Quartzsite January 20 & 26 2011
Quartzsite January 20 & 26 2011 By Jeannie Jacobs
Jim and Jeannie Jacobs arrived on 1/17 and picked an open area to camp that would accomadate 10 units or more. Dick and Connie Taylor with Sassie arrived on the 19th, as well as Doug and Nancy Nunn with Tyler, Max and Kiva, and Steve and Wendy Mathisen with Daisy. On 1/20, Dan and Jan Messersmith with Buddy arrived. On 1/21, Carl and Nancy Noah and Mal and Jean Roode arrived. Bob and Shirley Bolin arrived. Charles and Mary Hughes arrived on the 23rd. Our first trip led by Dick was to Castle Rock Dome with Dan as sweep. Homer Weeks and Lou Valencia drove in from Blythe and joined us that day. We drove approximately 116 miles, and was Delighted with everything we saw. There was a nice stop at the visitor area with maps of the area. We toured the Castle Dome Miners Museum, which turned out to be a wonderful experience. The Buildings were kept up very well with a lot of work and refurbishing/or possibly moved in. There Was tons of memorabilia to see, and all well preserved. It was well worth the stop. Dick and Connie picked a really nice lunch spot, and we were being watched by a big horn sheep. Jim also picked out A really big ground squirrel????? We then traveled back to camp with some spectacular scenery along the way.
The Kofa Mountain Range is beautiful. We had great narrations from some of the folks with us. We traveled thru McPherson Pass and out to Kings Valley. On Jan 23rd, we went on the Cibola Run and visited the Bird Sanctuary. We gassed up along the way, and went on to Ehrenberg and followed the Colorado River to the fIrst sandy beach. Great picture spot, and of course Buddy and Sassy to a swim, while Daisy watched with a longing eye. We then traveled on to the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge. There were very nice exhibits at the visitor center. We drove out on the Goose Loop Auto Tour, where we encountered several geese taking off and landing. There were several cranes as well. We had lunch and then headed for the Calif side of the river. Stopped for a group picture with the sign at Cibola Park.We crossed over a very narrow "Farmers Cibola Bridge" with many "no's" on it. We headed for Walter's Camp. None of us decided we wanted to stay there with dry camping @$25 a night. We headed back to camp with 137 more miles under our belt. On Monday we took a "shopping day", but not before we had a great Mountain Man and Mountain Woman breakfast prepared by our chefs Dan and Dick over the open coals in iron cookware. On Tuesday, Carl and Nancy and Doug and Nancy left for home. After our good-bys, we went to Bouse. We connected with Deborah Nakamoto and June Box for the day. To the front of us was the Palmosa Range, and to the Right was the Issac and the Haystack Peaks. We stopped at the Quin's Pass Historical Sight, then further down went by Four
Peaks. A great drive!! We visited the old homesite of Mr. Bouse. In town we visited the memorial where General Patton started a training field and artillery range. There were several old tanks and other machines as well as several memorial plaques. We headed for Tank Pass, which we could not go over, but was headed McVay and Hope. We had a nice lunch spot in Wendon. We went on to Bouse Camp. We found remnants of the camp, and possibly old barracks. We spotted a flag flying in the distance, and followed the road out to it. Once there we found more remnants and artifacts of the camp. There was also a guest book that we all signed. We headed back to camp at that time. We had a great campout, with evening bonfires and lots of good visiting. We became acquainted with folks that we hadn't met before, and realized we lived in a very small world when we talked about where we had lived etc. We hope everyone enjoyed the time as much as we did, and hope you will consider camping with the MOA's again. Thank you all for joining us. I do have many nice pictures. If any of you would like to receive them, e-mail meatjeannienjim(a)gmaiJ.com. and I will forward them to you.