Day: January 23, 2013

by

The Great Boondocking Experiment Starts

The time has come to truly test my new electrical system. I’m starting with a full charge, my batteries are watered, and I’m looking at a long stretch of warmth and sun. This is going to be my first attempt to truly live off grid on a fairly normal routine. The only thing missing is the DC charger for my Mac and that will be here Saturday. So I only have about another hour on my Mac tonight and an hour total tomorrow, then I’ll need to take it for a drive on Friday. Hopefully, the DC charger will work and I will have enough power to use my Mac as much as I need to!

One thing I am going to aim for is to live as much as I can by the sun. The days are short, so that won’t be super feasible, but I am going to try as much as possible to restrain my computer usage to daylight hours and use my iPad in the evenings.

I tend to spend my evenings sitting in the dark when I boondock, but I’m pretty sure that’s ridiculous with my set up. So I am allowing myself one LED light on in whatever room I’m and will see if that’s sustainable.

Finally, I have a ton of projects to do that do not require power but do require good weather. So I will attempt to spend a little less time at the keyboard and a little more time on other things while I am here, in addition to road tripping around the environs.

Well, methinks it’s time for dinner. Spinach salad, bratwurst, and sweet potato fries anyone?

by

Life’s a Beach

I am not going to explicitly state where I am right now. I’m sure anyone who’s good with Google will be able to find the location, but I found this place thanks to the Texas Frugal Shunpiker Guide and I’m not going to give away this information!

Some clues:

– I am on a hard packed crushed shell public beach (I would be too nervous to park on sand)

– I am near Port Lavaca

– I can stay here as long as I please

IMGP5468

Rig with a view.

Rig with a view.

Standing behind my rig.

Standing behind my rig.

Life the life you've always imagined.

Life the life you’ve always imagined.

The view from my office!

The view from my office!

by

Rae au pays de l’or noir

IMGP5458

Today’s drive was tricky to plan and I spent hours yesterday with Google Maps, my Texas Shunpiker Guide, and my GPS to find the best route. Both Google Maps and my Garmin wanted to route me straight through Houston while the Shunpiker Guide wanted to send me through Galveston. I finally came up with a route that looked pretty good and planned to solidify it once I got my hands on another Texas road map (having lost mine to a cat and coffee collision).

It was foggy when I woke up at 6:30 this morning and visibility was still poor at 7:20 when I had had my coffee and toast and was packed. I decided to hang out for a bit longer until the visitor centre opened at 8:00 so I could get the map and confirm my route. I entered the coordinates for my destination into the GPS but knew I’d be mostly on my own for this drive.

That done, I set off on I-10 westbound, stopping a few miles away at a Conoco pretending to be a Flying J. I missed the first entrance, which wound up being good as entering through the next entrance allowed me an easy exit out of the first and a much easier return to I-10.

From I-10, I took exit 798 and meandered my way down to route 35 by way of route 146. I checked the GPS a couple of times and it finally came up with a route that resembled mine, but with a few more twists.

IMGP5461

The Fred Hartman Bridge was very impressive!

IMGP5462

The first part of my day was in a world of oil refineries, hence the title of this post.

When I started to run out of road, I finally listened to my GPS and turned into… Pasadena.

IMGP5463

I was on Nasa Road and everything was space themed, so I figured I was near the space centre. Yup, I drove right past it! Note to self: you haven’t seen Apollo 13 in a long while.

IMGP5464

At some point, I passed a relic of olden days:

IMGP5466

Entering Bay City, I was overdue for a break, but I had been holding out for a real grocery store, passing only little food stores. So I was quite glad to pass a Walmart, where I was able to stock up on fresh fruits, veggies, meat, and beer before landing at my somewhat remote destination, saving me from having to go out tomorrow.

Port Lavaca was soon upon me:

IMGP5468

Today’s drive was difficult. The roads were in poor shape and I was mostly passing through towns so there was a lot of stopping and going. I really felt the toad today, my gas mileage was the pits, and I could feel both the engine and brakes working hard. It would have probably been easy to just bite the bullet and go through Houston on I-10, but I don’t regret my choice.

Just one damper on the day: I have a nice big crack in my brand new windshield. 🙁 I don’t think a glass place will be willing to fill it. Since it’s well out of my view range, I’m going to get a DIY kit and try to fill it myself before it gets worse.