Quartzsite, Arizona and a Naked Bookseller

Kenny and Angela have joined the ranks of "Followers" on my blog and I really appreciate that.  THANK YOU, Kenny and Angela.  I hope you check in often and comments are encouraged.

Today was our last day in the southwestern desert area before heading back toward Orange County...and all the traffic...in California.  We thought we'd spend this last day taking in the sights at nearby Quartzsite.  It is only about 16 miles east of our RV park. 

Quartzsite is a funky desert town listing approximately 3,000 full time residents.  It has become a mecca for boondocking snowbirds over the years.  For those readers that may not know the term...."boondocking" means living in your RV without benefit of utility hook-ups.  The Bureau of Land Management allows RVer's to boondock on land, south of I-10, for a very small fee.  I read that you can buy an entire season permit for about $140.00.  There are RV's of all shapes and sizes dotting the landscape here on BLM property.  They pretty much just pick a spot of desert to drive out to and park it there for as long as they've got a permit allowing for it.  We saw some RV's west of this area that were seemingly boondocking for free, but I can't verify that.  (click photo for larger view)

Quartzsite also boasts having the largest open air flea market in the country.  It all started years back as a rocks, gems, minerals and fossils market and has morphed into this humongous "vendor capital of the world".  They claim that millions of visitors come here every year.  It has something for everyone.

You can see blocks and blocks of vendor stalls along the main roads in town.  They have stalls with carved wooden masks, leathergoods and doo-dads galore, knives, rugs, clothing, and lots and lots of jewelry.

They sell a lot of these whirly-twirly things here that RVer's can put outside their rigs or fly from them.

We just don't have any of these whirly-twirly things or any yard art for our motorhome.  Might have to look into that if we're going to be proper fulltimers.   Naw...don't think so.

The hit of the day was a stop at the Reader's Oasis Bookstore on Main Street.

This is quirky with a capital "Q" as it is run by the "naked bookseller of Quartzsite".  Yes folks, I did say naked.  It is run by owner, Paul Winer, and it houses so many books you cannot possible imagine.  Most of them appeared to be used books and he has a trade-in policy for customers.  Every subject was represented from what I saw on the shelves.  Paul isn't totally naked.  He wears a miniscule loincloth that barely covers his, um...manhood, shall I say.  Today was a cool day and he was wearing a sweatshirt on top...nothing but the loincloth on the bottom and his scrawny behind was clearly visible as he went about the business of stocking shelves.  A sign told us that he was very "photo friendly" but I just couldn't bring myself to take his picture to post on this blog.  You can Google him and see for yourself.  It was a funny sight, I will say that. 

Tomorrow morning we are pulling out and driving to Fisherman's Retreat RV Park in Redlands, before driving to Anaheim on Sunday.  No naked people will be found in Anaheim, thank goodness.

Until next time.....so long for now!