Junk, Stuff and a Bar

Saturday morning it rained for a short while and then the rainbow in the north put an end to it, at least for a while.  We puttered around the RV, took a 5K fast walk into the desert, then got in the Jeep and went into town to “shop”.  

This place does not have many stores to shop in but it does have lots of tents with lots of junk and stuff.  Many, many tents sell gems and stones and beads, none of which are of any interest to us.  Several other tents have all kinds of men’s tools, wiring supplies, scissors of all sorts, dental tools, screws, nuts and bolts, rugs, and t-shirts. Then there are the women’s tools like kitchen utensils, cleaning supplies, second hand groceries and health and beauty aides and jewelry of every variety.  

The home cranked ice cream guy was still hanging around as were some RV surplus places but all the other tents that one would find during RV Week in January are closed up or gone.  The rain finally arrived late afternoon and into the evening.

Sunday morning found us headed north about 35 miles from Quartzsite to Parker, AZ on the Colorado River just below the Parker Dam. John had read about a fun bar built in the mountains east of Parker and open only on Saturday and Sunday afternoons from November thru March.  It is open only one night a year and that is on New Year’s Eve and then only if it falls on a weekend.  The Desert Bar has been around for about 30 years but the guy who owns it keeps adding on to it as it started out as a small shack and is now several large buildings and patios.  All power is solar and not too many years ago he drilled a well for water. They have two bars, one grill and one cafe and a live band and dance area. 

There are two routes to drive to The Desert Bar, one is a gravel road and one is a 4-wheel only 5-mile road.  Bet you can guess which one we took!  Our shake-down cruise for the new Jeep and we had so much fun! It was a pretty challenging route, especially since we did not air down the tires on the way in.  Wow, it was bumpy!  But it was a pretty drive through very rugged mountains, narrow canyons and on steep shelf roads.  We arrived just after a helicopter landed, that’s how remote this place is and yet the parking lot was full and there were lines for burgers and beer.  A nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon.