theboondork's RV blog

Where should I spend the holidays ?

12/8/2022

Clicking the pics is a thankless and never ending job best left to the professional pic clickers.

Boondocking at the Ben Avery gun range.... Just like being in the desert, except the gunfire is coming from my neighbors and NOT from the drug cartels.

I was just noticing that when my one-week stay at Ben Avery is up, it's going to be close enough to Christmas that I have to figure out where I want to hole up for the holidays and get wherever that is fairly quickly. I don't want to wait until the last minute like I did for Thanksgiving.

Because of the two-week camping limit, I won't be able to stay at Ben Avery, so I will have to move; I don't know where. I stayed at the Pima County Fairgrounds in Tucson for the last couple of Christmases. There usually aren't any events going on there during the holidays, but its proximity to restaurants and shopping makes it a great place, and mail and packages are sent right to the campground office.

I remember spending one Christmas in Quartzsite, Arizona, and it was okay but dealing with the post office to send or receive mail was a major pain because of the crowds of people and the small size of the post office. And, of course, shopping was almost nonexistent without driving 30 or 40 miles to Parker, Arizona.

Lake Havasu would be nice; there's plenty of nearby boondocking. Lots of close-in shopping and restaurants, and some activities. So I would say that's a possibility.

Fortunately, unlike Thanksgiving, I have plenty of time to figure out where I would like to be, so I don't have to rush off willy-nilly. And since every place I would consider going well have plenty of boondocking, I don't have to worry about having a place to stay; I could even stay in two different areas; I could stay someplace for Christmas and someplace else for New Year's. Just writing that down makes splitting up the holidays in two different places sounds like a good thing to me... I think I'll dig a little deeper into that idea.

Theboondork

Taking a break at an Arizona rest area. I take lots of breaks when I'm driving. I'm not in a hurry to get anywhere, it doesn't really matter when I get there, and I often don't care where "where" is.

Boondocking sunset. As I've mentioned before a normal picture is a picture that I have to go outside the RV to take. And a boondocking picture is one I can take from looking out a window, or the door of the RV. I took this picture standing in the doorway of the Lance.

Saguaro cactus, Ben Avery gun range.

6 Comments

OFM

12/9/2022 07:25:28 pm

I would much prefer to split the time between two or more places like you mention. As far as I am concerned Quartzsite has very little draw for me any more. Right now I plan to visit old friends in Rockport for a short time and then roll on toward the south end of the Rio Grande and see how things really are down there. When I was down there last spring it was just fine for camping except they were in a really bad drought. The south east part of NM that is lower elevation has my eyes on it for now when it warms up a bit. From there it is an easy four day roll back to grandkid land for the summer. I am not into any hard core camping any more.
It seems like you have several really good places to choose from. Go stay at all of them.

Tom

12/9/2022 08:17:45 pm

I'm starting to like the thought of spending the holidays in two different locations, that would be something different for me. I will be spending some time in New Mexico also but I'm not sure when, and it may depend on what the flower situation is in southern Arizona this Spring. If it looks like a Super-Bloom I'll probably hang around Arizona longer.

I tend to gravitate to the places that I've enjoyed being in the past, and those tend to be places that have good boondocking, relatively close to grocery shopping. Which is even more important to me now that I have so little storage space, and shopping needs to be done more often.

Since the Big Show in Quartzsite has no interest for me anymore, my main interest in Quartzsite is shopping for RV things at the flea markets, knowing that almost everyone there is a long-term boondocker, and quite often have a lot more experience at it than I have. Knowing no matter how crowded it is in Q there's still plenty of room to boondock. And I can boondock in a crowd of people, almost like an RV Park, or I can boondock off by myself where I can barely see anyone else. There's not many places like that, and Quartzsite is one of the better ones... Of course it's 35 miles to a Walmart which is a bit of a bummer.

Tom

Linda

12/10/2022 03:27:06 pm

If you go to Q, have your mail sent to Blythe, CA. Much saner than Q's post office. And groceries in Blythe are cheaper than in Q but more expensive than the Walmart in Parker. One of the things I like in Parker is Pizza Hut. I buy a large pizza, repackage it in zip-top bags, and eat it for several meals. The Parker post office is even better than Blythe if you are going to Walmart, anyway.

12/10/2022 04:59:29 pm

I've been to Blythe a few times, and in fact the first time I went was when I bought the Arctic Fox from an RV dealer in Mesa Arizona. I towed the Arctic Fox to an attorney's office in Blythe, and he did the closing. Something to do with saving money on sales tax by closing the deal in California. I wasn't the only one doing this, there was a big dirt parking lot beside the attorneys office and there was already two brand-new RVs there when I pulled in.

I know Blythe is closer than Parker but I think when I'm boondocked out on Plumosa road its not that much farther to Parker, and I'm probably saving some money shopping at Walmart.

I know for some folks its pretty popular to boondock near the Colorado River just before you get to Blythe. I tried it once and found there were too many bums coming out of California and staying on the river, so I didn't feel safe.

I'll have to check out the Parker post office, the Q post office is pretty small and miserable, and one of the problems I've had in Q was dealing with that post office. So the Parker post office is a great suggestion.

Tom

12/11/2022 02:34:15 pm

At the Parker post office if the lines get long they open a dutch door to the package room where those who are only picking up mail can get it. It's rare to get that type of service anywhere else.

12/11/2022 02:39:20 pm

Thank you for that information Linda. Yeah, I have found its rare to get any kind of service from the post office. But if there's a time somebody should open a dutch door, Christmas will be it.

Tom

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.

Where should I spend the holidays ?

Leave a Reply.

Archives

CONTACT THEBOONDORK