Today was the day for checking out the Rock-Gem-Mineral side of the show. Per Karin’s directive, we would go to the huge tent city of exhibitors, west of the RV show, where vendors spend $440 a month (typically for January and February) to show their wares and, hopefully, sell enough to pay the rent and make a profit.

We pick a largish area, but by no means the only rock-show space, to check it all out. The prodigious variety of stones and fossils is nearly beyond description. Agates, geodes, rhyolites, pyrites, petrified woods, fossil bones and teeth, and on and on. Raw materials and finished products both. A rock-hunter’s paradise without doubt.

Row after row after row of pvc tents with endless displays of stone artifacts of every kind and shape. In the one “small” area we explored, we spent two hours just walking and looking up and down five 500-foot-long avenues of stony stuff. Half a mile of rocks.

But not just simple rocks – – sliced rocks, polished rocks, carved rocks. Metals, ores, machinery too. Jewelry, metals, supplies, tools. One shop had some monstrous equipment, aimed at providers of processed rocks. How about a 3-foot diameter cutting wheel rock-slicing machine? All the retail vendors are clear that they will “deal” with other vendors, so there’s some B2B action as well. It’s clearly “Rock Central”.

Karin checks out a selection of translucent, fibrous crystals….

Vendors provide and display cut/polished stones, carved stones, sliced petrified stone, and even dull, drab agates which will polish up into some of the prettiest samples to be found.

Fossils – – of skulls, pine cones, teeth, shrimp, you-name-it. Fascinating.

Amidst the bewildering array of choices, Karin finds a craftsman to produce a truly rustic set of jewelry (necklace and bracelet), worthy of a rough-and-tumble, but no less svelte, RV babe. That’s my woman.

There are some extremes, even for die-hard collectors. Like this one-ton key fob…

Or these thousand-dollar petrified-wood souvenirs….

Copper “nuggets” the size of your hand (mined in Michigan)….

And (literally) tons of stuff from all over the world. Agates from Australia, petrified wood from Brazil, nearly everything in-between.

Rockhound-visitors come from all over the world too – here’s one from ‘way up North, an Aleutian Wolf (with owner). He’s 120 pounds, just a youngster, who will fill out to over 150 by the time he’s mature. Nice doggie. A young boxer came up, sniffing, curious. The wolf looked at him like a possible lunch snack. The owner hauled him off to neutral territory. You don’t really appreciate the potential menace of a big predator until you stand next to one. I did NOT pet him.

After the rocky afternoon, we wandered over to the main RV show area to meet up with Siegy and Linda. The “parking lot” was typical Quartzsite, a big sandwash with a grand sky to complement it.

As we walked into the exhibit area, it became clear that there are more than a few Republicans living around these parts.

More examples: two stalwart senior gals driving a nicely-preserved Jeep pickup. Pretty serious 4WD weapon.

– – – and a couple of un-ashamed (or perhaps simply hen-pecked and oblivious) guys strolling the family’s tiny-doggie contingent.

Just another day in the life of the January Quartzsite zoo. Too much fun.