Quartzsite January 2020?

[BreakfastinAmerica]

New to the rally thing. Went to web site, it’s sold out??? How does the open desert sell out?
We will begin our traveling around after Xmas and might be down in the area by then. Would like to meet other GD people and have a drink while learning from others.
Am I missing something?

[DaveMatthewsBand]

New to the rally thing. Went to web site, it’s sold out???
How does the open desert sell out?
We will begin our traveling around after Xmas and might be down in the area by then.
Would like to meet other GD people and have a drink while learning from others.
Am I missing something?

Technically, since it isn't private land no one can prevent you from showing up "nearby" and camping pretty much wherever you want.
It's not like the rallies that are held at private campgrounds with limited space.
The Quartzite rallies are held on open free blm land, and there's hundreds of square miles of it, so just find a spot in the desert
near the rally and camp, just like the thousands of other people in the area do all year long.
Then wander into the rally on foot and talk to whoever you want. Talk to me, I'll show you where they are. Haha.

[Houndbb]

New to the rally thing. Went to web site, it’s sold out??? How does the open desert sell out?
We will begin our traveling around after Xmas and might be down in the area by then. Would like to meet other GD people and have a drink while learning from others.
Am I missing something?

No, the open desert has not sold out. What has sold out is the organizers’ and sponsors’ ability to accommodate for the typical rally activities:

catered breakfast, lunch, or dinner (usually a sponsor-dealer, or GD)
pot luck dinner (and seating)
gift bags with GD advertising freebies
seating for seminars/informational talks
labor hours for the techs who will address emergency or recall issues with your trailer
raffle tickets and give away items
space for a swap meet/sale

We recently attended a small rally (50 rigs). It was an interesting experience. It was probably one of the last ones where Eventbrite wasn’t used to collect the registration fees. We were told ahead of time, we must not approach or speak to the techs. However, we did not sign up for any repairs or recall issues and regardless of that, the techs kept stopping by our campsite, asking if we had issues for them (after a few times, we wondered if we should ask them to replace the remaining soft hose in our trailer or bundle up the wires in the underbelly-but, no, no issues). You certainly could do as Ed suggested, just drop by and meet people, observe, and decide if you want to attend one. If there are new “demo” models there, I can’t think they’d want to keep you from seeing them.

That said, we met some nice folks-one couple from this forum. Otherwise, we’ll probably never cross paths again.
N

[JColeman]

New to the rally thing. Went to web site, it’s sold out??? How does the open desert sell out?
We will begin our traveling around after Xmas and might be down in the area by then. Would like to meet other GD people and have a drink while learning from others.
Am I missing something?

I think this is a fair question.

It is BLM land and anyone can camp anywhere they want. It is a free country and no one can or should prevent you from talking to anyone you want.

It is, however, a private party in that it is a group of like minded people who have all agreed to meet in the same place to gather and exchange ideas and camaraderie. The fees that everyone attending has agreed to pay cover the expenses of all of the items that @Houndbb mentioned and I believe that any remaining funds are donated to charity. The reason that it is sold out is that there is no more capacity for seating and feeding a larger group.

I don't want to assign any bad intentions to your honest question, but I disagree with my friend @DaveMatthewsBand.

It is reasonable to not want to participate in the rally and not pay the fees. It's also reasonable to camp nearby and briefly stop in and say hi to your friends. Where I draw the line is party crashing to meet the vendors or participate in the discussions or group meetings or hanging out meeting new folks or any of the other myriad of things that happen at a rally. IMO, that's as rude as crashing your neighbor's pot luck party without bringing a dish of your own.

BUT, it ain't illegal and no one can stop you if that is how you roll.

[DaveMatthewsBand]

I think this is a fair question.

It is BLM land and anyone can camp anywhere they want. It is a free country and no one can or should prevent you from talking to anyone you want.

It is, however, a private party in that it is a group of like minded people who have all agreed to meet in the same place to gather and exchange ideas and camaraderie. The fees that everyone attending has agreed to pay cover the expenses of all of the items that @Houndbb mentioned and I believe that any remaining funds are donated to charity. The reason that it is sold out is that there is no more capacity for seating and feeding a larger group.

I don't want to assign any bad intentions to your honest question, but I disagree with my friend @DaveMatthewsBand.

It is reasonable to not want to participate in the rally and not pay the fees. It's also reasonable to camp nearby and briefly stop in and say hi to your friends. Where I draw the line is party crashing to meet the vendors or participate in the discussions or group meetings or hanging out meeting new folks or any of the other myriad of things that happen at a rally. IMO, that's as rude as crashing your neighbor's pot luck party without bringing a dish of your own.

BUT, it ain't illegal and no one can stop you if that is how you roll.

Thanks JC.
I should have pointed out that my only interest was just what I said, walking around and talking to people. I assumed #BreakfastInAmerica had the same. I agree it wouldn’t be cool to just show up and participate in group events or meals, etc. Most people wouldn’t do that.
I would bet all the dozens of rallies held here every year (and other locations) have walkups, people that are merely interested in talking to the people in the group with no evil intentions of stealing tacos or Grand Design T-shirts.





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[JColeman]

Thanks JC.
I should have pointed out that my only interest was just what I said, walking around and talking to people. I assumed #BreakfastInAmerica had the same. I agree it wouldn’t be cool to just show up and participate in group events or meals, etc. Most people wouldn’t do that.
I would bet all the dozens of rallies held here every year (and other locations) have walkups, people that are merely interested in talking to the people in the group with no evil intentions of stealing tacos or Grand Design T-shirts.

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I'll let you know where we are parked when you stop by.

[BreakfastinAmerica]

Thanks for the info. We did not know that there were events and stuff done at these things. Right now we can’t commit to being somewhere on a certain date, but if we were close by it would be fun to meet others.
Thanks

[JCZhome]

I also plan to stop by. At the request of owners that I met at the GD rally in Hemet, I will be in the Quartzsite area to install Proteng in their RVs. I don't even own a Grand Design any longer. But I am a vendor and while I will not be doing the Proteng presentation at the Quartzsite rally however, I will be installing Proteng there if that's where they're located (it's a might big BLM land out there).

As mentioned above, I will not be participating in the meals offered, vendor presentations, or anything else that has generated a cost for them. I will not be soliciting other owners but if I am asked, I am available to answer questions and/or install the Proteng fire protection.

[JColeman]

Thanks for the info. We did not know that there were events and stuff done at these things. Right now we can’t commit to being somewhere on a certain date, but if we were close by it would be fun to meet others.
Thanks

If you are close by, you should stop in and see what a boondocking rally is about. Then you can plan for the next one

[DaveMatthewsBand]

Thanks for the info.
We did not know that there were events and stuff done at these things.
Right now we can’t commit to being somewhere on a certain date, but if we were close by it would be fun to meet others.
Thanks

There's a few folks here in Quartzite already.
We just got here a few days ago and have already talked to several forum members that are parked in the area.
All 3 of our trailers have pretty descent solar setups too, if you want to check them out and ask questions.
We're boondocking pros.