No. I'm not greeting a happy person. That actually happens to be someone's name. And the town of Quartzsite has memorialized this person.
After entering Arizona, we decided to stay in the town of Quartzsite. We spent one night in an RV park so we could do laundry, clean the trailer, and take nice long showers. The next morning we headed two miles up the road to the Hi Jolly BLM Dispersed Camping area.
This area was more wide-open than the last BLM campground we stayed in. But we found a nice spot next to the wash that we could tuck ourselves into. We mostly stayed close to home, but did venture out on a couple of short trips to learn more about Quartzsite and Mr. Hi Jolly.
Turns out Hi Jolly was a Greek who was born in Syria. He came to America to be a camel jockey with the United States Camel Corp. When the Civil War started, the corp was dissolved, and he lost his job. But he stayed around Quartzsite, and rumor has it that camels are still seen once and awhile in the desert.
There is a monument to Hi Jolly in the Quartzsite cemetery. It's actually kind of pretty with all the different stones they used.
The other thing you might not know about this little town is that the population swells to nearly a million people during January and February. Quartzsite hosts a huge RV show for a couple of weeks in late January or early February. But people start arriving early, and the town starts entertaining the visitors as early as November.
There are many RV parks, and even more BLM camping grounds. H talked to one of the workers at a particularly large BLM camp, and he said that during the show, you could almost walk to the RV events across the tops of the RV's parked in the campgrounds. And the campgrounds stretch more than a couple of miles from town. Besides a show of new RV's, there is a GIANT tent that goes up and houses thousands of vendors that sell anything you could need for your RV and more.
So while H and I enjoyed the solitude during our stay at the BLM camp, it would have been quite a different story had we shown up a month or two earlier. We can't decide if we have the courage to actually try to make the show some year down the road.
H took some nice photos of the flowers, plants, and the wash. We also had a full moon while we were there. Check out his photos in his Gallery.
After entering Arizona, we decided to stay in the town of Quartzsite. We spent one night in an RV park so we could do laundry, clean the trailer, and take nice long showers. The next morning we headed two miles up the road to the Hi Jolly BLM Dispersed Camping area.
Turns out Hi Jolly was a Greek who was born in Syria. He came to America to be a camel jockey with the United States Camel Corp. When the Civil War started, the corp was dissolved, and he lost his job. But he stayed around Quartzsite, and rumor has it that camels are still seen once and awhile in the desert.
The other thing you might not know about this little town is that the population swells to nearly a million people during January and February. Quartzsite hosts a huge RV show for a couple of weeks in late January or early February. But people start arriving early, and the town starts entertaining the visitors as early as November.
There are many RV parks, and even more BLM camping grounds. H talked to one of the workers at a particularly large BLM camp, and he said that during the show, you could almost walk to the RV events across the tops of the RV's parked in the campgrounds. And the campgrounds stretch more than a couple of miles from town. Besides a show of new RV's, there is a GIANT tent that goes up and houses thousands of vendors that sell anything you could need for your RV and more.
So while H and I enjoyed the solitude during our stay at the BLM camp, it would have been quite a different story had we shown up a month or two earlier. We can't decide if we have the courage to actually try to make the show some year down the road.
H took some nice photos of the flowers, plants, and the wash. We also had a full moon while we were there. Check out his photos in his Gallery.
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