BOOMERVILLE

You won’t find Boomerville, Arizona on any map, except maybe one created by a member of the Escapees RV Club “Boomers BOF”. [BOF stands for “Birds of a Feather”, the Escapee Club’s name for the numerous special interest sub-groups.]

Oh, there are plenty of places called Boomer.  A look in Microsoft Streets & Trips reveals plenty of communities called Boomer all around the U.S. -- in North Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, Mississippi, and even Oklahoma.  I quit counting when I tried to see how many pubs, bars, grills, amusement parks, workout and sports locales, etc.  were on the list.  The Boomer title is also popular around the world – Quebec, Western Australia, British Columbia, and more.

But there is only ONE BOOMERVILLE, AZ.

For two weeks every January, the Escapee Boomers migrate to Quartzsite, AZ for an informal reunion of RVers who travel all over the country the rest of the year. Some are part-timers or extended-timers like us, while others have shed their “stick houses” and live full-time on the road.  They come to Boomerville in vans, travel trailers, fifth-wheel trailers, Class C and Class A motorhomes. For more years than we have been Boomers, they have occupied a plot of desert land at the far end of the Scadden Wash in the free 14-day BLM lands that is now widely known as Boomerville.

This aerial photo of Boomerville was taken in 2012 by Boomer Tom from his powered hang glider. We are parked along the lower road.  In the middle spur is the “fire circle” area where daily happy hours, food events, discussion sessions and evening campfires occur. Scene below is from a previous year afternoon Happy Hour.

2014 BOOMERVILLE

We arrived Tuesday afternoon and parked in a convenient site very close to the fire circle.  After setting up, I wandered over to the Welcome and Information tables.  I think we registered as the 36th or 37th RV to check-in and looked over the schedule of activities that were already posted.  Since this is just the first of the “Boomerang” [a Boomer Gathering] the bookings were just getting started.  By next week there will likely be more than 150 Boomer rigs checked in and the daily Boomerville schedule of activities will be non-stop.

Wednesday morning would include a pancake breakfast, group trail walk, garbage dump run, and Happy Hour in the afternoon. Events on the schedule now include a presentation by Redlands Truck & RV Service, Intro to Geocaching, Boondocking 101, Mac the Fire Guy on RV fire safety, Chili Cook-off, Potlucks, CARE Auction, and evening travelogue slide shows on Scandinavia, Africa, Rose Parade Float Building, Machu Picchu and Cusco. 

SKP HAPPY HOURS

On Wednesday and Thursday afternoon, Barbara and Tom Westerfield and Luke and I hosted a recruitment table for the Escapees Geocaching BOF at the annual giant Escapees Club Happy Hour for all the groups scattered around Quartzsite.  We are hosting a rally nearby and this was a chance to introduce our club to folks in the area.  I think we will have quite a few attendees as a result of our efforts.

NEXT:  BOOMERVILLE – PART 2