Back on the Road Again Headed to Quartzsite AZ

It feels good to be on the road again.  We hitched up and headed south to Quartzsite AZ knowing that the big crowds would be gone by the time we got there which suited us just fine.  On the way there we stopped in at North Ranch Escapees Park and found out that they were offering the Smart Weigh for our rig which is something we needed to do.  I was abit nervous wondering if we were over weight as I haven't gotten my jeweler's bench yet but to our surprise we were under weight.  We also had my truck and trailer weighed and were OK there as well but really need to have a Equalizer hitch as the front end of my truck was higher than the back.  I haven't had any trouble but it is the smart thing to do so we will start looking for one.  Once weighed you can then determine how much tire pressure you need so with calculations done Mark proceeded to check the pressure and in doing so one tire stem began to leak air as soon as he removed the gauge, not good.  We knew we needed to address this issue right away so we headed to Wickenburg to the tire store, once there they told us that there is a washer then a screw on nut that seals the stem, well we had 2 that were missing.

See the nut at the base of the stem.  The tire people told us they can work their way off over time if not checked.  Moral of the story...Always Check Your Nuts.

Anyway, after a 2 hour delay we were on the road again and arrived in Quartzsite.

 The Prospectors and Metal Detecting group of Escapees were meeting there for a couple of weeks so we joined them for the last few days.  Mark has a detector and we had been interested in doing some prospecting for gold so the next day we went out to a new claim that the local Quartzsite group was working on.
It was really cool to see all these people working on their claims and getting gold.  We walked up and down the river bed observing how this process of Dry Washing is done.

We were introduced to Charlie Wienheimer who is the President of the Quartsite Metal Detecting Club. 

Charlie was a wealth of knowledge and just the nicest guy, he explained everything to us and then proceeded to let us use his equipment and work on his claim. 

First you have to buy a license ($30) to work the claim, decide where to dig and then stake out your claim.  Charlie uses copper welding rods for dowsing.  Hold the rods in front of you, walk slow and when the rods cross over each other you are on the gold.  Some people don't believe in doing this but some people swear by it.

Once you determine your area you will stake your claim by putting your name and the date on a bucket, milk jug or whatever you have and then that 20 x 20' area is yours to work.  If you don't work the claim for 7 days it is then open to anybody that wants to work it, so you change to date on your bucket each day you work.



You are in the desert so you will be dry washing with either a battery puffer or one that is runs off a  2 cycle engine.  Run your material then do a clean out, and run the material through a separator or just pan it.

                                         This is a battery operated puffer which is much quieter.

This is Gaye from the club and she is using a small one operated by a leaf blower.  They come in all shapes and sizes. 

Charlie got us set up using his puffer that was operated by the leaf blower and we got to work.

                        Once you get down to bedrock you then vacuum every nook and cranny. 

Now that you have your material you can first run it through a separator (this speeds up the process of panning).

                                                or you can pan it hoping you will see gold. 

I am sorry to say that is not our gold but we did get some so we now have Gold Fever!!!  What a great day and we learned so much and everyone was very helpful and friendly.  Tomorrow the Quartzsite club is having a gathering at the claim with demonstations and food, we will be there.
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Our site.  Everything you read about Quartsite is true including the dust, but whats a little dust when you are having a good time.  We of course boondocked and everything went well.  Marks pump that he made for getting the water out of the jugs and into the rig worked great. 

We will have solar panels the next time we are here, this project is on the top of Marks list.

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A great time was had by everyone that attend the clubs get together.  They served Miners Stew.  The club provided the beef and broth and everyone brought a can of vegetables or beans etc and it was added to the stew.  What a great idea and very tasty!

There was demonstrations of equipment, a coin hunt, panning contest and raffles.  I joined in on the panning contest and Mark won a silver dollar. 

                                                    Not bad for a day in the desert.             ..................................................................................................................................

                                  The next day we toured a working mine called the Goldeye 2.

              There is some interesting history to this mine along with the man that ran it years ago.

There are all kinds of tunnels running under ground and he lived in them during the summer as it is a cool 72 degrees.

This building was his home and it had windows on every wall so he could see if somebody was coming, he didn't like visitors.  He even had an escape route, once in the hole he would pop up behind the house.

 

Note the horse shoe being placed upside down which stands for hard luck.  The new owner said it took him 32 tractor trailers loads to remove all the metal junk that he piled up through the years once metal detectors became popular, that was his way of discouraging people to come hunt his land.  The new owner has a sense of humor with his form of yard art.

The mine shaft. 

                           Today the new owner is working above ground and extracting lots of gold.

This is just from one pan.

                                                        Again he has a sense of humor.

Can anyone tell me whats wrong in the above picture?

                     We headed on over to Silly Al's for pizza as we have heard they have the best.

   Delicious.

After lunch we check out the museum that was next door.

                                                                       #1 is my favorite.

We had a great time in Quarzsite and plan on coming back next year.  Just glad we were able to go even if only for a short time. I see mining equipment in our future as we now have Gold Fever.  There are some claims at Weaver Mountain near North Ranch which is in Congress so that is our destination for a week.

Thanks for following and the answer to my question about the picture, did you figure it out yet?  Pine cones, the owner hung them on the tree for his Christmas decorations.