Attending Our First RV Festival

This past week, we attended OOBerfest in Quartzsite, Arizona. This was our first “festival” as full-time RVers! Because of this, we didn’t know what to expect and wanted to share what we learned as newbies!

OOBerfest – Quartzsite, AZ

David and Brenda Bott of Outside Our Bubble were the hosts of OOBerfest. This is the 4th year of the event held on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land north of Quartzsite. We came in from Lake Havasu City (70 miles north), turned right onto Plumosa Road (6 miles north of Quartzsite) and went exactly 3 miles until we turned into the desert. There were OOBerfest signs to bring us to the exact  location. 141 RVs registered for the event and they were everywhere. We asked where we should park and they said, “anywhere”! So, we set up in the second circle of RVs on the small rocks/hard sand that was here in the desert.

As soon as we set up the RV, we set out to meet some people and were immediately invited to have a margarita! We love this lifestyle already! Within minutes, I met Marianne who is a quilter and we instantly bonded! That is what RV festivals are all about: meet people and share the love of RVing! This RV festival had no costs associated with it. We only had to bring firewood for the evening campfires!

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Things We Learned

1. Introduce yourself to other attendees. We heard so many stories of how everyone got started RVing. We met newbies and others that had been RVing for over 15 years.
2. Don’t talk about politics, religion or sex. Yup, those were the rules we were supposed to follow throughout the weekend!
3. Attend the evening campfires! Every evening, we had campfires and here is where you got into deeper conversations and found out great spots to boondock and great RV parks to check out. We even found a few RVers that had lived in Minnesota prior to going full-time!
4. Attend learning topics if offered. On Friday, we attended talks on emergency illnesses, getting internet on the road, tires and weights, cooking with Instant Pot and a “stitch and bitch” session that covered many topics for women! As a result, I took lots of notes because it was great to learn from others that had figured things out.
5. Have fun! We watched the movie ‘Game Night’ on Friday night, went to the Quartzsite Sports, Vacation & RV Show on Saturday, brought a salad to the potluck dinner, and listened to the live music under the stars from Notes From Neptune. The band is from Phoenix and plays a music journey from many genres for over 3 hours.
6. Exchange contact information. Before everyone goes their separate ways, be sure to exchange information so you can connect with each on social media. You never know where your paths will cross again in the future.

Things We Did in Quartzsite

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If you decide to stay a few days in Quartzsite, here are a few things to check out:

• Quartzsite Sports, Vacation & RV Show. For over 40 years, as many as 750,000 people converge on this sleepy little desert town every January. It is billed as the “Largest Gathering of RVers in the World”. Go to the “big tent” and you will find a multitude of vendors that will want to sell you something. We ended up purchasing a 12 ft. flag pole for $99 with an American Flag. In addition, Dan and Lisa of Always on Liberty were in the Battle Born Battery booth, so we spent some time talking to them.
• Tyson’s Well Stage Station Museum. Built around 1866, the well provided much needed water for travelers and livestock, and rest, meals and overnight stay for those on the Arizona Stage Company. In 1893, this became the town’s first Post Office, postmark, “Tysons”.
• Hi Jolly Cemetery. Named after Hadji Ali, a camel master employed by the U.S. Army during the late 1850’s during their trial use of camels to cross the desert of the southwest, who is buried there. Interesting stop!
• Silly Al’s Pizza. Family owned and operated in this location since 1987. Their world-famous pizza is made fresh and hand tossed to order. Highly recommended!
• La Posa Long Term BLM Quartzsite Area. We follow Paul and Lorena of The Motorhome Experiment and Kevin and Laura of Vegan RV on social media. As a result, we were able to meet up with them for an afternoon at their site in the La Posa LTVA. They led a discussion on lithium batteries and solar, which is a topic near and dear to Mark’s heart!

It’s a big world out there, go explore it!

In conclusion, we survived our first RV Festival! There are many other RV festivals, rallies, and membership gatherings we will be checking out. Our advice, if you are just starting out like we are, is to find one that connects to your passions and go enjoy it! It’s a big world out there, go explore it!

Finding Joy in the Journey – Heidi and Mark