Cloud Museum

  The Cloud Museum is a treasure trove of old Fords, farming and mining equipment, tools of all types and even a few relocated buildings. Most of the items have a descriptive label and Johnny Cloud, who has been collecting this stuff for over 25 years, is often around to answer any questions.
  

  The grounds, with neat rows of cars and equipment, is mostly hard packed dirt and easy to roll around. One of the buildings which houses restored cars has a gravel covered floor making rolling a bit difficult. Several of the other buildings have steps but no ramps but some of the interiors can be viewed from the doorways.

The parking lot is large enough for any RV.  Museum
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Los Algodones, Mexico

The main attraction of Los Algodones is easy access to inexpensive medicine, glasses, dental work and alcohol but it also provides a way to make quick excursion into a Mexican border town with an opportunity to buy colorful souvenirs, leather items and clothing.  We tagged along with our friends who wanted to buy medicine and alcohol and bought some large fresh shrimp and  young asparagus from the street vendors, ate lunch at a taco stand and wandered around for a couple of hours.

 

             

  Before buying anything check the restrictions to make sure that you can bring your purchase back into the US. If you plan to go to a dentist or optometrist read online reviews. Some people are very happy with their dental work but others have had major problems. Lines at the crossing back into the US may be long. We waited about an hour in early afternoon to cross. Don’t forget to take your passport!  Tourist Info

The tourist area is only a few blocks square and surprisingly wheelchair accessible with good curb cuts and sidewalks. Most of the shops have sidewalk level entrances and enough room inside to maneuver. The sidewalks and ramps on both sides at the border crossing are in excellent condition and ADA compliant.

  The Quechan Indian Tribe provides a large, paved lot on the US side. All day parking is $6.00 for cars and $8.00 for RV. There’s plenty of room for any RV.   Los Algodones

 

Pilot Knob Short Term Visitor Area

  Just a patch of rocky ground and a mountain view – this place is as desolate as it looks in the photograph. It’s easy to get to and close to the border crossing into Algodones, Mexico which is an attraction for people seeking cheap medicine, glasses, dental work and alcohol. Camping is free but limited to 14 days.

  Follow the signs from Sidewinder Road. The sand road leading to the short term camping area is fairly smooth. The camping area, which is about 1.4 miles in, is not very large so expect to have neighbors.  Pilot Knob

Two Rivers Renaissance Faire

   This is a fairly small faire but with three stages there’s always something happening. Performances include musicians, belly dancers, magicians, jugglers, sword fighters, trained birds and comedy with audience participation. Demonstrations also take place at the individual camps. Many booths sell handmade items and everything appears to be finely crafted.

  
  The ground is very hard packed with short grass so rolling around is easy. The faire area is small enough that getting from place to place is not tiring.

  The parking lot is large enough for any RV.   Faire
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Fortuna Pond Boondocking

  UPDATE Jan 2023 - closed to camping, day use only

Boondocking  spots at Fortuna Pond are located along the shoreline with nice views of the water. This is a popular site with RVs lined up fairly close together but it’s peaceful and quiet with the exception of noise from small planes late in the evening and occasional bombing noise from the air force range. There are  some good sites nestled under the trees where small RVs and tenters who want a shaded spot can camp.

  Amenities include an accessible porta-potti and a trash dumpster but nothing else.

 Big rigs will fit but some of the short access roads are steep and uneven. Overhanging tree branches can make circling the lake impossible. Visitors with large RVs may want to camp on the north side of the lake and use caution when turning onto the road around the lake. The road from Ave. 7 E follows the levee and is 3.4 miles of washboard dirt so the trip in is rough. The directions on the BLM website are very accurate.

 Fortuna Pond
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Rubber Tramp Homes

   I loved the diversity of this gathering of rubber tramps. Many of the other groups camping here on Quartzsite BLM lands are very homogeneous with row upon row of huge class A motorhomes and fifth wheels but the rubber tramp homes run the full gamut from tents to class As. The tramps themselves are full-timers and part-timers, old hands and newbies, retired and still working, very young and pretty old, single people and couples – a wonderful group of people sharing their love of traveling and nature for what was a much too short two weeks. :-)

         

         

         

         

         

                           

         

         

         

See you all next year!

Rubber Tramp Rendezvous Photo Essay

              14 days of beautiful sunshine and gentle breezes

                      Morning seminars led by Bob Wells
                       A change of pace – poetry by Randy
          
                       Classes and gatherings in mid afternoon
                                     Meditation with Atlee

                        Question and answer with Technomadia

  Impromptu sharing of food with friends and planned community meals.
                    Potato bake hosted by Donna and Mark

                     Peter and assistants preparing soup with cans contributed by everyone. Sounds yucky but…

                                                          Yum!

                                  even the dogs agreed! :-)
         
                When we weren’t busy with all of that we were…
                            checking out everyone’s homes,

                                              walking dogs,

                                    enjoying jam sessions

                                      and drumming at sunset,

                             spending time with old friends,


                                       making new friends,

                            and marveling at the sunsets.


  Now this gathering of travelers is coming to an end and I’ve discovered that I didn’t take nearly enough pictures  and we didn’t have time to get to know and talk with everyone. We didn’t meet many of the people on the outskirts of the camp and we couldn’t keep names straight on half of the people that we did meet but this was the friendliest, most helpful, accepting group of people. We hope to attend many more RTRs!