Boy this weather sucks! It appears my Sept 29th return to Ute was just in time to deal with high winds (15 to 36 mph), rain and thunderstorms caused by Dorian’s tropical depression which was currently in Mexico City; 301 miles away. The only good thing about Ute was its temperatures that range from 50 to 77 degrees. Flooding was predicted for low line areas in Albuquerque; a 2-hour 57-minute drive from my locations. Rather than wait around to see what was really heading towards my Ute location. I decided to leave the area at 10am on October 3rd to make an 11-hour drive (714 miles) to Quartzsite AZ arriving in Quartzsite on October 4th.

I found the weather in Quartzsite AZ to be what I was accustomed to which is a breezy 88-degrees. However, two weeks later the temperature dropped to 46 and 57 degrees. At this point, I was digging in my winter canvas chest to pull out pullover -sweaters, socks, corduroy slacks, winter hats, jacket, neck scarfs and my favorite flannel pajamas. Currently, I am still wearing winter clothes (i.e. pullover sweaters, baseball cap, windbreaker and thick jeans. Strange weather, like everywhere else.

I made my first Snowbird Exodus to Quartzsite AZ in September 2018. I still enjoy getting in the area early since I am drawn to sleepy, quiet, underpopulated rural townships surrounded by deserts with ever changing and breathtaking skies as well as massive wide-open spaces.

Last year, the first arriving wave of Snowbirds begin the week after Christmas; the annual crowd arrived in January consisting of about 150,000 visitors – driving his/her own RVs. The state highway department said, “This annual event is the largest gathering of RVs anywhere on the planet.” During this time RV’s and people are everywhere such as the five BLM (Bureau of Land Manager) properties, RV Parks, deserts; on country roads and in canyons.