SCRR at Quartzsite, AZ

January 17 - 22, 2018

We parked our rigs in a large loop around the fire pit.  Here we see Al and Shirley's, Clarence and Jeanne's, Hank and Marie's, Dick and Shirley's, and part
of Norm and Mary's rigs.


  
Here are Norm and Mary's, Verne and Kim's, and Tony and Linda's rigs.  Larey and Joyce came in a day earlier than the others and found a place to park.  Totally
by coincidence Norm and Mary arrived, found a great area just across the way and settled in.  They didn't realize Larey and Joyce were there until Larey came
across and greeted them.  Since they were so close they did not move into the loop.  Their rig is shown on the right.



One evening we had a barbecue and pot luck.  We had 5 grills, so there was no problem cooking our meat.


  
Happy hour each day was around the fire pit


  
As the sun set each night, the temperature dropped very quickly.  Once we donned our jackets, we could stay until well after dark.





    
Luminarios, also called Chinese lanterns are large plastic bags with a wax filled pad inside.  Burning the pad makes it into a small hot-air balloon which
can achieve a very high flight, and is beautiful to watch.  Although they are legal in Arizona, they have been banned in most other states.  We attempted
to fly one the first night, but it never got enough lift that night.  The following night we figured pre-warming it over the fire would speed up the effort,
and successfully launched two of them.  Norm and Mary and Tony and Linda each had one. 

Here are Norm and Mary pre-heating and then waiting for the wax flame to heat the balloon.




And here are Tony and Linda about ready to release.



Once launched, they climb very steeply to a very high altitude - until the wax burns out.  This one is
still quite low.  They keep climbing until all you see is a small dot.