Today we visited the Tyson Wells Gem and Mineral Show, one of several gem shows going on in Quartzsite right now.  The show consists of temporary tent buildings where hunks of minerals, fossils, and gems are sold, as well as cabochons, beads, and findings:

This building sold imports from Morocco:

This place was selling hoverboards, and I had a great time trying one out.  The owner was surprised that I was able to not hurt myself.  I suspect all those years of roller skating really helped:

The RV show doesn’t start until the 19th, but quite a few units have already been set up here, so we spent an hour or so touring units, thinking about what our “after the kids are out of the house” RV will look like:

“Retro” campers fetch a premium:

We returned to the RV in the afternoon and did homeschool after lunch.  I’ve picked a flat, unobstructed area to camp, so if winds are good, I hope to fly tomorrow:

After last night’s rain, we awoke to a surprisingly clear morning at the Railroad Pass Casino:

We drove south to visit a interesting geological area called Knob Hill.  We dropped off the RV on the dirt access road before it got too difficult to continue while towing:

We hitched back up and headed back to the highway:

Continuing south and east, we eventually crossed from Nevada into California:

After a while, we crossed into Arizona.  After a last-chance grocery stop in Parker, Arizona, we continued south to overnight at the RV center of the world, Quartzsite, Arizona.  We’ve been here several times before (see here).  Each winter, 300,000 RVs come to stay at the BLM’s La Posa long term visitor area (LTVA), where a $180 permit buys camping rights here from roughly September to April.  Around the LTVA, there are five “normal” BLM areas that allow free dispersed camping for up to two weeks:

In the past we’ve stayed at the Hi Jolly BLM area north of the LTVA and the Roadrunner BLM area south of the LTVA.  This time we decided to try the Scaddan Wash BLM area, which is East of the LTVA.

See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.