A pleasant 4 hour drive from Tucson, the town of Quartzsite (where there is no Quartzite in Quartzsite) is a small oasis in the desert mountains about 20 miles from the California border. The town explodes during the winter months with Snowbirds, Rockhounds,flea market shoppers, and RV fans. The giant RV shows are in full swing, but there is some early rock picking around also.

Later in the month the Powwow opens as does the Tyson Wells Show, but our favorite show in Quartzsite has always been the Desert Gardens Show (there are no gardens at Desert Gardens). This is a tent/RV tailgate show in a large dusty lot along the freeway. Bargains can be found by the astute buyer, and always lots of interesting rock. I go to Desert Gardens mainly for the rough rock, but other hidden treasures can often be found.

Our first stop in town was T-Rock that our Upper Peninsula friends Mike and Theresa Thompson own. I found some lovely lavender opal, and several other random pieces of gemstone rough. They are open all year in case you come through off season. I’ll be hitting that place again.

At the third booth we looked at, Bonnie seemed to be lusting over a couple small buckets of Chrysocolla. I recongnized this to be old stock from the Ray Mine. You would swear it was Turquiose, it was so blue. I guessed there was around 60-70 pounds. Bonnie said we could keep some and sell some, so I bought it all.

We looked at a 4400# piece of Tiger Iron as well as a piece of Gaspeite I would guess to be about 800-1000# at the Australian Outback Mining booth. Peanut wood was available, but not as good a quality as ten years ago. There was one very unusual Peanut Wood piece that was combined with Mookaite. We were told that it came from their area where they mine Mookaite. No Peanut Wood was available last year in the way of Peanut Wood, so even though we did not get any, it will make other’s happy.

What is more fun than buying rocks? Talking to the dealers; picking their brains, so to speak. You can learn so much and fill your trivia banks just by chit-chat.

Next I spotted some Royal Imperial Jasper slabs that the dealer had acquired in a collection he purchased. Amazing, nice stuff indeed. Expect some Royal Imperial Jasper jewelry in the future.

We saw some buckets of crap (Coprolite), but did not buy any.

We did not finish looking at the Garden’s show today, but was have another day. I’ll keep you posted.