USA

by

Last Weekend On the Beach :(

Friday was a much needed down day for me. The most exciting thing I did was drive into Port Lavaca to pick up my mail and some avocados.

I also checked out all the car washes and decided that none were convenient enough to get into with the rig for me to spend money at them. I really want a nice big wash area that I can pull in and out of without having to unhook. I’ll keep my eye out for such a place as I head out on the road, really needing to remove the salt spray from both vehicles and to buff out any rusty spots. Moya is also asking me for a wax job, so I really want to find a place where I can wash at my leisure.

When I got in, I spent the bulk of the rest of the day watching the DVDs that my friend had sent while cross-stitching and going for strolls along the beach to enjoy the crazy beautiful weather. What a tough life I lead! 😀

I have a weekend-long project to do, so my last couple of days on the beach will be sedate. I am sort of thinking of going to the saloon for a beer and dinner tonight, but am not particularly stuck on the idea.

The weather is slowly growing less pleasant as heavy clouds are rolling in and the wind is picking up, so Monday will definitely be a good day to get back on the road.

I play to roll out between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m. I’ll be getting gas here on the beach as a final gesture of goodwill to the community. I did the math and it will be only $10 more for a fill here than in town, so it’s not a huge extra expense for me, plus the gas station is super convenient as you can pull in then circle around the building.

I will be detouring into Port Lavaca to get propane since I am completely out on board, do not want to have the fridge off for long, and the Port Lavaca propane place is super easy to get in and out of with a long rig even if the entrance is rutty.

After that, it will be about three hours to Von Ormy, just outside of San Antonio (I’ll be doing a post about the RV park once I’ve had a chance to check it out). I can check in as of 1PM and want to pull in as close to that as I can to get my full 22 hours on FHU!

Some of the chores planned for Monday afternoon and evening and Tuesday morning:

– hose down my black tank from inside with my high pressure hose attachment;

– vacuum the entire rig (the dust from the beach as been an insurmountable foe);

– reshine the floors as the the sand I’ve been tracking in despite a mat has been very hard on them;

– give my batteries a good soak on shore power (I’ve been getting a full charge by late afternoon all week, so I’m not desperate for charging right now, thankfully!) and recharge anything that needs to be recharged.

Late Tuesday morning, I will move into the no service area.

I don’t have much to do to leave on Monday, so I won’t even think about departure until then beyond making sure there’s plenty of room in the back of the truck for the propane tank.

I’m ready, not eager, to go.

by

A Tight Squeeze

For the past several days, a couple of boat platform thingamabobs with long tails have been slowly making their way down the beach towards me. Today, I caught a massive tanker motoring between them:

IMGP5961

It’s not a peaceful last week here as it is spring break so the whole area is teeming with campers and there are lots of kids running around and playing in the surf. But there’s very little shrieking, so it’s only when the generators start up at dinner time and run until I concede that I will have to fall asleep to their lullaby that I get a little irked. The weather is just too gorgeous to regret staying here this extra week.

I’m impressed with the hardy souls running around in their bathing suits, much less actually swimming. Yes, the sun is shining brightly, but the wind has a bitter chill that reminds me we are still several days way from spring.

I can’t believe it’s mid-March already. What a gentle winter this has been.

by

Relocating the Office to the Marina at Indianola

Today boasted an afternoon too beautiful to be spent cooped up indoors.

I had just finished the newest draft of the new ebook and was at the point where I needed to print it out to be able to effectively proof it. So I decided to get it out on paper, then head over to the marina at Indianola for a few hours to work on the book there.

I put in an order for lunch and then sat outside to work and watch the fishermen. It was very windy in the sun, but too cold in the sheltered areas, so I held tight to my precious paperwork!

The marina is a nice place to spend time even if you don’t fish. There are lots of tables with a good view:

IMGP5946

IMGP5947

IMGP5948

IMGP5949

I indulged in a chicken bacon ranch sandwich (delicious!) and opted for their yummy hush puppies as a side rather than their anemic fries.

IMGP5950

The exterior:

IMGP5951

Coming back home, I stopped at the monument to La Salle, the same dude who has a bunch of stuff named after him in Quebec, including a borough of Montreal.

IMGP5957

Indianola was a major town in the area in the 1800s until it was wiped out twice by two hurricanes and a fire. It is now a ghost town.

Finally, there is a fire burning close to the beach. Check out the smoke, it has completely obliterated the sun:

IMGP5960

by

Solar Charging WOW

I was down about 15AH when I woke up this morning at 7:00. We had full sun promised for the next week and I needed to charge my laptop. I was doubtful I’d get anywhere near a full charge today, but figured that with the forecast ahead, there was no need to run the engine this morning to give the solar panels a boost.

With the time change, I didn’t start to get much of a charge until well past 8AM. By 11AM, I was down more than 20AH and still wasn’t seeing a positive charge coming in, not even when I turned off the inverter.

I stopped for lunch at 1:00 and was amazing to see that I was now 16.4AH down! In the 20 minutes I took to eat, I saw myself gain a full AH. But that still left me right where I was in the morning.

When I next checked the monitor at 3:00… I got a FULL message! My batteries were charged to maximum capacity!

So it looks like my theory about how the battery monitor works is correct. The amps coming in are only the amps at that moment and every so often, the monitor adds up those amps and adjusts the AH metre up or down as appropriate rather than adjusting the readings in real time.

So the only reading that is truly relevant at any moment is the AH status, and then I can check the amps screen to see if the AH are going to trend up or downwards.

At any rate, full batteries, YAY! Not that I’ve been lacking for power, not by a long shot, but it’s good for the batteries to get a full charge regularly.