Quartzsite boondocking

John and Kathy Roeder talked us into attempting boondocking at Quartzsite, AZ for the first time ever. Not the first boondocking for us, but the first time we traveled to Quartzsite. We were a little bit wary of the unexpected, having no idea of whether we would even find the "boondocking" area, but we decided to forego our usual FL trip to try out AZ for a change. We already had a 90 watt solar panel that I added on top of our Scamp, and we also had a portable 90 watt panel for an extra charge if needed. I did decide to upgrade our 100 amp "marine" battery to a 155 amp "golf cart" battery just to give us an extra margin of watts for my CPAP and the heater fan, but as it turned out, it never really got cold at Quartzsite and we had plenty of sun all week. The fiberglass group gathering this year was held between Feb 6 - Feb 12 and was the 10th anniversary of the fiberglass gathering there. The weekend before this was superbowl weekend, so we stayed at Arizona Oasis RV park just before the rally so we could be sure to have TV coverage. I had my Falcons shirt and my GA bulldogs hat on, and when the USAF Falcons overflew the stadium, it was a good omen for the Falcons, and they surged to an unbelievable halftime lead! Alas, they forgot they were playing against Mr Cool, Tom Brady and the Patriots. Arizona Oasis also provided up with the opportunity to empty our tanks and fill our water tanks and extra water jugs to maximize our boondocking capabilities! (There are no toilets, dump station, hookups or water at Quartzsite BLM) We left Arizona Oasis and soon found the area right along I-10 that we were looking for. We checked in for our free 14 day camping permit, and then headed to whatever spot we felt like occupying in the BLM Dome Rock area. Picked a spot on an upper ridge, set up our Scamp and screen room, and kicked back for an enjoyable week with many friends old and new that camped nearby. The weather was great as far as I recall (I'm writing this 3 months later and tend to forget any bad stuff), although it was windy enough at times that I did not even attempt to put our awning out. Our Coleman screen house did just fine though. Fortunately we were able to make it through the week without having to dump or refill, and the battery filled up with solar energy very quickly every day. Quartzsite boondocking might not be for everyone, but we enjoyed it and plan to be back next year! We got together with different friends and enjoyed pizza and beer at Silly Al's pizza, and some great burgers at Bad Boyz Cafe. Best part of Quartzite is the laid back atmosphere and good winter weather, and getting together with friends.