The Oxford dictionary defines an oasis as a fertile spot in a desert where water is found. It can also be described as a peaceful area in our everyday lives. That is where Betty & I find ourselves in Arizona this month.
Now that we have added a solar system to our motorhome, we are able to sustain our own little fertile spot in the desert, without the need of a noisy generator to power our equipment. When we arrived in Quartzsite, we chose to stay in one of the four large, long-term visitor areas, comprising thousands of acres of Bureau of Land Management (BLM – the equivalent of Crown Land in 
Canada) open land with no assigned camp spots. There is a paved entrance to each of the four, and we paid $40. total for a 14 day stay, allowing us to dump our tanks and fill up with fresh water as often as we need. There are other BML lands where camping is free. However, then you have to pay to dump & add water, so we thought $2.86 a day to camp isn’t a bad deal! (BTW, I think they have seasonal rates that are even cheaper!)
Attached to this post are some pictures of our current surroundings. One is a 
panoramic 180 degree shot from the roof of our motorhome, and another 
shows the other 180. One shows Betty on our patio, with the seating area, BBQ stand, and fire pit on the dusty sand of our “yard”. As mentioned, there 
are no assigned campsites, so you can park as near to the road, or as far away as you wish. Because few of the paths through the desert lands are graded, only adventurous risk takers drive long motorhomes or trailers to the farther spots down the atv trails. Regardless, at this time of year the distance between units provides both privacy and quiet.
Apparently, January in Quartzsite is a different place, with the number of campers swelling into the hundreds of thousands. Many groups organize rallies during that time, to take advantage of all the added pop-up vendors. Lots of folk bike, hike, or ride ATVs in the area, and all are a friendly bunch. The atmosphere both in the desert and in the town of Quartzsite is very laid back, with more than a few hippies that never left the 1960s. LOL
To add to our adventure, yesterday Betty convinced Charlie & me to go with her on a day trip to see the London Bridge. Now I know what you’re thinking: “Wow, these must be rich jet-setters who can fly to England and back the same day!” But no, we actually drove our little Smart car 60 miles up the road to Lake Havasu City, where Robert McCulloch (of McCulloch chain saws) bought 13,000 acres of land, and then for $2.5 
million bought the London Bridge from the City of London, and relocated it to his desert oasis. The Colorado River is dammed south of the town, so it is a unique experience to see large palm trees, green grass, and beautiful green golf courses in the area, which is all surrounded by jagged mountain ranges.
The two oases described above are quite different from each other. One is a lush, commercial district, while the other is an uncommercial, undeveloped corner of God’s earth. Both have their appeal, and both provide fertile areas for renewal. Whichever direction you go, we hope you can find a peaceful area in your everyday life.
Cheers!
The words of Glen Campbell’s sentimental, melancholy song roll through our heads, as Betty & I make the journey from the desert at Quartzsite to the booming metropolis of Phoenix, Arizona. The song is about leaving and going somewhere new, and that is what we are doing. While I had previously flown into Phoenix for a conference, I have never really been there – just from the airport to the hotel and back…
And it’s not that I’m unfamiliar with writing. I majored in English in university, but have almost exclusively written funding proposals and formal business correspondence in the past 40+ years. Journaling, or otherwise writing about myself, or our family life, has not been a consideration. (Yes, I was taught not to start a sentence – let alone a paragraph – with a conjunction like So, And, or But, but times have changed and grammar is a little looser now. BTW, if you ever watch a home reno show on TV, almost every sentence started by the architect, interior designer, etc. starts like: “So this is the look we were going for…” Whatever! I could write a whole blog post on how life is one continual conversation now, through a variety of media. Starting a sentence or paragraph with “So” just links what you are about to say to your ongoing life story, but I digress… LOL)
Betty & me keep in touch with our family and close friends during our travels. The content is not set up as “Google searchable”, so unless you know the exact address, you won’t find it. One of my goals is to improve my photography, and it turns out the blog is a good vehicle for adding and describing what we are seeing on the road. That provides a great amount of fodder for the mill.