Quartzite shopping

The best part of visiting Quartzite is the plethora of RV related goodies to be purchased.  I had been compiling a list of items that I’d learned about from reading the many travel magazines we receive…..CHARGE!

On our way into town we stopped at the BLM tent to register our rig.  We are in the 14 day camping limit which is free, you just need to let them know you’re there.  The guy was a real character, as many seem to be in this eclectic little town and he explained his fifth wheel to us.  It is a toy hauler and holds his dune buggy.  The top portion is electronically raised and contains the bedroom, or as he described it, the penthouse suite.  I’ll bet that is a nice place to sleep with four screened walls to allow for lots of air and a view that is not blocked by any other rigs.  He said only ten of these were ever made.  I’m not sure why it didn’t catch on, I thought it was a very clever design.

The first item I spotted on our search was the Grip Sticks that I love for sealing bags of stuff.  It makes a complete seal instead of those little pinch clips.  I use mostly the smaller sizes, so the bigger ones will be bequeathed to our daughter when we return.  One item checked off.  I think Left Brain may have preferred to be parked at the Adult Daycare while I shopped, but he valiantly trod along.

Then I spotted the cutest little dog hats and thought about how cute Gracie would be wearing this on her walks.  She thinks she’s a dog anyway…what the heck.

There were many places to buy LED lights and we picked up another $25 bulb for my reading light.  Bit by bit we are switching to these.  The light is better, they last longer and never get hot.

The leather goods kiosk was not our list, but Left Brain did need a new wallet and I found this leather purse that makes into a backpack.  Now that could really be handy, so I purchased it as well.  It’s hard to resist the impulse buying in a setting like this.

We located the Oxygenics Shower head and snapped it up.  This is designed to reduce the amount of water used and at the same time kick up the water pressure – both of which are vital when living in an RV.  Maybe now I can actually get my hair rinsed completely without standing there forever.  I suppose I could cut my hair like Left Brain’s.   Hmmmm.  No.

Across the aisle I spotted the Fridge Fix that we’d read about.  Our fridge (as is the case in most RV’s) is not terribly efficient and I hate having to defrost it.  This little device is installed with three fans to keep the air circulating around the fridge and thus eliminate some of this problem.  We have two small battery operated fans in there now that kind of do the job, but it’s a hassle having to replace the D cell batteries each month.  This device will be hard wired in.  Keep your fingers crossed.

Left Brain kept checking out the tire pressure monitoring systems, which are wireless transmitters from the tire to the control unit to let you know what the pressure and temperature of each tire is.  Tires are critical to the health of an RV.  He still can’t decide which one he wants or if he wants it at all.  I’m of no help there, it’s really his toy and I don’t pretend to understand it.

By this time we are dragging as we’re tired and have heavy packages we’re lugging around.  That’s when we spotted the shopping bag on wheels with a small fold out seat.   Left Brain has some back pain when standing too long and has talked about getting a can with a fold out stool to sit on.  This covered that option and had a roomy carry bag attached.  It was only $25 and we paid the lady, stored our stuff and took off feeling much lighter.

Not having found the 20 amp fuses, we headed into town for those and I had the gps on my phone directing me to an auto parts supply store.  It was closed.  Bummer.  So we went across the street to the Main Street Diner for lunch and learned they were not seating anybody right now to allow the kitchen to catch up.  We found out where a hardware store was from the lady there and set out again.

The hardware store was a pole building, as many of the business establishments here are.  The diner we attempted to visit and the laundrymat are pole buildings as well.  Not fancy, but very functional.

He came out with a small paper bag and a smile on his face, so I knew he had scored.  Then we headed over to Sweet Darlene’s for lunch and waited for a long time to get served, but this is the norm on a weekend in January in Quartzite.  This restaurant is also in a pole building and often you end up sitting at a table with other people when it’s this busy, but we scored a single table for the two of us.

Soon it was time to return home and recover from our shopping adventures.  I can’t wait to get my new toys installed and running.

Long Live the Shopping Queen