Spent the last four days at Quartzsite buying rough and asking prices of every piece of used equipment I saw. Virtually every price was at least as high as you would expect to pay for a totally rebuilt unit on Ebay. I should mention that Quartzite is where everyone takes their really tired equipment to get rid of it instead of fixing it. Can you say ugly? I did finally find a ten inch Poly arbor with original cast iron covers for $100 at the Pow Wow. It was the only reasonable price I found. Next year I would bet it will all be half or maybe just later in the season.
Quartzsite has really changed in the last few years. Downtown is virtually dead and what used to be flea markets have morphed into very overpriced antique malls. As an antique gun collector I always look at the old ones. Everything I saw was about double the book price and most are very poor condition. Rocks have gone up much faster than inflation, but I expected that. Still there are deals to be had. Always check with Anna to see what special pyranna she has unpacked today. Lord I love pyranna. Altogether I spent $1000 more or less on about 40 pounds of rough. Maybe the best I've ever found. If you go, be sure to check out J2B2 at the West end of town. Sorry, I'm awful with names. I've bid against these people at auction, but they really know what they are doing. Still , really good people and fair pricing. Still searching for Pilbarra jasper.
We are now in Tuscon. The search continues.