It was time to start investigating the area, plus we needed to restock some food and pick up a few miscellaneous articles for the motorhome. After another leisure breakfast, we headed into Bouse to see what amenities were available. First stop was the campground to find out about emptying our waste tanks and filling up with water. $15 to use the dump station and $5 to fill the water tank. We also found a small grocery store in Bouse that could provide a few of the basics should we need them.
From Bouse we headed west on Plomosa Road toward Highway 95 and Quartzsite. About half way across is a small range of mountains that could probably offer a few interesting hiking areas. We'll have to pass them by for now as Brenda's broken toe heals.
As we got closer to Quartzsite it became apparent we made the right choice of camping area. On the west side of the mountains is the popular Plomosa Road BLM area, and it was amazing. There were hundreds of RV's spread out across the desert, with many appearing to be in large groups. Apparently there are a number of Facebook groups that cater to campers with similar interests, who get together at various times of the year. With the numerous events happening in Quartzsite it was prime time for a get together. Some of the groups appeared to have 40 or 50 units congregated in a semi-organized fashion. Way too busy and congested for us.
Rather than heading south to Quartzsite when we reached Highway 95, we headed north to Parker. A visit to Safeway for groceries and Ace Hardware for a few hardware items should have made it an easy trip. However, the town was extra congested due to a large event underway in the area. It was the weekend for the Maxxis Tires Parker 425 off-road race, and they had a large section of the old downtown blocked off for a number of related social events. The extra traffic and blocked off streets made it hard to get around town.
On the way back to camp, we stopped at Bouse again, and found a very well stocked Family Dollar store.
The major problem we have found with our campsite is the cell service. Before we left home we added US Roaming to the Shaw Mobile accounts that we have. Our phones have worked well until we parked near Bouse. Our phones report a connection to AT&T, and we can send and receive text SMS messages. But we are not able to call out, and presume that no one can call us. Well, the Bouse Dollar store to the rescue. We picked up a Simple Mobile SIM card and for $25 setup an Arizona phone number with unlimited calling (including Canada) with 5 GB of data. This will allow us to keep in touch for now.