ARIZONA: LAND OF XRATED BOOKMAN, A VARIETY OF BIRDS, DOUBLE ARCH AND PRISON.

Promoting our book Life on Route 66: personal accounts along the mother road to California, we did a book signing at the Oasis Book Store in Quartzsite. Not a lot of sales but met some fellow authors and had a fun day.

Had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Winer, the wife of the famous book store owner. They seem an unlikely couple, but hey, they’ve been married for decades!

John and Dottie Van Doren stopped by, and to the right Norm Swartz. The weather was finally warming up and Quartzsite was alive with shoppers from border to border. The scant population of this town is about 3,000 until January and February when it swells to a million, mostly snowbirders thawing out.

Paul, the owner, could not have been more generous. He invited the authors to stay as long as they wanted, sign and sell their books and insisted we keep our profits. Paul is an entertainer having appeared on the Jay Leno show. He is a poet, a journalist, and most obvious, a nudist. Only in Quartzsite!

We love Quartzsite, but it was time to move on. We drove to Ajo, then Why, and on to our favorite desert campground: Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. It was quiet, and the local activities such as ranger talks and walks didn’t start til the next week. But we love the solitude and the brilliant sunsets. It is also a birdwatcher’s paradise. It borders on Mexico and is the access point for crossing the border at Lukeville, gateway to Sonoyta.

 

There is a lovely 30 mile drive called the Ajo Mountain Loop which culminates in a picnic area beneath a double arch in the Diablo Mountains

 

To see a double arch is a thrill!   

 

 

 

Sadly it was time to head home by way of Yuma. There is more in Yuma to see than one would think. We ate at Lute’s Casino. No, it isn’t a casino, it is a restaurant of Huell Howser fame. We enjoyed the quirky atmosphere and toasted Huell.  A few of the other spots we visited were the Crossing and the Yuma Territorial Prison,