I got up at 7 AM, made coffee, and had some while Linda slept in.  I left at 8:15 AM and drove to Lloyd and Verda DeGerald’s motorhome on East Kuehn Street.  Lloyd was still there so I was finally able to purchase the Webasto flame sensor (photocell) I needed for our second/spare Webasto DBW2010.75 burner.  I then drove the short distance west on East Kuehn Street to the entrance of the Quartzsite Market Place camping area and drove in to the Eagles International rally.

This GM bus conversion tows a VW bus with matching paint. I wonder if they use the VW to pull the bus out when it gets stuck?

I grabbed some general purpose bus photos while Byron Pigg cleaned up the area around his bus so I could photograph the exterior for Bus Conversion Magazine.  While I was working Butch called to let me know he was almost back from Blythe and wanted to meet Gary, the owner/publisher of BCM.  Before Butch arrived Neal Sunderland, VE6NL drove up and looked over Gary’s MCI MC-9 Moose Creek Motor Cabin.  Gary was over talking to the GM bus owners but came back and had a long chat with Neal.  I exchanged contact information with Neal and we agreed to meet later at our coach so he and his wife could see it.

Eagle buses certainly make very nice motorhome conversions. This one was pulling out of the Eagles International rally at Quartzsite.

When I was done “working” I returned to camp and had a bite to eat.  I then transferred the photos I had just taken to my computer, organized them according to subject, and backed them up to our NAS device.  By the time I was done Linda was ready to go to the market area.

Quartzsite is a place with a sense of humor. Central Ave I-10 overpass.

Quartzsite is, metaphorically, a “big tent” but there is literally a Big Tent set up here that houses the Big Tent Sports, Vacation, and RV Show.  The Show started this past Saturday but today was our first chance to go.  Besides, our RV insurance agents (Charles and Chris Yust of C&C Marketing) had advised us at the SKP Happy Hour to avoid the weekends and come during the week in the afternoon.  Because traffic was so congested on Central Avenue heading south from Main Street to Kuehn Street we decided to walk the 1.4 miles from our coach to market area.  Along the way we ran into Mark and Emily Fagan.  They are photographers and writers and I recognized them immediately from Escapees Magazine and their blog.  We introduced ourselves and had a nice chat before continuing our separate ways.

At least they are in agreement about the size.

We walked through the Big Tent, stopping at a few booths and quickly passing by many others.  There was a much higher percentage of non-RV vendors than we normally see at RV rallies, and significant duplication of others.  There were at least 18 vendors selling some kind of miracle pain reliever and a dozen vendors selling LEDs.  We did, however, spend some time with the TST TPMS vendor who was from the factory and will probably go back and buy a complete system from him.  We also stopped at the FMCA booth and chatted with FMCA President Charlie Adcock and ran into RVillage founder/CEO Curtis Coleman there.  We lingered awhile at the Carnu-B booth watching a demonstration of products for cleaning, polishing, and waxing the exterior of a motorhome.  We spent a few minutes at the Escapees RV Club booth and talked at length with the folks at European Motorhome Tours and The Ultimate Road Trip (Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon Territory, and Alaska).  If money were no object we would do the European Tours.  They are typically 30 days and sometimes more than 40 and include the motorhome rental, all of the overnight stops, admission to key attractions, and some of the meals.  The main added cost, besides flying there and back, are groceries and fuel.

Charlie Adcock, FMCA National President, in the Big Tent at Quartzsite, AZ.

Neal Sunderland called while we were still at the Tent and we agreed to meet him and Nora at our coach at 4 PM to see it and chat.  Lou called while we were visiting and we agreed to meet for dinner at 5:30 PM at Crazy Jerry’s.  We had vegan pizza and sat until almost 8 PM talking.  While we were there I got a call from Curtis Coleman of RVillage inviting us to drinks at the Quartzsite Yacht Club.  He was there with Patti and the Gulds (Chris and Jim).  The QYC is across the street from Crazy Jerry’s, so that was easy.  The Amber Bock on tap was very tasty and we were there until 9:45 PM.