Grand Design Rally Quartzsite Arizona 6-9 February 2025

In the background is LaPaz Valley, the RV community at Quartzsite

Midweek in our third week in Picacho Arizona, we attended the Grand Design Rally in Quartzsite Arizona 6-9 February 2025. Our drive was 200 miles west. Quartzsite is well known in the RV community. It is a small highway town where snowbirds flock each year. For $180, visitors can stay on public land for up to seven months. It's also where the movie "Nomadland" was filmed. We have yet to see the movie "Nomadland", but we've both read the book and found it interesting. We'll catch the movie one day and hopefully learn what happened with the main characters.

We had never been to a Grand Design Rally nor to Quartzsite, so we decided to kill two birds. It's almost like camping at Quartzsite is a rite of passage for RVers. The actual rally began on 6 February, but we drove there on Wednesday 5 February. When we arrived on Wednesday, part of registering for the rally was them looking up our VIN for recalls. They replaced 2 quick connect valves for our propane under our fifth wheel and then we proceeded to find our site for the rally. We positioned ourselves to be reasonably close to the festivities.

The first evening we went for a walk and we met Guy and his wife (blank on her name), fellow full time Reflection owners from North Carolina. The first morning of the rally, we went to morning coffee and we met Terry and Joanne. They're also full time and Reflection owners from Michigan. We met Dale and his wife (again blank on her name) who had been to Alaska in 2024. They are full time and from Georgia. We said hi to Stan and Rhonda, You Tubers (Over The Hill Adventures). We met two couples from Alaska. One of those couple was Keith and Kathy and they are three weeks into RV ownership. Our neighbors at the rally were Dave and Patty. They have a large Momentum and are full timers.

Three years ago Stan and Rhonda with Over The Hill Adventures started a food drive at the Grand Design Rally for the local Quartzsite food bank. This year the goal was to raise 2000 lbs of food and we reached 2050 lbs! That was just attendees at the rally donating a few items from their pantries.

Sunset - Quartzsite Arizona - 5 Feb 2025

Sunset - Quartzsite Arizona - 5 Feb 2025

Sunset - Quartzsite Arizona - 5 Feb 2025

Opening Ceremony Grand Design Rally - Quartzsite AZ - 6 Feb 2025

Grand Design Rally - Quartzsite AZ - 6 Feb 2025

Opening Remarks

Grand Design Rally - Quartzsite AZ - 8 Feb 2025

Cornhole Tournament

Grand Design Rally - Quartzsite AZ - 8 Feb 2025

Chili Cookoff

Grand Design Rally - Quartzsite AZ - 8 Feb 2025

Campfire (It was too windy all other nights so all the wood was burned the last night)

Grand Design Rally - Quartzsite AZ - 8 Feb 2025

Grand Design Rally - Quartzsite AZ - 8 Feb 2025

The Border Hookups performing

From the Internet: The Border Hookups is a male-female acoustic duo that tours extensively, performing shows and shooting their YouTube travel show - The Border Hookups. With their mix of crafted harmonies and unique take on cover songs as well as a mix of catchy originals, the Hookups have entertained crowds across the US and beyond. Covering such musical genres as country, pop, reggae and rock, with The Border Hookups two shows are never the same. This musical duo is made up of husband and wife team, Dave and Jacqueline Hudson. Dave has played stages across North America and throughout the Caribbean region. Past and current clients include the Hard Rock Cafe, Steamboat Ski Resort and Carnival Cruise Lines. Jacqueline, a newcomer to the music scene , grew up in Northern Manitoba tundra and brings to the stage her unique musical style based from her Canadian roots. Together they are The Border Hookups

Well, we can now say we've stayed at Quartzsite! It's too soon to say we'd ever stay at Quartzsite again since we're not into dry camping, but we had a nice time at the rally. We met lots of other full timers who enjoy dry camping. They've outfitted their rigs with lithium batteries, lots of solar power and Starlink. We prefer full hookups and the sense of community in campgrounds. We concluded that it's like the difference between home owners who prefer to live away from cities with lots of land, and home owners who like to live in subdivisions with smaller yards and neighbors.

One lady mentioned to Anita that there are Grand Design rallies held at nice campgrounds all over the US. Maybe one of those will be in our path at some point in the future. We also heard about Escapee rallies and meetups. We may try to go to one of those if one crosses our path. We exchanged phone numbers with one couple traveling to Alaska summer 2025 a week ahead of us. Darrell and Theresa are full timers too, so it will be nice to know there's someone we know in Alaska while we're there.

We signed up for Skymed insurance which is something we probably should have had since we hit the road. They cover the cost of transport in case of an accident, getting someone to drive our fifth wheel to the place of our choice, and many other little things that could occur with our lifestyle. So the rally was a great experience and we're happy we went.