tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931897883756441782024-03-20T00:33:35.184-04:00Vagabonding With GailGailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05022311586068206269noreply@blogger.comBlogger106125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293189788375644178.post-91543028082411060902020-01-21T20:24:00.001-05:002020-01-21T20:25:39.074-05:00Battle Born Lithium installationSo, I lost 60 pounds yesterday. It was a struggle but I did it. <br />
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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.<br />
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<br />Gailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05022311586068206269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293189788375644178.post-52460650074996069472018-03-25T16:38:00.000-04:002018-03-25T16:38:27.791-04:003/25/18 Projects<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">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</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> 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. </span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span class="_5mfr _47e3" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 0; margin: 0px 1px; vertical-align: middle;"><img alt="" class="img" height="16" role="presentation" src="https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/f4f/1/16/1f601.png" style="border: 0px; vertical-align: -3px;" width="16" /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF4ULNC7IAAxAzUg9gRYJQnc5KR6iIY3xfJLlgcCWEDt6ZQXl3z5fD7BFCivSI9IbwB2E5hgXfnWZ3ckZCNX6EksYJQ3jNqxqW_VQhpbu1Sy8oBU5QY90qTdqH-tVno52r_eWu1Km9edY/s1600/GZ+anderson+charging.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="954" data-original-width="1600" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF4ULNC7IAAxAzUg9gRYJQnc5KR6iIY3xfJLlgcCWEDt6ZQXl3z5fD7BFCivSI9IbwB2E5hgXfnWZ3ckZCNX6EksYJQ3jNqxqW_VQhpbu1Sy8oBU5QY90qTdqH-tVno52r_eWu1Km9edY/s400/GZ+anderson+charging.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">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.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">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.</span><br />
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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.</div>
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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. :-(</div>
Gailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05022311586068206269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293189788375644178.post-83610053190987264362017-11-21T17:02:00.000-05:002018-10-23T09:34:34.021-04:00Homebuying Adventures, Part 2... Septic Failed InspectionTL:DR The deal's off....the septic is toast.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.Gailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05022311586068206269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293189788375644178.post-19024623176002652552017-11-03T20:10:00.000-04:002018-10-23T09:33:37.280-04:00Homebuying Adventures, Part 1I wasn't too keen on the idea of spending thousands to build on my lot as I didn't think I'd recoup the value upon selling. So I started looking at other options. I found a cool-sounding property on NoName Road in Youngstown FL listed at $67,999. It was an old (1994) RV trailer roofed over with an addition that had a sunroom, bedroom and bathroom. It had water frontage on two sides on canals of Deer Point Lake. It seemed a little pricey for an almost 25 year old RV with an addition of undetermined age and quality, but I decided to go look at it. When I got there with the realtor I found it wasn't in nearly as good shape as the pictures appeared. First thing I noticed was a tree had fallen on the roof and put a huge dent and a hole. While the place had been vacant for years, it was obvious they knew about it as they tried to tie some of the siding in place with some wire. Which was very rusted so it had been damaged for a while.<br />
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The second thing I noticed was that the well house was all distorted, either from subsidence or from just being poorly built. I was hoping the same guy didn't build the addition. (That's supposed to be a flat roof.) The well wasn't in there, just the pressure tank.</div>
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The water filtration system was in pieces, with one tank leaning up against the trailer.</div>
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The air conditioner looked awful too. The lack of maintenance was obvious. Plus the skirting was buckled in some places, leading me to wonder if the trailer had settled and might settle some more. I never did get to look underneath and see if, god forbid, it was still sitting on tires. Or how well it was blocked if they had taken the tires off.</div>
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We found the septic tank by following the exposed pipe to the mostly exposed tank. Which was right next to the fence/property line. That may have been ok decades ago, but not now. The tank has to be 5' from the property line. Plus other setbacks from the foundation, potable water lines and 100' from the water. I was pretty sure this would be a problem as the county here is not exactly consumer friendly and I doubted they'd approve a permit to repair or replace it where it was, and it was hard to see where I could put it and comply with all the other setbacks without ripping out the structures. I thought the lid was cracked, it turned out it was just ancient. The septic guy told me they stopped using 3 piece lids in the 70's. <i>(It did fail the septic inspection, by the way. Quite spectacularly. He pulled up one piece of the lid, took one look and walked away. But that's a story for another day.)</i></div>
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When I took these pics I had never seen a septic tank like this so I thought it was broken. Turns out it's just how they did it almost 50 years ago. :-( </div>
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One of the storage sheds was in poor shape, with the floor all rotted out.</div>
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The hot water heater was outside, under a kinda weird cover that didn't seem very weatherproof. Unsurprisingly, though the breaker appeared to be on, there was no hot water.</div>
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The shed with carport, while mostly in good shape (though FULL of mud dauber wasp nests and surrounded by fire ants) but it was weirdly placed. It was jammed up against the corner of the addition and they cut a section out of the carport roof to make it fit. Just odd. </div>
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The view was not quite as nice as the pics either, they must have been taken after a lot of rain. There wasn't nearly as much water when I looked, and the annual lake drawdown wasn't starting until the 20th of November. </div>
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The other canal was full of lily pads and seemed like skeeter central. :-(</div>
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We went inside and then the real fun started. Pretty much the first thing I noticed was the largest spider I've ever seen anywhere. Ever. Eeeeee...... The second thing I noticed was the gaping hole where they yanked out the fridge, tearing up the vinyl floor and leaving a piece of rotten, water damaged plywood exposed, along with a hole in the wall. This was kinda fortuitous as it exposed how haphazard the wiring was, and the fact that they just stuck a piece of plastic over the hole where the old RV fridge had been vented to the outside. The opening is only 24" wide so there aren't many options in fridges that will fit. </div>
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The pic is blurry since most of the lights in the camper didn't work. The built-in ones are 12v and the 12v system wasn't functioning. There are lots of reasons that could be, my guess was a failed converter. I never found a breaker box or panel inside the rv to check.</div>
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The addition looked great, on the surface. When you looked more closely at it, problems appeared. I didn't realize it at first, but the walls in the addition were not wooden beadboard like I thought, but plastic panels made to look like it. I'd never seen that before. So much for my idea of painting it. :-( When I looked under the vanity in the bathroom I had a couple more surprises.....first of all, the back of the vanity had disintegrated. Like the fridge, this was kinda fortuitous as it revealed some poor workmanship in the form of another hole in the wall. It also revealed that the walls were a styrofoam sandwich! Plastic panel, plain, uncovered styrofoam, and another plastic panel. No drywall, no foil or other covering on the styrofoam, nothing. I had to wonder how that would fare in a fire. I really wonder what the home inspector would have said about that, though I never got to that point.</div>
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The floor in the bath was pretty badly stained too. </div>
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I found the VIN plate showing the year and model of the RV trailer, it still had a license plate on it. I wondered in passing how that worked....was there a title for the RV and a deed for the land or how that worked. I figured that was something for the seller to take care of. <i>(It turned out that I was right to wonder about that......they did need to transfer the title of the RV to me.....and they never got one. I guess when they bought it they didn't do title insurance or a survey or anything and didn't know to get the RV title. And the lady they bought it from had died. This could have been a real headache.)</i></div>
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Even after seeing all these problems, I thought the lot had potential. I felt that I could use the structures as they were until maybe some day I wanted to build something better. It would have been nice to kayak around and watch the sunset. I didn't realize the drawdown was going to make the kayaking impossible.</div>
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<i>(I did go back after the first drawdown and the water was pretty hard to see from the house. The 'boat ramp' (if you can call it that) was already unusable. When the lake is fully drawn down in December it's probably just a mud flat out there until March. Since I'd only be here in the winter......that was a big negative.) </i></div>
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I went home and started researching. I found that the sellers paid $25,500 for the property in 2012 and all the improvements had already been done before they bought it. (I was never able to find a single permit for anything.) I also found that the entire lot was in a flood zone, AE elevation 8 feet. In other words, if I ever wanted to build or put in another manufactured home it would have to be above 8' elevation. In fact, it sounded like if you even wanted to add another room it had to be 8' up. Most of the other lots on the street had a bit of land out of the flood zone where people had built but this lot didn't. So that was a negative about the lot. After giving it some thought I offered $40,000. I felt that was a fair offer with all the problems, giving the sellers a $15,000 (almost 60%!) profit. Plus I was a cash buyer, so there was no uncertainty about someone getting a mortgage. Though I doubt any bank would finance something like this anyway. So now I just had to wait.</div>
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<br />Gailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05022311586068206269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293189788375644178.post-74890186231763299392017-11-01T20:06:00.000-04:002017-11-24T20:07:48.495-05:00Catching up.I've been in Florida for a while, and since sitting in Mom's house/yard is not ideal, I've been trying to work out a better solution. I've been getting quotes on building on my lot and also shopping for other property.Gailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05022311586068206269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293189788375644178.post-11227766047201582292016-12-03T21:02:00.001-05:002016-12-03T21:02:14.050-05:00One of my beginning efforts in learning to record my flutes and create videos. I created the music using GarageBand for IPad & Audacity. The high flute is one of mine, a B flat PVC. The low flute is by Pat Haran, a low B flat in flamed boxelder. It's a gorgeous flute. This composition is not that great and everything needs a lot of work. It only gets better from here.<br />
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<br />Gailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05022311586068206269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293189788375644178.post-10326714969623118152016-03-03T01:48:00.001-05:002016-03-03T11:38:52.253-05:003/2/2016 Mesquite to VirginMy stay at the Virgin River Casino in Mesquite was uneventful. It was quieter than I expected, although a fair amount of people started rolling in between 5 and 6 AM, some making an inordinate amount of noise.Of course I had parked facing the wrong direction the night before, so the sun was shining on the south side of the rig. It's better for it to shine on the north side due to the orientation of the solar panels. Plus it really helps to not have it beating down on the fridge and the door. I thought about just leaving it, but decided there was no reason to waste the sunshine so pulled up the jacks and turned around the other way. It turned out to be a good thing I did. I wandered in and got some Starbucks, and considered breakfast but didn't see much that appealed to me. Especially not after gorging myself at the buffet the night before. I took my coffee back to the rig because it was not pleasant to sit at the Starbucks due to the cigarette smoke from the casino.<br />
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When I got back out to the rig, I was happy I had went through the trouble of moving it. It was getting warm, and having the entry door in the shade meant I could leave it open and enjoy the breeze. There was not a huge difference in the amperage coming into the panels from switching it from one side to the other so it's good to know that it's not required for that reason alone<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue light" , , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">. Once I finished my coffee I headed down the road. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue light" , , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Driving into St. George I saw a Pilot gas station and decided it might be a good idea to get gas where I knew it would be cheap. I stopped at another Starbucks, because I was trying to get some of these stars built up before the program changed. I'm not sure why. But anyway..... It turned out there were quite a few interesting stores in that area. I went to Dick's Sporting Goods, and Petsmart since I needed some more material for the composting toilet, and then spotted a Redstone olive oil store. What a place that turned out to be! I spent at least an hour in there and probably drank a half a gallon of balsamic vinegar and olive oil, as I tested just about everything in the store. Lots of fun. They had some amazing combos and best of all, they had very small bottles of everything. I don't have the room for giant bottles of balsamic and olive oil. These little bottles, while they may not be the best value, can fit in the drawer. I got coconut vinegar, Persian lime oil, maple vinegar, Kalamata oil, all kinds of stuff. It will be fun to make dressings and whatnot out of those. I did some other walking around bought a cheap sweater, a piece of chocolate with cashews, and a frying pan. Yeah, I know...random. Then finally headed to Starbucks for coffee and Wi-Fi. By this point it was late enough that I was considering spending the night in St. George, but it didn't look like there were a lot of good options. I decided to shoot for the red Cliffs BLM campground near Leeds Utah. It looked gorgeous. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue light" , , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">The drive there was pretty interesting. I knew there were two low tunnels under the freeway that you had to go through. They said they were 11'6 clearance and I'm 10 feet high so I knew it would work. What I didn't expect was how narrow they were! I wasn't sure I would fit. I'm sure I had more clearance than I did, but criminy it looked close. As I was approaching the recreation area I had some jackass in a car on my tail. After coming to the entrance gate I pulled over and let him by. This turned out to be a tactical error. When I got to the campground, that car was pulling into a campsite. It turned out that that was the last open one. Lesson learned. No good deed goes unpunished. I'll never do that again. Next option was Quail run State Park, which looked interesting, on the shore of a little reservoir. It was gorgeous. It was also full. Sigh..... </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue light" , , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">At that point I decided to head for some other BLM land that I had read about in the <a href="https://www.e-junkie.com/ecom/gb.php?cl=105391&c=ib&aff=232487" target="ejejcsingle">Frugal Shunpikers Guides to RV Boondocking.</a> It was kind of getting down to the wire at that point, it was getting close to sunset. I found the turn off okay, and the dirt road wasn't too bad, but all the turnoffs to the dispersed sites had me driving into the sun and I couldn't see what I was getting into. That's not optimal. I did find one that was not too far off the road at an angle where I could see where I was going and that's where I ended up. It's a nice spot. Beautiful views around, and very little noise. I've seen quite a few cars go by, but no other RVs and I don't see anyone else camped anywhere. It got really cold really quickly when the sun went down, and I headed inside shortly thereafter. I was a little skeptical of these guides but some of the sites, like this one, aren't in any of the other resources I use. So they're definitely valuable. (I do get a commission if you use the link above.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue light" , , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Later I got an email from the flute school with a 320 page flute textbook. What a great book. I read about 100 pages and played for at least an hour. The nice thing about being in such a remote area, no one can hear me play. Otherwise, there is no way I'd be playing the flute until 11 o'clock at night. Even inside the rig, I would worry that I was disturbing someone because sound does carry. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue light" , , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">I'm going to head to the park tomorrow, hoping to get a site in either one of the campgrounds. I would like to see a little bit of Zion, and after I looked at the flute schedule again I won't be doing any sightseeing during the school. So tomorrow and Friday will really be it for sightseeing. If I don't get a site there, I guess I can always come back here. I think it's about 15 or 18 miles. I went a bit crazy shopping online the past few days between Amazon and Ebay.......I got two new flutes, a case, a new laptop, a tent and some other assorted stuff all coming to the school hotel. They're gonna love me. :-)</span></div>
Gailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05022311586068206269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293189788375644178.post-66314830455241541062016-02-21T00:08:00.002-05:002016-02-21T00:08:58.259-05:002/17/16 DemingI got up a bit earlier, than the day before, had soup for breakfast, packed up and headed down to the border. I had been here before and it's not much of a border town, but I had a few things to pick up. Sadly, they didn't have the tequila I was looking for and the restaurant was jammed. I looked at a few things, bought some cookies, and antibiotics for my recurring sinus infection, and headed back to the USA.<br />
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I headed north to Deming, with the idea of staying at the St. Clair Winery there. I had just rejoined Harvest Hosts and was anxious to try it out. But I had a bunch of errands to run first. I had 2 Amazon returns to do at UPS, and then Fedex my new iPad back to Apple. For $500+ it wasn't THAT much better than my old one and after only 2 weeks I was having trouble with the home button. No thanks. Well, this turned into a dog and pony show. I don't have a printer so needed them to print out the prepaid labels. I have done this before. Not in Deming. The place that was doing the Fedex told me they'd do it....for $3.50 per label. The UPS guy told me he couldn't do it and to go to the library. So I did. One hour, and 45 cents later, I had 3 labels, and got all my stuff shipped back. Of course now I was running late for the winery as they closed at 6pm. I got there 20 min before closing, checked in, and got to do a quick tasting. I fell in love with their Mimbres Pink and bought a few bottles. Including one chilled one. :-) I went out to the rig, pulled out a chair, uncorked the wine and enjoyed the solitude. Their wines are sweet (at least the ones I tried were) but really yummy. I'm embarrassed to say I put away most of that bottle. :-) Might have been the whole thing if I hadn't knocked it over. :-) It was definitely a relaxing night.Gailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05022311586068206269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293189788375644178.post-6949928217739180482016-02-20T23:54:00.001-05:002016-02-20T23:54:23.272-05:002/16/16 Pancho Villa SPI slept in....I was tired from all the driving. I had planned to head down to the border and walk across but just couldn't muster the energy. Around 12:30 I decided to WALK there. Not sure what I was thinking. :-) I made it about 3/4 of a mi and turned back, so at least I got a little walk in. I decided I deserved a break and a day of rest and just watched Doctor Who and read and whatnot.<br />
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For dinner I fired up the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FLYWNYQ/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00FLYWNYQ&linkCode=as2&tag=srch_test-20&linkId=UENKTK5KX5MIK3V7" rel="nofollow">Instant Pot</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=srch_test-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00FLYWNYQ" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
and made a fabulous stew. I used 1 can salsa style diced tomatoes, 1 bag of the frozen brown rice, 1.5 cans water, 2 chopped zucchini, some sliced dried garlic (love that stuff in soups), some onion soup mix, turmeric (for health benefits and it hides well in stuff like this :-), one bag of frozen mixed mushrooms (I think I got them at Walmart a while back and they were good in this soup), and chopped up one of those links of deer sausage the neighbor gave us. I added some other herbs and spices while tasting, you know how it is. Since the salsa tomatoes were a bit sour I put a little maple syrup in. Probably wouldn't have to with better tomatoes. Threw it in the pot, hit "Soup" set timer for 10 minutes, and left it alone. It was great. Would work great in a crockpot too I think.Gailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05022311586068206269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293189788375644178.post-31895162711100859372016-02-20T23:45:00.002-05:002016-02-20T23:45:50.384-05:002/15/16 Fort Stockton to Pancho Villa SP, Columbus NM.I didn't realize it, but I had never driven through El Paso proper before. I'd always come down from the north and you miss most of it. I found out that "miss" is a mis-nomer in this case. Yet another horrible Texas city to drive through. Not as bad as San Antonio but close. Let's see.....let's take a ton of traffic, let them drive at 65-75, and let a ton of traffic get on the highway, with no room to merge. Either put in some acceleration lanes or lower the speed limit. (And enforce it.) It's not rocket science here, and just putting up signs bragging about how many people have died on your roads does not really help. Sigh....<br />
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I decided to head for Pancho Villa State Park in Columbus NM as I'd heard good things. After the misery of El Paso the wonderfully straight, flat and deserted border road highway 9 was a joy to drive. There's pretty much nothing for 60 miles. Pancho Villa is an odd little park. It has a weird layout and there's nothing really there, but it has a good feel. There are tons of doves and roadrunners. Lots of yucca and other desert plants. Annoying showers though, you have to turn the water back on every 20 seconds. Ah well. For $14/night for a site with electric, you can't beat it. Gailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05022311586068206269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293189788375644178.post-47784847257818000892016-02-20T23:34:00.001-05:002016-02-20T23:34:14.752-05:002/14/16 Baytown to Fort StocktonIt's Texas marathon day again......it's so depressing when you cross the state line and it's mm 882, and you know you have to go aaaaallllll the way to zero. I didn't think I'd make it to Fort Stock, but the Harry Potter books made the time pass a lot easier, and the Steer-Safe steering stabilizer made the driving a lot less tiring. The miles rolled along, I stopped a few times for breakfast and lunch, and rolled into the FS Walmart right at sunset. And almost rolled right back out again when I saw that there were a bunch of yahoos who had their rigs parked in a line, blocking one of aisles, and they had a CAMPFIRE going. In a Walmart parking lot. This is the the kind of stupid shit that causes us to lose the privilege of parking there. If you need to toast marshmallows and sit around a fire drinking beer, take your ass to a campground. After almost 600 miles of driving I wasn't in the mood to find a new spot and just parked as far away as possible, hoping to not get caught in the crossfire if security or the police confronted them. I don't know if anyone did or not but thankfully no one kicked the rest of us out for their stupidity.Gailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05022311586068206269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293189788375644178.post-82146252166361647202016-02-20T23:23:00.004-05:002016-02-20T23:23:46.569-05:002/13/16 Pass Christian to Baytown, TXNot much to say about this other than WTF is wrong with Louisiana that they cannot fix I-10? It's a washboard and has been for years. They should legalize weed and use the money to fix the infrastructure. God knows what they're doing with the casino $$ because it's certainly not going to roads and bridges. Spent the night at Cracker Barrel and had some crappy pancakes. Bummer, I usually love them. :-(Gailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05022311586068206269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293189788375644178.post-56307835600987196172016-02-20T23:19:00.004-05:002016-02-20T23:19:59.136-05:002/12/16 Westward Ho.I finally rolled out of Florida headed west. I had it in my head that I was going to Yuma and attempt yet again to join the Elks before I headed up to the Zion Native Flute School. There were the usual last minute snafus.....I got a new mattress the day before the trip. I woke up in the morning with a sore back with the first waking thought being "I hate this thing." I decided to try putting the old cushions over it. That was no good, now I needed a stool to get into bed. I said the hell with it and tossed it in the building on the way out. I'll try it again when I get back, assuming it's not mildewed to death. I also forgot all my beer, wine & seltzer. Ah well. <br />
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I installed a new Pioneer stereo before I left and tried the CD and radio for a bit, then settled in with the complete set of Harry Potter audiobooks.<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MRL30KM/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00MRL30KM&linkCode=as2&tag=srch_test-20&linkId=GQZQBH5PJZMU2WVA" rel="nofollow">Pioneer DEH-X4700BT Single-Din In-Dash CD Receiver with Mixtrax, Bluetooth, Siri Eyes Free, USB, Pandora Ready & Android Music Support</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=srch_test-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00MRL30KM" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
This stereo comes with a remote which is SUPER handy. At some point I'm going to wire it into the house batteries so I can use it when I'm parked without fear of running the starting battery down.<br />
And here are the HP audiobooks. Yes, they're stupidly expensive. :-(<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0739352245/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0739352245&linkCode=as2&tag=srch_test-20&linkId=VYJCSBDMBKW7J5T6" rel="nofollow">Harry Potter 1- 7 Audio Collection</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=srch_test-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0739352245" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
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These seem to be excellent for long drives. I got into Pass Christian MS right at sunset and headed off to get my shrimp po boy fix. I spent the night at Walmart instead of the beach parking lot I've used before. Last time there was too much traffic in and out of that lot at 3-4am, and it kind of creeped me out. They've had a bit of a crime wave recently and I felt better staying somewhere well lit with security. Sad that it comes to that sometimes. But I had a quiet night at Walmart.Gailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05022311586068206269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293189788375644178.post-15152103480875260702016-01-21T17:52:00.002-05:002016-01-21T17:52:15.094-05:00Downtime....I've been stationary in Florida for a while, a bout of illness and some indecision about what to do next has had me sidelined for a while. I had totally planned to do Quartzsite this year but I just couldn't face that 2000 mile drive again so soon. Then I decided perhaps I'd do the east coast this year. See some of Florida, visit my friend in Charleston, hit the Outer Banks, and maybe sell my property in PA. Then maybe head up through Maine to Canada. However, the West is still calling me and the East Coast Plan feels more like work. In some respects it is work. Florida in the winter is a pain in the ass, snowbirds make their reservations a year in advance, and I have trouble with a week in advance. There's little good boondocking on the east coast and the lack of consistent sun makes solar a challenge. On that note, the shitty weather here in Florida is really getting me down. Yet another downpour day again today. The forecasters here are the worst. Two days ago it was supposed to be 70's and sunny, today it was 2" of rain. However, Saturday is supposed to be a low of 29 and 30 mph winds and I guarantee it will be spot on. So it's time to head west to wide open spaces and blue skies and dry towels. <br />
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I'm still stressing over the bike rack. I love the bike but the bike rack......I'm just not happy with the stability. And the bike is so heavy....Maybe I should have gone with a lightweight folder. :-( I'm supposed to head up to Three Rivers tomorrow for 3 nights. Of course the weather is supposed to be miserable, I guess I'll still go.Gailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05022311586068206269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293189788375644178.post-26427611867333123522015-11-21T22:58:00.000-05:002015-12-27T10:59:20.965-05:0011/21/15 Pass Christian to home.I bid a fond farewell to the beach at Pass Christian and set my sights on home. I had thought about staying another day but the forecast was for gale force winds and heavy rain. I didn't think I could beat all the weather but decided to try. It started to rain when I passed the FL Welcome Center.<br />
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As I approached Crestview it really started coming down and I was hungry so I pulled into Cracker Barrel. I figured if it kept pouring so hard I could just stay there although I was hoping not to do that. I sat there for almost 2 hours until it let up enough to try to continue. There were some more moments of heavy rain but not enough to force me to stop again. I got home in the dark, which I hate, but it's no so bad as the last few miles are familiar. </div>
<br />Gailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05022311586068206269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293189788375644178.post-31610527875811921082015-11-20T10:50:00.000-05:002015-12-27T10:51:12.162-05:0011/20/15 Pass ChristianIt was a pretty sucky drive from Cameron to Pass Christian. I woke up surrounded by trucks belonging to all the fly fishermen. I had enough room to get out easily......until one last goober shoehorned in alongside. Sigh...... I was able to get out though it was a struggle. <br />
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So I got on the ferry and as I was pulling on to the boat a crewman jumped in front and waved me to turn right. So I did. And promptly hit a corner of the ramp. Thanks, jackass.Well, in retrospect, it might now have been 100% his fault, I think either the boat or ramp may have shifted. It was a pretty half-assed operation with the loading ramp attached to a sunken barge. Anyway, when I got parked the guy said, "Oh it's ok, you didn't break anything!" I was skeptical as I had heard metal scraping. Looking at the side however, I didn't see any real damage. The carpet was torn off the step and there was a bit of broken plastic next to it. So I thought the step took the brunt of it. I would turn out to be wrong, but I didn't find that out for another 2 weeks. I was pissed, but happy it wasn't worse. The step wasn't damaged, it still worked fine. So off I continued eastbound. It was all familiar territory, shit road through Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Finally I arrived at the payoff, Pass Christian MS. I headed immediately to the restaurant and enjoyed the best shrimp po boy ever.<br />
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There's one beach parking lot that allows overnight parking. One night only. It's small and you're not really allowed to take up more than one spot. The last spot is bigger so I could angle into it. I could have done a litle better but there was no one there so I took the lazy way out. (I also didn't really want anyone parking right next to me like everyone wants to do.) I enjoyed a quiet night, except for 2 or 3 cars pulling in at 3am and having a little powwow. I wasn't thrilled about that but no one approached me.</div>
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<br />Gailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05022311586068206269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293189788375644178.post-82986872795720008432015-10-25T21:51:00.001-04:002015-10-25T21:59:18.144-04:00Electrical miseries....<span style="font-family: '.HelveticaNeueUI'; font-size: 24px;">Well, I guess I can be accused of being a Pollyanna most of the time, not posting the downfalls of being on the road. But now I'm finally weary of the little niggling things, and I'm going to vent . About a month ago in Bisti, when I was there for the lunar eclipse, I had a minor solar disaster. Well, actually it was pretty major. As I was packing up to leave in the morning some people pulled up next to me and I got distracted. That's really no excuse, but it explains what happened next. As I was driving out on the crappy washboard road I hit a pretty deep hole and heard a weird noise. I stopped and got out to see what the deal was. Well, at some point in the half-mile I had driven, the solar panels came off the rack and were dragging behind me by their wires. $700 worth of panels pretty much destroyed in an instant, leaving me headed for two weeks of dry camping in Albuquerque for the balloon fiesta without solar. I couldn't believe it. I wanted to cry. I think that perhaps I only secured one bungee cord. Or maybe I did both, one has come loose before. But on a normal road with the lightweight panels it was not an issue. It only happened once and I was more careful to make sure it clicked around the ladder after that. But on this day I think I was distracted and only put on one cord. Which could not hold on the miserable road.</span><div style="font-family: '.HelveticaNeueUI'; font-size: 24px;"><br></div><div style="font-family: '.HelveticaNeueUI'; font-size: 24px;">, Well, I couldn't live without solar for two weeks, so I ordered a Renogy 100 W panel from Amazon and had it overnighted to Albuquerque. 100 W is not much but it's better than nothing. When I got to Albuquerque and parked and set everything up, I was astounded to find that the abused plastic panels were still putting out a couple amps each. It was enough to make the time in Albuquerque livable. </div><div style="font-family: '.HelveticaNeueUI'; font-size: 24px;"><br></div><div style="font-family: '.HelveticaNeueUI'; font-size: 24px;">Another issue I had been dealing with was the fact that my batteries had boiled over while they were plugged in while I was gone. That has been a problem with those batteries since I got them, and I wasn't sure if it was the battery or the charger. Either way it was a giant pain to deal with. After Albuquerque, in a Sam's Club parking lot in Santa Fe, Barb and I worked on the batteries for an hour and put almost a half a gallon of distilled water in them. It turned out to be the kiss of death. While they had been operating with a very low electrolyte level, diluting the acid made them no longer hold a charge.I messed with it for a few days, hoping they would resurrect themselves, but it was to no avail. So I went to Gallup and got two new group 27 deep cycle batteries. It was quite the debacle getting them installed but I don't have the heart to go into that now. I'll just say, watch the guy wiring them like a hawk.</div><div style="font-family: '.HelveticaNeueUI'; font-size: 24px;"><br></div><div style="font-family: '.HelveticaNeueUI'; font-size: 24px;">With new batteries, I thought my troubles were over. Two days after the batteries were in I looked at the charger in the morning, and it was showing 0 Amps. It was overcast, but I still should see something. Even .2 amp. But it was showing zero. After much cursing and some quality time with the multimeter, I determined that the solar charge controller was simply not supplying any power to the battery. Nothing I did would make it work. I took the temperature probe out, I disconnected it from the battery and let it sit for a day (which worked when this happened once before), nothing worked. I was at the end of my rope at that point. Now, here I am with $850 worth of solar panels on the back of my rig and I'm running my damn generator for hours every day. And if you know me, you know what I think about generators. Well, since this was the second RioRand controller that I had had fail, obviously I wasn't going with that brand again. I ordered a MorningStar controller and had it sent to Page. To the address of the UPS store I found on a UPS locations page. Later that night looking at Google maps I discovered the UPS store that I had sent my charger to had gone out of business several years ago. It turns out that wasn't an official page. Awesome! I sent a panicked email to UPS, and to my astonishment they immediately rerouted my package to a real pick up location in Page. The controller is sitting there and I will pick it up tomorrow. I have to say, I am about out of patience with this electrical bullshit. And if this doesn't work I don't know what I'm gonna do, because running the generator every single day is not an option. And neither is living without lights, charged camera batteries, or all the other little electric things I rely on. </div><div style="font-family: '.HelveticaNeueUI'; font-size: 24px;"><br></div><div style="font-family: '.HelveticaNeueUI'; font-size: 24px;">So, I've spent the day in kind of a funk. I've got myself all worked up that this charger isn't going to work and I'm just going to throw in the towel. It doesn't help that the site at Lone Rock Beach, while it has a beautiful view, is like Grand Central Station. I am so tired of people driving back-and-forth at 45 miles an hour. Hopefully once the weekend is over, it will calm down a bit.</div><div style="font-family: '.HelveticaNeueUI'; font-size: 24px;"><br></div><div style="font-family: '.HelveticaNeueUI'; font-size: 24px;"><br></div><div style="font-family: '.HelveticaNeueUI'; font-size: 24px;"><br></div>Gailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05022311586068206269noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293189788375644178.post-45016368436116562382015-10-17T19:24:00.000-04:002015-12-28T19:25:36.716-05:0010/15-17/15 Cochiti Lake and Kasha-Katuwe<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My little nook in the RV with my Dine sand painting from Four Corners and my Zuni fetishes.</div>
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I spent an afternoon messing around with rock painting. First I did a balloon.</div>
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Next I did a petroglyph sheep.</div>
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My first site at Cochiti was nice, but the giant fence made me feel like I was in prison. I moved down and was much happier.</div>
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We visited Kasha Katuwe on the way out and it was wonderful as usual.</div>
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Moki steps. People actually used these to climb vertical canyon walls.</div>
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<br />Gailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05022311586068206269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293189788375644178.post-90939192450573836112015-10-14T19:11:00.000-04:002015-12-28T19:12:17.096-05:00Santa Fe 10/13-15/15After leaving Madrid we took a little ride through Cerillos. We loved Madrid so much we were hoping for some more. Nope. It was almost a ghost town. We stopped at the visitor's center for Los Cerillos State Park hoping for some info but the ranger there had little interest in talking. We ended up on a dead end street and had to back out. It's times like that where I'm glad I didn't choose to drag a car behind me as that would have meant I would have had to unhitch the car, move it, back the rig out, pull the car up, re-hitch, and then leave. I was already mad about the GPS screwup, my head would have probably exploded if I had to go through all that too. Thankfully Barb is also good at backing up her trailer.<br />
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We ended up parking in the Sam's Club parking lot in Santa Fe. Barb helped me add half a gallon of water to my batteries. I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. We caught a bus into Old Town Santa Fe the next morning. I have to say, we were both underwhelmed. It didn't have the charm of Old Town Albuquerque and the galleries were antiseptic and killer expensive. It didn't help that they were filming some series in the square, which made it unpleasant to walk around. I don't recall the name...Graves or something. The suits/sunglasses of the two guys I saw looked like a Men in Black remake. I'll pass. Also, one of the other things I was really looking forward to was the Georgia O'Keefe museum. It turned out to be a huge disappointment. I would say less than 10% of the works in the museum were O'Keefe's. And none were her iconic bone and flower images that I so loved. Worst of all, most of the stuff there was from her contemporaries, many of whom were doing cubism and other abstract work. It made for a presentation without any real flow or coherence. I actually went back to the front desk to see if we had somehow missed a floor or even a room where the actual O'Keefe works were. But we hadn't. They did offer to sell me a ticket to another museum where they said there were more O'Keefe's. I passed.<br />
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Miraculous staircase</div>
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I think this dog was approx $3,000.</div>
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This was the best thing in the Georgia O'Keefe museum. It's a good thing they had this homage to her and her work because there was little to be found in the museum.</div>
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At the brewpub</div>
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<br />Gailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05022311586068206269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293189788375644178.post-33181959969281207022015-10-13T14:23:00.000-04:002015-12-28T14:23:58.584-05:0010/13/15 Madrid NM<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Folk Instrument shop....was never open while we were there.</div>
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Sculpture Garden</div>
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Sheep sculpture garden</div>
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Boondocking right outside Madrid NM</div>
<br />Gailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05022311586068206269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293189788375644178.post-54301861956495935442015-10-12T16:47:00.000-04:002015-12-27T16:52:17.607-05:009/29/15-10/12/15 Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta Wow, what an event!! It was life-changing, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that. I crewed every single day, which meant the alarm going off at 4:30am every morning. I never intended to crew every day, but it was just so much fun that I couldn't stay away. I got to the Fiesta a few days early as that's what most Boomers do, the Fiesta didn't start till the 2nd. However, we did go out training with our pilot on 10/1. The first few days were just disgustingly hot. I ended up running the gen a few times for A/C. It cooled off a bit as the week went on, which was very welcome. Here's a link to some of the photos I took:<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/111242799135308646733/ABQBalloonFiesta?authuser=0&feat=directlink" target="_blank">ABQ Balloon Fiesta</a><br />
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But just in case you can't be bothered to click, here's my favorite.<br />
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And this is me in the basket on my first flight. Photo by Barb Brady.<br />
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<br />Gailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05022311586068206269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293189788375644178.post-3939180695020603092015-09-29T00:20:00.001-04:002015-09-29T00:20:29.535-04:00Brookings to Crescent CityI was still unsure what route I was taking, but either way, I had to head south to Crescent City. I went through that Agriculture checkpoint which pisses me off.......California gets BILLIONS of containers from all over the world loaded with all sort of pests and they feel the need to harass motorists and take their oranges. Which probably came in to LA on one of those containers. Stupid.<br />
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I decided to take the road through the Redwoods to Grant's Pass. Well, I changed my mind on that one quickly. After 4 harrowing miles of crazy curves, drop offs, and bicyclists everywhere I said screw that and started looking for a place to turn around. A scenic route isn't actually scenic when you're white knuckled and eyes glued to the road.<br />
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I had a backup spot in mind for the night, I had read reviews of Elk Valley Casino and that it was scenic with elk wandering through the parking lot. Well....I didn't see any elk. And little scenery. But I was not in the mood to go searching for somewhere else so I went in and registered with the guard. He told me to park in the gravel lot off to the side and I was good for 2 nights. I told him I'd only need one. I was starving and headed over to the restaurant. I did a quick u-turn when I saw it wasn't completely closed off from the smoky casino and decided to go for a ride. I headed to the oceanfront and had some dinner at the Fishermen's Restaurant. It was pretty good. I wandered around a bit, saw a cool folk art place but it was closed. Headed back to the casino and had a quiet night.Gailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05022311586068206269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293189788375644178.post-78984585036573764032015-09-24T01:50:00.001-04:002015-09-24T02:04:40.571-04:00Gold Beach to BrookingsIt was another quiet and peaceful evening. I woke up to a bright, sunshiney day.........and a rocking boat, I mean RV. It was WINDY!!!! I was getting blasted by dirt from the piles near the entrance and fled over to the other side of the river.<br />
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It was still windy but I wasn't getting sandblasted. The wind was blowing OUT to sea....it was wild to watch the waves come in and get the tops blown off. It was mesmerizing, but the constant buffeting and rocking got on my nerves after a while. I went down to the Visitor Center, which was kind of sheltered.....not sheltered enough. I didn't really want to drive in that wind as blowing out to sea equals blow you off the cliffs. I finally hit the end of my rope and bailed late, around 6pm. I was at the point where getting blown off a cliff didn't sound that bad. Amazingly, about 10 miles down the road, it was calm. I rolled into Brookings in the twilight and was not thrilled about trying to find some boondocking spot in the dark. I saw a Fred Meyer, and thought, "Well, it can't hurt to ask...." I went in and asked to park overnight and they said no problem. What a relief! They weren't listed in the guides I use and normally I'd just pass it up. Glad I didn't. When I was walking to the store I had seen a sign at the top of the street saying "Tap Room". After I did my shopping and moved the rig to the spot they asked me to, I did a beeline up there. It turned out to be the Chetco Brewing Co, and they had super nice folks, and fabulous beer. I'm STILL kicking myself for not getting a growler of the Unity Pale Ale. That was one of the best beers I've ever had.<br />
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<br />Gailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05022311586068206269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293189788375644178.post-21375819740507851422015-09-24T01:36:00.000-04:002015-09-24T02:06:42.918-04:00Gold Beach Day 2I spent an uneventful night illegally parked on the threshhold of the RV park. No one bothered me but I woke up around 6:30-7:00 and moved to Jerry's parking lot. I took another nap and awoke to find the fog was still pretty thick. I just wasn't in the mood for the boat ride. I wandered down the road a bit and came to what I knew would be a gorgeous beach if it wasn't socked in solid. I still went for a walk and enjoyed the cool fog.<br />
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I didn't want to keep driving as I hadn't seen anything south of Gold Beach before and wasn't going to today! I had dinner at the Porthole......it was just ok but redeemed themselves when they served me about a pound of fabulous coconut cake for dessert. I headed across the river to the place I'd boondocked last time. It was pretty deserted, though the same van was in the same place down in one of the hollows. As I was parked there sitting in the driver's seat enjoying the sunset, this goober pulls up and parks right across my nose a few feet away, Since there was like 800' of vacant shoreline, I thought it was an asshole move.<br />
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He finally left and I read for a while, then hit the sack.Gailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05022311586068206269noreply@blogger.com0