Saturday, February 9, 2013 (Plomosa Road, Quartzsite, AZ)

It was another sunny day today but the temp was a cool 60F/15 C and the wind was still hanging around making it feel even colder.  We had  our usual start to the day, and then thought we would get out for a walk and see if we could find some geocaches.  I downloaded the caches into my GPS and we headed out...but we didn't get very far. Howard and Linda Payne of RV-Dreams had arrived and were casing out the area just across from us...that's where the Boondocking Rally is going to be.

We met up with Dave and then all three of us walked over to greet Howard and Linda.  With close to 40 rigs expected, they were trying to measure out sites in a huge circle.  The idea is to have the back of each rig face into the circle.  With so many rigs and the area more of a rectangle shape, it may end up being more of an oval...but there's lots of room for everyone.

Howard and Linda moved their rig into place and then Dave and Diane moved their motorcoach into place...it took us a little longer to pack up and get moved into our spot.  Jim and Melba arrived just after we got set up and parked beside us.

Once that was done, everyone was put to work...as Howard put it...the "early arrival penalty". It started with Steve, Dave and Howard loading the rocks from an old fire pit into Howard's truck and moving them to set up three new pits.  With roughly 80 people, it would be hard to get everyone around one.

Okay...where is the best place to set up the new fire pits?  That's our rig way in the distance...with Jim and Melba beside us...

Diane and I helped out a bit...making sure the rocks were placed correctly...

Diane and Linda...

We left the guys to complete the fire pit duties and stack the firewood...which had been delivered earlier...because Linda had recruited Diane and I to put the name badges together.

Another rig pulled in a little later...Rick and Laura are also from Canada...Coquitlam, BC, as a matter of fact!  Apparently, there are a number of Canadians attending this rally.

Late afternoon, Steve and Dave chopped wood and got a fire ready.  Soon it was happy hour and we were all sitting around the campfire...

Howard relaxing...

The sun went down and more wood was put on the fire...as we continued chatting.  And another rig pulled in...Meagan and Jesse had sent a text to Howard saying that they were on their way out from Quartzsite.  We saw them pull in but they went in the wrong direction so Howard jumped in his jeep and went to gather them...soon they had joined us around the fire.

Eventually, we said goodnight to everyone and headed back to our rig. To our surprise the Vancouver Canucks game was still on and we only missed the first period. It was 1/0  for the Calgary Flames however the Canucks turned it around to a 5/1 win. After a quick bite to eat, it wasn't long before we headed for bed.  Tomorrow, is the start of the rally so most of the rigs will be arriving...should be fun!