The Town is Packed with Snowbirds

I ran into town early this morning, hoping to beat the throngs of travelers that fill this place every mid-January. The “Big Tent” RV and Travel Show opened last Saturday, with a smaller tent than usual and COVID-19 rules in place to hopefully keep attendees safe. Well, after watching RVerTV’s YouTube video I’m not so sure about that. I do know that I won’t be attending the show this year…no way.

Thankfully, I did not need ice. Both Dollar General and Family Dollar had signs on their front doors noting they had NO ice available! One of them had even run out of bottled water! It must be mid-January in Quartzsite, and our Canadian friends weren’t even here! Masked visits to four stores provided me my needed supplies and I gladly drove back to camp, happy to be away from the crowds.

I am very pleased to report that mask-wearing in town had near 100% compliance. We were also observing recommended distancing as we all waited to check out. Much appreciated shoppers! Still, returning to my van I nearly bathed in my personal supply of sanitizer—kill those nasty bugs!

I’ll wait a couple more days before I do return to walk the outdoor Swap Meet, the one with very wide aisles and a warm desert breeze blowing through. It’s always interesting to see what the vendors are hawking this year.

Come February, this quiet little town will settle down some. I’ll bet there will only be a couple hundred thousand campers vying for a spot at the Flying J gas pump, nothing like the masses I saw this morning!