right now. I took advantage of lane filtering being recently legalized in Arizona to make better progress. The van can’t do that, but traffic had cleared up by the time I got back with the entire rig.
Amanda and I set up her van, my van, and my trailer in a U-shape. With Stacey’s help (the first arrival), we strung up the huge tarp Dalane had scrounged for us to cover a common area, which will be the base camp for the meetup. I generally don’t crowd in next to people like this, but it’s a special occasion, for a specific purpose, and only for a few days. You can watch our setup process here.
The meetup doesn’t officially start until Monday, but Amanda posted the coordinates, and I wrote detailed driving directions so people could find us. I also put Amanda’s customized sign out by the main road to guide people in.
A few more early birds showed up, as well as a firewood delivery from another one of Amanda’s friends. We had a small campfire and shared stories and laughs. As much as I love my personal base camp, it’s fun to mingle with other people, and Amanda has a great community of followers. She’s felt a bit overwhelmed at times, wanting to make this a good experience for everyone, but a little help has gone a long way toward curing that.
My weather station says we got 0.16″ of rain overnight. It’s clearing off this afternoon, which should help my batteries recharge, but it’s supposed to rain all day Monday, unfortunately. This is why Amanda and I crowded close enough together to set up a tarp over our common area. I may have to run my generator for a little while after so many overcast days in a row. Setting up my auxiliary solar panel won’t make enough difference to overcome the deficit, so I won’t bother, since I’m only going to be here until Wednesday.
Smokey Da Van 