Volume 26, Issue 6
WisconsinChristianNews.com
Page 29
God’s Wandering Children (Part 9)
those that have been here many times are the bad weather and the charges to set up, the taxes, and the permits you need to do just about anything. We began getting ac- quainted with the ven- dors that were close to us. A very friendly open group. They were all husbands and wives. When something that came up that someone needed help with there was always somebody willing to step in and help. Each evening there was a community campfire and anyone that wanted to sit and enjoy the fire and the conversation was al- ways welcome. There was a couple set up across from us that sold anything and everything that per- tained to frogs or was decorated with frog paintings. They were very friendly and in- vited us to set up at their frog museum in New Hampshire if we are ever in the East. They will be an impor- tant part of a future ar- ticle. We met a broad range of people while we were there. There were many conversations with peo- ple that we never saw again. We would talk about Jesus when we could get it into a con- versation. It was very seldom a conversation got very deep into per- sonal beliefs and the Bible. We were asked many times, all across the country, what church we belonged to. Our answer was always the same. We are just Christians and we fol- low God’s Word. (1 Corinthians 3:6-7) We have had UPS de- liver supplies to us in some rather remote lo- cations, but Quartzite gave me a new appreci- ation for the drivers. Somehow they found us with a very vague address and thousands of people around. Many people go to Quartzite to make their fortune selling items.
(Proverbs 22:1). It is sad to see how many of them are disillusioned and broke by the time they need to leave. We learned that is the time old time vendors seem to come out of the woodwork and pur- chase someone’s inven- tory for a few cents on the dollar. The vendor at least gets the money he needs to get home. At first I thought that tac- tic was unfair until I re- alized that was pretty much standard proce- dure. People need to leave because they are going broke and that is the only way they can raise money.
fore Christmas in Texas that was going to open a restaurant and wanted to have us set up at the restaurant for his Grand Opening. We had accomplished all we wanted to do in Quartzite and by the first week of February, we decided to leave and head for Texas and a restaurant Grand Open- ing. “For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, ‘Fear not; I will help thee.’” (Isa- iah 41:13 KJV).
By Harry and Hadassah Wilkinson October 2025 Two damaged lives, a yellow truck, an open road, and a life we never could have imagined. We have been given a lot of advice by other vendors on where to spend the winter. We fi- nally settled on Quartzite, AZ. We did not want to sell while we were there. Our purpose was to purchase inven- tory and if you can’t find it there you probably do not need it. When we got to Quartzite, we found out that what we were told about being able to camp in the desert was not exactly true and we decided against it. There were many areas that you could set up to sell, but most of them were very expensive. Be- sides, we were not there to sell. The only advan- tage to being in one of those locations was that we would be close to a very broad selection of the types of items we wanted to purchase and the product shows that we wanted to visit were also close. Despite that, we did not feel it was worth spending the money they were asking for a place to set up. Es- pecially since we did not intend to sell. We drove around Quartzite for a while looking for a place that fit our needs. We finally found a place called the Back Forty. It looked promising until we drove in and got a better look. It did not take long for us to start thinking that our choice of going to Quartzite was not a
very good one and we would head for Phoenix. As we started to leave, the manager came over to talk to us. We ex- plained what our needs were and told him we did not see where this location would work for us. There is a lot of competition among the various places to park and when we explained what our needs were, he suddenly seemed to find a different set of rules that answered all of our objections. We wanted to be in town for about six weeks. Within that time, almost all of the events that we wanted to visit would be hap- pening. We had to go to Blythe, CA to get gro- ceries. On the way we went through a check station and found out we had to buy a permit for $40.00 to allow us to drive on Arizona high- ways for 60 days. It seems there are a few details that people failed to mention. We had the truck doors open for a while and enjoyed the sun and the view of the mountains. The moun- tains were beautiful with the sun shining on them. It was interesting to watch them change colors depending on how the sun was reflect- ing off of them. There has been a lot of rain which, apparently, is very unusual. Several of the vendors have commented that this is the worst weather they have seen in at least 20 years, so it is a real treat to be able to open the truck and enjoy the view and the warmth of the sun. The two fa- vorite topics among
Email: harry@virtually-forever.com
I had met a man be-
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