4-1 - DODGERS WIN! DODGERS WIN!! DODGERS WIN!!!

 7:13 am - Thursday - October 31st - TWW* - 26° F, humidity 41%, wind 3 mph out of the3 southeast....partially cloudy today with a forecast high of 64° F.....

26° F at 6:32 am.....FEELS like 22

....on this date in 2016 TLE and I were boondocking next to Tuttle Creek in the Alabama Hills just south of Lone Pine, CA.....

The Eastern Sierras

Tuttle Creek

Owens Valley in the distance

.....we've only camped there one time, but it is still one of our all time favorite boondock sites.

It was terribly cold Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.  Cold weather (20's and 30's) dissipates battery voltage more quickly than when it is over 40° F, and it got into the high 20's Tuesday night.  When we are truly boondocking the house batteries provide both direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) via our 2,000 watt inverter.  In our current situation we are supplying the coach with AC power via the Bluetti power station (3 LifePo batteries with 6,200 watt hours of power) which power all of our electrical appliances, and outlets in the Newell, and providing DC power for the lights, Norcold basement fridge, our Dometic fridge, and our gas furnaces via the house batteries.  So, it is now a split system, which makes it easier on our house batteries (flooded cell) overnight.

Additionally, when it gets below freezing we need to provide heat to the water bay (fresh water, gray water, and black water tanks)  to keep the various liquid forms from freezing.  Normally, when plugged into an electrical pedestal we would just set the thermostat for the electric water bay heater to 40° F, and not worry about it again.  But our current off grid situation requires us to monitor, as well as ration the use of our available alternating current (AC) so as not to run down our Bluetti power station too far overnight.  We have three Suburban gas furnaces onboard, and one of them heats the bathroom, and the water bay.  The lowest we can set that thermostat is 50° F, so it comes on earlier than necessary.  Since those gas furnaces are powered with direct current (DC) they draw power from the Newell house batteries.

The gas furnace heating the bathroom/water bay, started cycling on and off around 2:30 am.  I wouldn't say it is loud, but it puts out enough sound to make even an unconscious person aware of its presence.  That it cycles on and runs for about 7 minutes, then cycles off for about 3 minutes can become a little irritating, but we found closing the bedroom door (which is also the shower door) cuts the noise down enough that we can sleep pretty well.  At any rate, when I got up Wednesday morning I turned on all three gas furnaces to 70° F, and then went to check the house battery monitor.  I was pleasantly surprised that the charge percentage was only down to 73%.....not bad, considering the furnace heating the water bay ran from 2:20 am until I woke up.  On the Bluetti side we were down to 52%, which is low for overnight, but we did run our electric blanket all night long, so not too bad, either.  The Bluetti power station recharges pretty quickly when being supplied by both solar and generator power. In fact, it gets back to 100% within 120 minutes, or less most days, then I turn off the generator (Honda E2000i) and let the solar keep it at 100% during the day.

I say all of that to say this.....we want to run the electric water bay heater at night and do away with the gas furnace noise, so I set the water bay electric heater thermostat at 40° F.  When I was up to go to the bathroom around 2 am the water bay temp was around 45° F, and the electric heater had not run yet, so the Bluetti power station was still at 72° F, which is good.  When I got up this morning (Thursday) it was at 42%, so the electric heater ran eventually.  I turned on the Honda around 7 am, and now, at 8:35 am the charge percentage is already back to 70%!  Once the sun hits the three solar panels (which it just did) it will go even faster.

Hmmm....I've written 5 paragraphs already, and haven't really even talked about what we did Wednesday.  Winter is coming, and we needed to begin cutting and splitting wood, so TLE and I began that task Wednesday morning.  I used Charles' chain saw to cut some more limbs off the trees around the driveway, and then cut them up to begin the drying out process before we split them in a couple of months.....

Green wood

....Charles and Phyllis bought this cool hydraulic wood splitter (no power needed except that of the human variety).  Next I began cutting up many of the dead falls, which are ready to burn now, and then split them.....

Dry wood, ready for burning

......about the time we finished splitting the above firewood the chainsaw began to act up, and then quit running....doh!  Well, at least we got a lot of wood ready for consumption now.

Next up was to install thew IBC water tote adapter so we can hook our fresh water hose directly to the valve, and now will have even better water pressure when we need to fill our fresh water tank again, or dump the black tank.  Before we had to put the hose through the fill hole on top of the tank, and that is not optimal.....

.....I ordered the adapter from Amazon on Sunday, and had it Wednesday via UPS and WPS (Wilson Parcel Service).  Along with the delivery of the IBC adapter I also received our new solar array, and our new winter generator!  Now the real work begins. I'll have to pour a concrete base for each, and then begin assembly.  Those bases will take a few days to cure before I can begin installation.

TLE and I ended our work day around 3 pm, and by 5:20 pm were enjoying another windless, sunset fire.....

.....TLE brought out the Mad Dog Salted Caramel flavored Whiskey.....what a nice way to end another day in The Wilson Wilderness....

.....Wednesday was also game 5 of the World Series.  The Dodgers tried to close out the Series Tuesday, but got clobbered by the Yankees 11-4.  I get filled with too much anxiety watching the Dodgers play, so I didn't turn on the game until the 7th inning.  They got behind 5-0 in the first three innings, but scored 5 times times in the 5th inning to tie the game.  Then gave up another run in the 6th inning to go down 6-5, but in the top of the 8th inning they scored twice to go ahead 7-6, and that is how the World Series ended.....DODGERS WIN 4 games to 1!  The Dodgers have been in the World Series 21 times in their history, and have won 8 of them, four of those over the Yankees.

On a final note, I have found a buyer for our sister 1982 Newell Classic Motorcoach, but will refrain from identifying the purchaser until a later date.  The nice thing is we know the buyer quite well, and it will be remaining the southwestern US....perfect!

Thanks for stopping by!