On the Road

We departed Pebble Beach around 5 PM and drove 380 miles to San Bernardino before crashing in a hotel at 11:30 PM. Our goal was to get past the traffic congestion surrounding Los Angeles, without knowing how far we might make it that evening. We woke up Thursday and took off on the remainder of our 720 mile journey to Scottsdale, Arizona. Normally, such a drive would provide lots of scenery with very few items worth passing along in a blog. That was almost the case on this trip until we decided to drop into a quilt shop along the way.

Julie began making quilts when we moved back to Bettendorf almost 4-years ago. She is part of a quilting group who gets together twice a month. The other members (and you know who you are!) thought she should purchase some fabric in every state while I play golf. The fabric could than be made into a quilt that embodied all of the experiences we will have throughout the year. Nancy Pinkston even gave Julie a “Quilters’ Travel Companion” book that serves as a ready reference for finding all of the quilt shops. It turned out we were passing right by such an opportunity in Quartzsite, Arizona. We decided to pull off of I-10 and find the shop.

There were two early warning signs that this was not going to be a regular stop. First, the surrounding area preceding our arrival in Quartzsite resembled an airdrop of humanitarian supplies from a C-17 military cargo plane - - - except in place of food and medical supplies the airdrop consisted of motor-homes and camping trailers. It appeared to be squatters searching for free camping, rocks or both. Quartzsite does proclaim themselves to be the "Rock Capital of the World". That was clue #1.

We were also reaching that point in our journey were it was time to find something to eat. Julie did a search on Yelp to determine our available choices in Quartzsite. Clue #2 was when the Pilot Travel Center appeared to be our best option for lunch, although it was rated slightly lower than Daniels’s Really Good Fresh Jerky (where you could buy 3 packs for $20). We pulled off of the interstate anyway.

Driving into Quartzsite we were observing what could only be described as a high-bred combination of a trailer park, campground and flea market - - - all rolled into one. Apparently the rock business attracts such a following.

Note John Deere equipment in the background

Our GPS lead us to the street were the quilt shop was located, but it did could not pinpoint the “house” number. We eventually asked a local resident who was out walking his dog. We found the shop, which appeared to be closed for the season. I was unaware that there was a season for quilting.

Julie at the quilt shop

It was an interesting stop. I am not sure why we never see the evening news carrying footage of the Presidential candidates campaigning for votes in Quartzsite. We did elect to skip lunch and get back on the road.