Quartzsite Arizona

The end of February we took a day-trip to Quartzsite, Arizona.  This little town of approximately 3500 permanent residents, located at the western edge of Arizona at the intersection of I-10 and US Highway 95, is a popular RV camping area for winter visitors.  Gem and mineral shows, huge swap meets, and RV shows attract thousands of visitors annually during the months of January and February.  For the adventuresome camper, Quartzsite offers "wilderness sites" where you can drive out in the desert, find a sandy spot that supports your RV or camper, and call it home. There is no furnished electricity, water, sewer, etc...you must be self-supporting.  For the not so adventuresome, there are parks which have those utilities available.  As you approach Quartzsite by car, you crest the mountain and  see parked RV's stretching for miles around the small town.
    Quartzsite also is noted for being the burial place of Hi Jolly, a man of Greek-Syrian parentage, who played an important part in the US Camel Corps.  In 1856 Jefferson Davis, as secretary of war under President Pierce, approved a plan to experiment with camels for freighting and communication in the arid southwest.  33 camels were procured and shipped through Texas; their caretaker was Hadji Ali, whose name was changed by the US soldiers to Hi Jolly. The camel caravan successfully opened a wagon road across Arizona to Fort Defiance California in 1857.  But after that the war department abandoned the camels; they were set free to roam the Arizona desert.  Some survived, and lived in the area for years...however, we did not see any camels while we were there.