Europe 2024 begins.....Maine to Manhattan June 12-14, 2024

My property in Maine is in a pretty rural location  there is no Uber or public transportation or even any rental car office where I could do a one-way rental. So, my real only option was to look for a place to store the car near either where I would board the cruise, or somewhere where I could get transportation to it. Amtrak only goes as far as Brunswick Maine, with connecting bus service to Bangor. I looked at a few different places, but finally opted for a rather high-end storage place in Portland, the Portland Motor Club. Their indoor storage facility is packed with incredible automobiles, ranging from meticulously restored antiques to brand new Lamborghinis and everything else in between. My 10-year-old Ford didn't quite merit that treatment, but they had some outdoor storage was reasonably priced and very secure. I drove down there, stuck a harbor freight solar charger on the dashboard and headed off to the Marriott in downtown Portland. 

I walked around for a little bit. I've been to Portland before, but it's always nice to wander through some new areas.

I'll have to keep this place in mind for future visits. While I certainly wouldn't leave my car there for three months like I did at the PMC, if I needed some cheap daily parking, this might be the spot.

My A'mtrak' ride to Boston where I would connect to the train to Manhattan. I actually did know that I was going to be on a bus for the first leg. I booked it that way on purpose. There is a train from Portland to Boston, but it arrives at North Station, and the Amtrak train to Manhattan departs from South Station and you've got to do a taxi or Uber or public transportation between the two. I much preferred to just take the nonstop bus to Boston and it arrives at South station where it's just a few minutes walk to the train.

Amtrak Acela arriving in Boston. I have to say, I took the Acela not long after the service first started, and I remembered it being a lot better. If you're not in first class, I actually found it to be less comfortable than the regular train. And I booked that going back.

A quick glance at Manhattan on my way to catch the PATH train to Jersey City.

I've always said that NYC is best appreciated from about 2 miles away. 😂

I hadn't been to Jersey City before, but I didn't have a really positive impression from what I had read about it previously. I was shocked at how nice it was. It looks like a really beautiful place to live, at least where I was near the river.

My room at the Westin Jersey City

Nice view from the room!

The next morning I decided to walk around and see more of the area around the hotel. Plus I had a little pre-cruise shopping to do. I couldn't get over how lovely the area was along the river in Jersey City.

The Holland Tunnel. I certainly had never seen this view of it before.

I headed back to the room as the forecast was for severe thunderstorms. It was quite the storm, with a lot of lightning and a lot of wind, but a really beautiful sunset.

 

 

Battle Born Lithium installation

So, I lost 60 pounds yesterday. It was a struggle but I did it.

Ok, not me personally, but I ditched 60 pounds of lead from the RV. :-) I replaced my two lead batteries with lithium. Two Battle Born 100ah 12v batteries. I did not think I could do it, and I was almost correct. the local RV shop wanted almost $250 to do it, and I'm sure they would have added on another $100 or more in various parts and whatnot when it came down to it. A local truck repair place said they would do it and it would have been about $125, but I would have had to leave it for a couple days. I didn't want to do that. I bought the batteries on a cyber monday sale, and they've just been sitting in the storage staring at me accusingly every time I'd go in there since then. I've been working up to it over the past week or so, pulling the battery tray out, staring at the wires, wrapping various colored tapes around the various wires so I would remember what went where, although I ended up changing that up a little bit when I did it anyway. But yesterday I finally I said to myself, today I need to either go to Lowe's and buy a new breaker and replace the wonky breaker on my power pole, or do these batteries. I decided the batteries was less traumatizing. :-) it was a struggle, I'm not going to lie, although most of it was easier than I expected. I ended up having to take the battery watering caps off of the first battery and replace them with flat caps from an old battery. The watering caps stuck up too high and I couldn't get the battery tilted up to get it out of the tray. The second one came out without me having to do that because I could angle it a little bit. Then it was time to plan cable installation. I knew that the negative post on the right battery would be very difficult to reach after they were in the tray so I had the bright idea to attach the jumper cable to it before I put it in. I was happy that I thought of that. Getting the 3 positive cables, 1 to the inverter/charger, one to the solar, and the jumper, was not as easy as I had hoped. The Battle Born battery has a vertical metal plate with a screw hole in it that is kind of recessed in the top of the battery which is where you're supposed to attach everything to, instead of the standard large lead post and additional screw terminal that every other battery I've ever had has. This wouldn't be a problem if I had more than an inch clearance between the top of the battery and the battery door opening. the thick cable does not bend very gracefully and the connections don't bend at all. :-) I got them on, but I was already having a bad feeling about the negative post on the left battery because there were FOUR cables to attach to that. (Solar, inverter/charger, chassis ground and jumper), and they don't bend either. Well I could get the solar and jumper cable on but I could not get the 2 other cables to attach. They were just a little bit too short to reach if I had the battery pulled halfway out, and they just didn't bend the right way to attach if I had it in. At this point I was getting pretty aggravated and I had had about enough. Plus it was starting to rain a little. I finally had a light bulb moment. I had bought new 12in short jumper cables to connect the two batteries as the old ones were really looking pretty corroded. They still worked, but it wasn't that much money to replace them and so I did. I grabbed one of the old ones, connected it to the negative post on the battery and then used a bolt to connect the two ground cables to it. This is only a stopgap solution, I can't drive it like that because I only had an inch and a half long bolt left and it's sticking out way too far and too close to the rear tire. So I ordered a junction block and a  longer cable from Amazon and I'm going to connect the longer cable to the negative post and the block. Then attach the two grounds to the block and screw that block to the back wall of the battery compartment. that should solve that problem and get the wires a little better organized as well. Anyway, the new batteries are in and seem to be working fine. It's supposed to go down to 25 or 27 on Tuesday night, and that will be the big test. I'll disconnect the shore power and see how I do running the propane furnace all night. That furnace fan is a battery killer. I know this was a novel, but it was a long day. I was really proud of myself that I got it done and that I can walk this morning. :-) I have to get a dolly to move those old batteries to the shed though. I can carry them about a foot but that's it. The lithium batteries weigh half what those old batteries do. And they provide over double the power because you can run them down to nearly dead without damaging them. Whereas the lead batteries would be damaged by discharging them below 50%. It was an expensive upgrade but I think it'll be well worth it.

3/25/18 Projects

First of the day's projects. I've been meaning to hook up an Anderson power pole adapter to my portable solar panels so I could charge my Goal Zero Yeti 1000 power bank without using my rig's inverter. It's super inefficient to do it that way, 17 volts or so comes into the solar charge controller, which charges the batteries, which supplies the inverter with 12 volt power, which it converts to 120 volt power, which then supplies the Goal Zero AC charger, which turns 120 volts into 17 volts to charge the unit. Super inefficient and a lot of wasted power in all those conversions. And the AC charger only supplies 63 Watts. Plugging my external panels directly into the built-in charge controller is charging it twice as fast. And I could add another two or three panels if I had them, and up the charge rate even more. The biggest problem with charging from my onboard inverter was the fact that I had to be there. I couldn't start that process and then leave, because if it clouded up or something that inverter would then draw my batteries down. Anyway, to make a long story short, everything is charging like gangbusters and I'm parked in the shade. That's awesome. 














Second project today. It's hard to see, but that's a garage door screen that I installed in the doorway of my little storage building. Not an earth-shattering thing, but it will keep the carpenter bees out while I'm trying to do things in there. And hopefully the mosquitoes too.

It's definitely helping that the weather is just about perfect right now.  Next up, taking some of the crap in there to the flea market and getting rid of it.

It's a cold night here, just south of Savannah, and with much trepidation I'm trying out the Little Buddy heater I got to replace my overlarge Mr. Buddy that I never liked or trusted. So far, so good.....it lit easily and isn't hissing and spitting like the MB did. And it hasn't caught fire. Always a plus.

I was fuming a bit ago......I had *just* cracked open a beer, something I seldom do when overnighting in a parking lot, when some goober comes in, parks next to me, and fires up their jackhammer -I mean generator. Seriously, I could see the ripples in my beer, it was that loud. After about half an hour I gave up and put on my shoes to go walk and see if I could move. Well, it turns out everyone else is running generators (seriously, am I the ONLY PERSON IN THE WORLD who has batteries and propane??) but no one else's is as loud and stinky. So I'm stomping around and found a spot that sounded and smelled better and went stomping back to the rig to get the keys. Cursing all the while that it sounded like a f*cking truck stop. (Another pet peeve.....if you're gonna make that kind of noise, go to a truck stop or gas station. Don't park next to a hotel, run your loud generator and then wonder why businesses ban overnight parking. Because if I was in that hotel room 20 feet away I guarantee I'd be complaining.) Just as I was climbing into the drivers seat the noise stopped. Glad I didn't have to move but I'm fairly sure I'll be treated to a 6am wake up by them. :-(

Homebuying Adventures, Part 2... Septic Failed Inspection

TL:DR The deal's off....the septic is toast.

It's been a roller coaster for sure. I got the septic inspection for the place on No Name Rd on Monday. The guy opened the lid, took one look at it, and told me (First words out of his mouth) "The tank is failed."  It was one big, cracked, rooted mess. On top of that, the tank is right next to the property line. This may have been ok when it was put in in the 70's (septic guy's guess) but it's not ok now.  Now it has to be 5' away from the line. Not to mention other distances from the foundation, potable water lines, etc. It would be highly, highly unlikely they would issue a repair permit for it where it is, a new system would have to be installed somewhere else. And the only spot that would comply with all the setback requirements (canal, lake, their well, adjacent wells, property lines, potable water lines) would be......under the existing structure.  So, the choices are, A. limp along with the current one and be very careful with water use, etc. B. Rip out the structures and put in a new tank.  Rip out and relocate the well pump, water lines and palm tree and put it there and I'm not even sure that would comply.  Hard to know for sure without the survey and thankfully I hadn't already shelled out the $700 for that.  But the septic guy said "If you could move it five feet from the property line you'd be ok, but then it's too close to the house.  C. Try to get a variance and easement to replace it in the current spot. This would cost thousands and take years if happened at all. They're not exactly consumer friendly in this county. If you're not a big developer they're not interested in helping.  D. Try to get someone to do the work without a permit. I have no idea how feasible that would be but then when I go to sell the first question is, hey, where's the permit for this new system?  Any way you look at it, there would be significant money, time and headaches involved.

Anyway, when I got that report I advised the realtor that I was cancelling the contract. Thank god I had the inspection contingencies.  Within hours, the sellers advised me they were willing to make a significant price concession if I would accept the property as-is. Well, I gave it some thought. I wasn't planning to build on the property any time soon, if ever. (Since the whole lot is in a flood zone any new structure has to be at an 8 foot elevation so that's a whole 'nother can of worms....)  I currently have a composting toilet in the RV and I could put one in the house. I'm good at managing that and graywater so I could do it in the house too. Though one reason for BUYING something with a house on it was so I could take a shower without worry, just flush my toilet like a normal person, not have to throw my TP in the trash, and wash clothes without using a laundromat. I suspect that's why there's no W/D in it now. The current owners never lived there but the ones before them did. I bet they were babying that tank too. Why else would you not have a washer and dryer??  Anyway, after weighing it for a bit, I decided that I did love the place and I could live with the composting toilet option.  I told the sellers I would take their offer.

I went back to the property yesterday to double check a few things, measure the fences, etc. Turns out the fence between them and the rear neighbor IS on the property line so the tank is too close. What I didn't expect to find is that the fence between them and the neighbor across the road is way OUTSIDE the property line. It's a dead end street but the street right-of-way goes all the way to the water's edge. It belongs to the county. Nobody may be using it but you still can't just fence it in and use it. Once again....no permit. The well may even be in that right of way, it's certainly close. Once again, it would take a survey to know for sure. I learned a few more things that concerned me.....no one ever went through the process to de-title the trailer and convert it to real property. (permits, fees and taxes involved there) AND the sellers never got title to it. :-( You have to do one or the other.  Sigh.......the person that sold it to them is dead so now there's more headaches involved, as the title insurance company won't insure without that. I heard that directly from the title insurance company. I guess when they bought it, they bought it from a sick close friend for a pittance and never did any of that. No title insurance, simple quitclaim deed, no survey, etc. Maybe trying to save $$, I don't know.  That may come back to bite them now.

While I was at the property I looked more closely at the construction of the addition. Pressing my hand to the wall I was astonished to find that what I thought was beadboard paneling over drywall turned out to be plastic panels over plain, unbacked styrofoam. I don't know how that would react in a fire but I don't think it would be good. The uncovered styro I could see in the bathroom where the back of the vanity had disintegrated had no markings to indicate it was fire resistant or anything other than the plain styro you get at Hobby Lobby. I also noticed that the skirting in the back was bowed.......like the trailer had subsided a bit. Also, a tree had fallen on the roof and punched one hole I could see and put a big dent on the roof. Now that I knew the panels were plastic and wouldn't show signs of water damage I was a little more worried about that.

In any event, I had measured the appliances that needed to be replaced so I went back home to wait for the sellers to sign the paperwork. And wait. And wait. I was wondering what was taking so long since they were the ones who made the offer to me. I woke up the next morning and nothing. An hour or two later I got the news I had been expecting....the sellers were backing out of the deal. Sigh. I guess I was expected to counter, but I was frankly done. I had told the realtor that I absolutely wasn't paying a penny more, and I meant what I said. It's a shame, it's a pretty lot, but the fact that it's in the 8' flood zone with a failed septic means that anyone trying to build on it will incur thousands in extra costs and extreme difficulty in getting homeowners insurance. Since I didn't plan to build it wasn't as big a deal for me, but it would have made it a struggle to sell down the road.