Winter Trip to Quartzite

[ScottyGS]

Hey everyone!    We are planning on being in Quartzite in early February 2023.  Will be travelling from Western NC along the southern route in January, and back in late February or Early March.   Usually when we camp in the cold months I winterize and we just dry camp.   But, this will be a longer trip and we'll need water.   I surely don't want to de-winterize (summerize?) and re-winterize on the road.   So....  I was wondering if the brain trust would share some knowledge?   How far north can we go?   Anything to look out for?  

TIA,

Scotty

[SteveCr]

6 hours ago, ScottyGS said:

Hey everyone!    We are planning on being in Quartzite in early February 2023.  Will be travelling from Western NC along the southern route in January, and back in late February or Early March.   Usually when we camp in the cold months I winterize and we just dry camp.   But, this will be a longer trip and we'll need water.   I surely don't want to de-winterize (summerize?) and re-winterize on the road.   So....  I was wondering if the brain trust would share some knowledge?   How far north can we go?   Anything to look out for?  

TIA,

Scotty

Hull 806.....from near Winston Salem!

We camped in Wyoming with lows around 15 degrees for a week, not winterized, with no problem. Altitude was about 7,000 feet.

I have three SensorPush HT1 Wireless Thermometers  to monitor the temps.

Sensor # 1 was located in the cabin attached to the rear most driver side reading light.

Sensor # 2 was located between hulls under the passenger side bed near the tail lights & water lines.

Sensor # 3 was located between hulls under the driver side bed next to the shower outlet.

On the outside of Ollie I removed the shower head and pulled the water line inside the hull.

I set the furnace to mid/upper 50's and monitored all three temps....adjusting as desired.

The driver side had the largest variance to the cabin temperature.....about 15 degrees.

I have two 30 lb propane tanks. We were boondocking. After 5 or 6 days with ice/snow cloud cover....the batteries got down to about 50% SOC. At that point, I used the generator to recharge....not risking the furnace fan operation.

We consumed one tank of propane and promptly got it refilled. (This was a portion of a five week western trip..we had been running the refrig on propane so we did not consume the whole tank in this one week).

I also carried anti-freeze and pump ..... just in case.

We operated the water system/hot water heater as normal.

(((BTW...I have move one of the sensors to inside of the refrigerator. We adjust the temp setting according to the readings. Early on in our experience we were having veggies and eggs freeze because we did not monitor and adjust....now, not an issue.)))

Steve

 

[Mike and Carol]

We’ve gone to Quartzsite from San Antonio on I-10 in January a number of times.  Never winterized.  January could be cold in west Texas, but more likely well above freezing.  If you go west on I-20 there’s more of a chance for colder weather.  

We’ve spent January in AZ the last 6 years.  No need to winterize if you stay south of Flagstaff and NE AZ.  Even if you venture north, the probability of really cold weather is slim.  We’ve camped around Flagstaff and north, all the way up to Page, AZ and Lake Powell.  Cold at night (below freezing) but nice during the day.  Last year we went to Zion National Park in southern Utah on our January trip and it was perfect, high 20s at night and 50s daytime.

Quartzsite is almost always pretty nice.  That’s why so many folks head there in the winter.  This January we’ll be camping way south at Lake Patagonia, at Kartchner Caverns near Benson, north of Tucson, several spots around Phoenix, north and about an hour east of Payson, and just south of Sedona.  We’ll be visiting Flagstaff from our campsite near Sedona for a weekend hockey tournament that our grandson from Durango will be playing in.  Maybe we’ll head over to Quartzsite to see who is there.  There’s a certain peacefulness about picking your own spot out in the Quartzsite desert and watching traffic on I-10 from a long distance!

We will not winterize for any of this trip.  Actually, we’ve never winterized our Oliver.  Mike

[ScubaRx]

@ScottyGS We will be going in mid January. If I were you I would stay on I-20 or below. The further west you go on say, I-40 the more likely you would be to run into snow or ice which could hold you up for days.  Like Mike, I don't winterize and you won't need to either if you can get this far south. Let me know when you plan on leaving.

[Mountainman198]

I will also be in Quartzsite in early-mid Feb.  Coming from altitude in CO so will arrive Winterized.  Sounds like we may need to start a new thread to coordinate a mini rally in the Q this Winter?  I have stayed at Dome Rock, La Posa South, Scadden wash and Hi Jolly.  Each has its pros/cons but each was a nice stay.  Have fun!

 

Hope to see some of you in AZ again this Winter!