Show Day! Big Tent and Happy Hour(s)

Quartzsite RV Show

On Saturday, Jan. 18^th we weren’t the only ones up early. Every one of us was outside before 8 am, our scheduled departure time. We had ourselves a convoy! We were in the parking lot by 8:10 and all 4 vehicles got close to the exit. There were more vehicles in the lot this year than we’ve ever seen. People are catching on to the early arrival ‘trick’. It was a beautiful morning, 43F, and no wind so we got out and walked around, waiting for 9 am opening.

No walk around La Posa this morning
we were preparing for this adventure
This is the entry to parking

Walking around before the show
Bill, Keith, Ken, Bob, Kim in front
Jo-anne behind

Standing in the sun before getting in the line up
That's the entrance gate under the red banner

It was like opening the gate to a bull pen at a rodeo and the crowds strolled into the Big tent. Bill, Tom and Deb don’t think it was as busy but I never remember from one year to the next. It was busy – enough and that isn’t a complaint. We go for the ‘rush’ partly, the elbowing (not really) and the freebies that many vendors offer on the first 2 or 3 days until they run out. We don’t mind it at all.

The boys waiting
Ken, Bill, Keith, Bob

The ladies
Jo-Anne, Deb, Kim

The line-up in front of us

 After a while, maybe 20 minutes, I let Keith and Bill wander together and I latched on to Kim and Ken’s coat tails. We were all about the free stuff and the thrill of the hunt. Kim said she didn’t mind. It is fun to ‘shop’ with another lady but Ken was fun and right in there too. We stuck pretty close together and came out of there with many shopping bags, note pads, flyers (I was better this year with the flyers, only taking what I really wanted).

Inside the Big Tent

Can cozies, candies, chocolate bars, chip clips, t-shirts, mugs, water bottles and pens were plentiful. Pens, and more pens. Which I always gather since they never last overly long. We can always use pens. We met up with Bill and Keith around 11:00 and were the first 2 vehicles to head back to camp. The highway line up on 95 was incredible and we were glad to be heading home. It was 11:30 when we unloaded our bags of goodies.

Heading back to camp, there is a lot of traffic coming into town

At noon, Bill and I had an omelette and another coffee before settling outside. I was happy not to have anything else on our agenda today and just melted into my lounge chair. Kim brought her chair over so she could sit in the sun and avoid the strong winds at the same time. I whole heartedly welcome her company, whether we are just reading or chatting. Eventually, Bill and Ken joined, then Jo-Anne and Keith. Before we knew it, Tom, Deb and Bob arrived. Happy Hour had begun again.

These next few pics have my name on them but they are
courtesy of Bill

Oreo's Daddy took the quad out for a quick run to the garbage
She waits patiently guarding their home site

Keith returns

All smiles with the Stinger "B" behiind him

This turned into a beautiful day and I got a text message from Pat and Rob back home, saying hello to everyone. That gave us all a smile and Tom, Deb, Kim and Ken said how our buddies were missed this year. Everyone wishes to see them next winter. Happy Hour closed shop around 5 when the sun disappeared behind Big Red and the air changed dramatically. When Bill and I came inside our temperature meter read 59F even though the winds had dropped from 18 to 2 mph. Still a decent night.

Free stuff
I shared the cozies with Ken
and the dog treats with Oreo and Higgins

I had ground beef out thawing so had to come up with something for supper. The result of my brain storming was Ground Beef Stew so Madame IP was the main event tonight. Bill started the generator for me and I put things together. One pot meal. I love that! After sautéing the meat and onions, I added spices, chicken stock (I didn’t have beef stock) 2” potato chunks, frozen corn and tomato sauce. I used up the last of the spaghetti sauce that we had in the fridge too.

Then it was Bill's turn on the powerful quad

He had a great little ride too!
These photos were in place of Happy Hour pictures today

In an inner pot on top, I added some cabbage for me with a bit of water and cooked everything for 16 minutes. A 10-minute NR and then a manual release had us serving up the stew at 6:30. These are the first potatoes we’ve had for over 2 weeks and we both really enjoyed them. Bill wasn’t overly keen on the tomato/spaghetti sauce flavor so I will make note of that in the future but I would still label this a success.

After the sunset photos

 There is enough for at least one more meal so that is always nice. We cleaned up the dishes and Bill turned the generator off. The evening consisted of downloading pics for my blog and finishing the write up. If wifi is anything like last night it will be a morning post. I sat and finally finished my book, life has been getting in the way, but I’m not complaining. The two stories are a little predictable so I won’t recommend the book but it has been entertaining to say the least.

Arizona sky

We’ve noticed a real slow down in our wifi since yesterday so that is telltale of the number of rv’ers using it this week. We all just need to be patient. I hope you’ve had as good a day as I have. There are more to come!

Yum, supper!
Good night everyone!

Thank you for stopping in to see what we’re up to. Your comments are always welcome.