I'm at the Escapee park in Benson for a few days until the rain event passes. Howie and Nora are here as well as Rick and Terry. And several people from Chimacum can be found, too. I've been fighting my batteries for the last couple of months. Part of it is that it's hard to keep the batteries topped off when there's only a couple of hours a day of direct sun. Part of it is that there has been more days with overcasts this winter. Part of it is...
I'm at the SKP park here and will go to the park in Benson tomorrow. Then, a rain storm will arrive and keep me there for a couple of days. When weather permits I'll go to Deming, where it will be cold. Oh well,it's still January...
It's not bad, but it's gloomy around here today. I'm pulling out tomorrow and heading to Deming. While I'll leave Steve and Sandy behind, I'll run into them again in a month. It's been fun here in Q as people came and went, old friends that bounce around the country but everyone shows up at Q when they can. I'll see everyone again in Tucson when they gather for an annual rally. Arizona is getting boring, and I'm in the mood for a green chili...
I'm not one for the Tent Show (I'm not alone at that, apparently) but I do like the gem and rock shows around here. Which are quite good. Traffic is a real pain, but my routine is to go into town in the morning to get decent parking, then work my way out before noon. Yesterday was too windy to even set foot outside, it was better today, I even fell asleep in the sun today. But, as the sun went down, it became cool. That's a Q euphemism for cold....
The Big Tent Show opened on Saturday, the roads filled up, and parking in town is a mess. Quartzsite, which for some strange reason I kinda like when no one is around, has become a pain in the butt. But, Mike and Sandy and Steve and Sandy arrived yesterday, bringing a couple of Canadians with them. So we have 5 rigs here, 9 people. Not a big group, but we're all friends. Quality over quantity. Others are scattered here and there in the desert,...
The Associated Press is floating a story around about an oversupply of cannabis from the legal producers. The story goes on to predict dire consequences like crashed wholesale prices and possible bankruptcies and business take-overs. Washington residents are still trying to understand what this crop is and how it works. This ignorance shows up in several communities (likewise in Colorado) as bans, moratoriums on permitting, and ridiculously...
I moved again to a spot where a lot of friends congregate during the peak of the Quartzsite Experience. No one else is here yet, but I'm confident they'll show. Q is in full force now, with new rigs coming in by the hundreds now. The Big Tent Show starts this weekend, somehow an attraction to most people but I doubt I'll even bother with it this year. Weather is good. High sixties, but into the thirties at night. Still, it's sun and clear skies.
For eleven months of the year Q is a tiny shitty desert town at the junction of an interstate and a US highway. Good place for low-tax fuel before entering California. Bad place for just about anything else. In January the place becomes a town of around 100,000 with RV's parked throughout the several square miles of desert around the town. I'm spending some time here and was looking for a decent beer place, a hang-out, a place to catch the game...
Staying at the Red Rose in Q during the cold spell worked out quite well, but now I'm back at Hi Jolly for a little while. My rate at Red Rose was $60 for the week, plus electricity. That's a really silly number, but most of the time I was the only one parked there, a place with maybe 100 spaces. But I wanted the electric to stay warm. My electric heat cost $3.50 for the week, compared to about $50 in propane I would've spent, and would still be...
It was a bit warmer today, and folks got out to check out the vendors. Each day means more street traffic. I wandered the outdoor gem show for a bit today. I will be buying some stuff, but for now it's all about checking who is here and what they are selling. These are the transients that move to Tucson in a month and occupy the fringes of the gem show there. But prices are better at Q. I couldn't get into the gas stations this afternoon because...
It's been two days in a row that the low was 29 degrees in the morning. Will be just as cold tomorrow. The wind is really miserable, but the sun helps when it's not blowing. The RV park has frozen pipes, but seems to be dealing with it. The seasonal vendors are now in and open today, though a few are behind schedule. And, parking is now hard to find and traffic is noticeably busy now. In other words, Quartzsite is now in full operation, but folk...
Here are the roughly current prices for a gram of Cannabis flower: Medical/Black Market $10 Colorado Retail $20 Washington Retail $30 That's a significant drop this year in retail prices, likely because supply went up after harvest. Washington and Colorado could do a billion dollars in 2015 sales, all in cash without banks. It remains to be seen if this is enough to change the federal banking laws. Both states need to address the issue of...