Freedom wins.....

6:34 am - Wednesday - November 6th - TWW  - 30° F, humidity 43%, wind 13 mph out of the northeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 49° F. On this date in 2015 we were boondocking on the shores of Mono Lake near Lee Vining, CA....

How things looked on Saturday, November 6th....warm, and sunny

The next morning it was still clear, but 17° F

....we had planned to boondock there for a week, but along with the suddenly frigid temps, we had an electrical issue with our 50 amp plug melting, and couldn't get our onboard generator started to charge our house batteries, so we packed up and headed for lower elevation in Bishop, CA where we made repairs.

We had two goals Tuesday.....1) chop more wood using the new chainsaws, and 2) begin assembling our new wind generator, and we were successful!  Those new chainsaws are amazing, and even better than I had hoped.  It was like cutting warm butter with a hot knife.  In short order, maybe 90 minutes, we had added a significant amount of wood to our wood pile, which is for general use, and to the pile for the wood stove in the house.....

TLE working on the wood stove kindling

The amazing hydraulic wood splitter worked like a charm

We more than doubled the split wood supply...there are enough deadfalls around the property to keep us in firewood for three years, maybe more

Ready to heat the house!

....next up I turned my attention to beginning to assemble the wind generator fan blades, and the mast upon which the generator will reside....

This is one section of the mast pole, is about 10' long.  The pipe laying next to it will extend it to almost 20' off the ground 

The wind generator controller...can be wired for 12 v, 24 v, or 48 v.....I wired it for 12 v

The wind generator to which the fan blades will be attached once the mast is raised is now mounted via 4 heavy duty bolts

.....I finished mounting the wind generator to the mast pole around 3:30 pm, and I was tired....another longish work day, but oh so rewarding.  Once I receive the cabling (ordered from Amazon), and guy wire kit on Wednesday I can complete the installation of the wind generator, and then turn my attention to setting up the new solar array.

After dinner TLE and I watched the election returns kind of holding our breath in anticipation of the outcome.  TLE went to bed around 10 pm, but I stayed the course, and by 11:30 pm we had the results, which made us very happy, and apparently more than half of the American population, as well.  I'm sure some of you are not happy.  Regardless of what horse you backed, we need to face the fact that we are all Americans, and even though we may disagree on politics, we have more that unites us than separates us.  Politics is not real life.  We stopped watching the 'news' years ago, which has led to a level of happiness, and contentment we had not known for years.  The people inside the Beltway, and the mainstream media only care about themselves, power and money.  That is why they hate last night's winner....he is an outsider, and doesn't play their games.  He won with an amazingly broad coalition....he is not some right wing extremist.  He didn't take a paycheck the last time he was President, and left office poorer than when he went in....still rich, but worth a couple of billion less.  What politician in either party can say that?  At any rate, it is time to heal the gigantic rift in the country created by those within the Beltway, and mainstream media, who have pitted us against each other to distract from their failures, and their lurch toward totalitarianism.  All governments tend towards totalitarianism, and that is what our founding fathers feared, and tried to delay as long as possible when they wrote our Constitution.  'We the people' have allowed this to happen, it is our fault, and it is time to repudiate those within the Beltway, and mainstream media in order to reclaim our slowly eroded freedoms.  We all have an interest in what happens now.

Thanks for stopping by, and God Bless America!

The EXPERIMENT.....

6:45 am - Tuesday - Election Day - November 5th - TWW - 25° F, humidity 66%, wind 2 mph out of the  east by southeast....a few clouds today with a forecast high of 61° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were south of Salt Lake City, UT courtesy parked at my brother's home.....began snowing, and sticking.....not moving south fast enough....

.....the sunrise this morning (Tuesday).....

Nice....

I fully intended to utilize my newly purchased chainsaws cutting wood against the winter Monday, but it was way too cold first thing, so TLE and I decided we would begin to install the new cargo slide for our new Norcold, which will be used as a freezer full time.  Actually, we would be moving the newer Norcold we bought in 2020 to the through bay as it fits the new cargo slide much better.  As can be the case on project like this the 'Hockwald Way' turned what we thought to be at most a 2 hour job into a 5 hour job.  I had to modify the new cargo slide in several ways to get it to slide out far enough to open the 2020 Norcold lid.  That involved using my angle grinder and moving the 'STOP' bracket about 8" back to allow the tray to slide out further.  The second thing which took way longer than I expected was wiring up the 2024 Norcold (just purchased) to run on DC (direct current).  It is designed to run on AC, or DC, and DC is much more efficient.  It's been 4 years since I pulled out the original Norcold (circa 1982), and the 12 volt wiring left behind did not make any sense.  At any rate, I finally figured it out, and we were, at last able to install both Norcolds in their new positions....

....in the picture above you can see where (inside red circle) I had to cut out part of the tray to expose the controls for the 2020 Norcold....thank goodness I bought that angle grinder 4 years ago when we were at Seal Rock, OR....it has come in so handy numerous times over the intervening 4 years.  We didn't finish putting away the tools until after 4:30 pm....a longish work day for us, but so rewarding in the end.

We're gradually getting used to living off the grid at 5,600' elevation....

.....the weather has cooled significantly since we arrived two weeks ago to 80° F days.  Now we're happy to see 61° F days, like today (Tuesday).  The next two days will be in the 40's with lows approaching 21° F overnight.  We strictly use our three Suburban gas furnaces to heat the coach in the morning when we get out of bed, and early evenings before we go back to bed.  We're able to run our electric blanket all night long on the Bluetti battery bank, plus run the one electric heater in the basement to keep the water bay above freezing, and we still have 50+% left in the morning.  That was one of our big concerns about living at elevation whilst off the grid, and so far it is working out.

One thing we did not know about our electric heaters before this 'experiment' began was that even though the thermostats are turned down all the way to what we thought was the 'OFF' position, they will come on when the temp inside the coach gets to 40° F, or below, and we area connected to electricity (Bluetti battery bank, 30 amps).....40° F is the minimum setting on the thermostats.  Normally, when plugged into an electrical pedestal that would not be an issue, as we would probably have at least one of the heaters running all night anyway when it is this cold, like we did at the Grand Canyon back in 2017.  When we've boondocked we always turned off the inverter at night when we were sleeping, so it was never an issue then, either.  Fortunately, both electric heaters inside the coach living area are on the same circuits as the front and rear ACs, so all we must do is turn off breakers 1 (front AC and heater) and 2 (rear AC and heater), and it is no longer an issue.

One thing to add about Monday....TLE and I refilled our IBC water tote from the 5,000 gallon water tower before we began the Norcold project.  It takes about 10 minutes, and half that time is rolling out the large hoses to connect us with the water tower, and then rolling them back.

I mentioned that our presence here is an 'experiment'.  What do I mean by that?  I've been intrigued for years about being able to live off grid on a permanent basis, which is why our first major investment when we became nomads was in solar for our Newell. With the improvement, and increased affordability in solar technology, as well as battery storage capabilities it has become more of a possibility.  Being able to spend the winter here in Northern Arizona is the ultimate experiment for us, and has put us on a steep learning curve.  Just in the two weeks we have been here we have learned so much, and with the purchase of the 'dual axis' solar array (yet to be installed, but will be soon), and the wind generator (soon to be installed), we are becoming better equipped to deal with the electrical demands of living off grid.  When you think about it, access to electricity makes our lives so much better.  Without electricity water cannot be pumped, and delivered to millions of people, water stops coming out of the tap, and toilets cannot be flushed. If the electrical grid were to go down for any period of time, as we have seen in Florida most recently (hurricanes), civilization can break down pretty quickly.  By building our own electrical grid we can survive those occurrences, should they come about, in comfort, and style.  Once the initial investment is made, there are no longer any utility bills with which to deal, and those monthly costs, especially in urban areas, can be significant.  When we lived in a sticks and bricks home 13 years ago our monthly utilities often exceeded $800.  Anyway, life is good, and we are learning so much.

Thanks for stopping by!

Road trip....

 7:51 am - Monday - November 4th - TWW - 33° F, humidity 52%, wind 11 mph out of the north.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 53° F.  On this date in 2015 we were at Silver City RV Park near Carson City, NV....we, apparently, had not been diligent enough in moving south to keep ahead of winter....lol....

I've become a big fan of Facebook Marketplace, and, as you know, found my 1969 Jeep CJ-5 through that medium.  We need a few things here at The Wilson Wilderness, and one of those things is a good, reliable chainsaw.  I'm partial to the STIHL brand of 2 stroke power tools, so I searched on Facebook Marketplace and found two used ones for $200 each.  A new STIHL chainsaw with a 20" bar is around $600 new, so these seemed like a good deal to us, plus they have both been serviced recently.  The problem was, they were located over in the Williams/Prescott, AZ area, Prescott being over 100 miles away.  I also found some hand tools, including an single edged axe, and a pry bar, both of which we need, and some pneumatic tools in the same area, so we decided to head into Prescott Sunday to buy them, as well as get a formal Bill of Sale signed by the former owner of the Jeep, who lives in Prescott Valley.  We knew this was going to be an all day affair, and was it ever.

To top everything off a winter storm was forecast for the area to which we were heading, so we were in the Beetle heading out to US-66 around 8 am, hoping to beat the rain/snow forecast for the area.  We arrived in Prescott, without incident, but in a driving rain/snow around 10 am, and proceeded to the local US Bank to withdraw funds for our planned purchases, then headed across the street to Trader Joe's to buy a few things then over to the local COSTCO to buy some more winter clothing for TLE.  By the time we were done there it was getting close to 11 am.  

We began the drive over to Prescott Valley (Dewey, specifically) to get the Bill of Sale signed and dated in a rain storm....

.....yes we were getting rain, and slush on our windshield as we made the drive to Dewey. We got to John's (former owner) home just as he was returning from an errand, so perfect timing there.  We were in and out in about 10 minutes, and on our way back to Prescott.  Our appointment to pick up the first Chainsaw in Prescott was between 12 and 1 pm, so we stopped off at the local In 'N Out Burger for a bite to eat, and were at Dick's (the guy with the chainsaw) by 12:50 pm.  Within 10 minutes we had started up the STIHL, which ran butter smooth, and were in the car heading to Chino Valley to pick up the hand tools.  We had a 2 pm appointment there, but got there around 1:30 pm...thankfully Joanne was there, and we completed the transaction pretty quickly....

 ....we got a pick axe, single edged axe, post hole digger, pry bar, and a 'T' post hammer, or whatever it is called, for $40....killer deal.

Next up was a drive to Williams, AZ to buy the pneumatic tools (3/8" impact, 1/2" impact, and drill).  The guy was north of town on the highway to the Grand Canyon about 10 miles, which included a badly graded dirt road for about 3 miles.  We arrived there at 3 pm, right on time, paid the man his $40, and were on our way to Ash Fork to pickup the final STIHL chainsaw....

.....we arrived at the Ash Fork destination around 3:45 pm, which was way out in the boonies, about 6.6 miles of dirt road, just slightly better than the road we drive into TWW.  This chainsaw had, also, recently been serviced, and started right up.  By the time we got back to I-40 it was around 4:30 pm, and we knew we had at least an hour drive back to TWW.  The drive was beautiful, and without rain, or snow....

I-40 westbound out of Ash Fork, AZ

US-66 westbound out of Seligman, AZ

Beginning the drive on the dirt road which takes us to TWW

.....we arrived home 10 hours after we left, just as the sun was setting over the western horizon....what a long, long day, but so, so rewarding...

The 2 STIHL chainsaws with cases, plus 5 extra chains, a gallon of chain oil, and a quart of the 2 part oil for the gasoline 2 stroke engines

.....we unloaded our Facebook Marketplace booty, and our groceries, changed clothes, and sat down to relax after a very long driving day in which we we covered just under 300 miles, without incident.

Thanks for stopping by!

Dampening expectations......

 6:22 am - Sunday - November 3rd - TWW - 33° F, humidity 74%, wind 2 mph out of the south by southeast.....forecast of rain later this morning with a forecast high of 50° F.  On this date in 2011 TLE and I were boondocking on Rincon Parkway north of Ventura, CA right next to the Pacific Ocean....TLE looks so mellow....

Saturday was forecast to be a chilly day with the high barely hitting 55° F.  It was mostly heavy cloud cover, but no precipitation, thankfully!  Our goal for Saturday was to get the wood stove in the house working properly.  You could light a fire in it, but as soon as you closed the door it would die, meaning it was not getting any air through the damper control.  We knew we had the damper open, but no air was making it inside the stove.  To fix that problem we had to remove all the ash, then vacuum out the entirety of the interior of the stove.  After about an 90 minutes we were satisfied with our work, and brought in some kindling wood to prove whether, or not our labor was in vain, or not in vain.....

....me thinks our labor was not in vain!  Of course there was ash everywhere, so TLE dusted, and I vacuumed, and after another 30 minutes the living room was once again clean, and the temperature was steadily rising.  Ultimately, before we let the fire die, the room temperature got to 71° F....not too bad.

I spent another couple of hours chopping up kindling wood for the wood stove, so when Charles and Phyllis return they will have a way of heating the house.  Why is that you ask?  Well until the new water pump gets installed, giving the house water pressure (the impeller on the old one exploded), they can't fill the gas water heater, or run the propane heaters, or get the new stove connections inspected by the propane guy, so he can certify the system, and allow the propane to flow from our very full onsite propane tank.....it's kind of a domino thing.

Once I was done with chopping wood, I headed inside to spend the afternoon watching college football.  That's the first time I've done that in at least 3 weeks, and it was nice sitting in my recliner in the warm confines of the Newell, dozing, and watching college football...nice!

That was, in a nutshell, our day.  Our list of things to do is shortening a little.....

.....the clouds on the western horizon cleared just a little giving us a nice sunset....there was no sunset fire as it was too cold, and breezy according to TLE....

....and thus ended our 13th day at The Wilson Wilderness.  Thanks for stopping by!

The list.....

6:43 am - Saturday - November 2nd - TWW - 37° F, humidity 31%, wind 5 mph out of the south by southeast.....very cloudy today with a forecast high of 56° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were having dinner with my brother and his wife at the Stein Erickson Lodge in Park City, UT.....

....the view this morning.....

TLE and I have taken to writing a list of things we want to do each day.  Whatever is left over from the day before gets added to the new list for that current day.  There are so many things which need doing, and I can no longer keep long lists in my 'head'.....

.....above is our list from Friday.  As you can see, there were 9 things on the list, and three of them were completed.  I tend to make cryptic notes, so much of that list will make no sense to you, but we did get the sail shade installed on the deck of the house yesterday....

Combined with our 2 market umbrellas, the rectangular sail shade will add a layer of shade to the deck, which will be more important in the summer time, but the sun can get intense  in the winter, too.

.....the next thing we did, and this is an important thing for us, we installed our two new 6 ton (can hold 12,000 pounds each) jack stands under the rear of the Newell.  When the weather gets cold, as it is now doing, the back tends to settle until we are too high in front, and the shower then does not drain properly.  During the summer everything is fine, but cold weather in the high 30's, or below does cause us to lose air in our air suspension....

.....next up we moved a number of long pipes over the garage where I will assemble them to use as a 'mast' for our new wind generator.......

....and I was able to install the flange to which the generator will be mounted.  I've got ways to go before this project is complete, but this was a good start.  Charles and Phyllis returned for an overnight stay bringing 8 bags of concrete mix so I can pour the bases for the wind generator, and our new solar array.  I'll do that in the next few days so the concrete can cure for 3, or 4 days before I begin to setup everything.....

The flange (on the end of the small diameter pipe

.....I don't remember mentioning this, but we acquired another Norcold basement fridge, which will be installed in the through bay next to the existing Norcold.  This new one will be used strictly as a freezer so we can stock up on meat when good deals are available.  We have limited freezer space in our Dometic Americana II fridge, so this will be a great addition.  Anyway, along with the delivery of the 8 bags of cement, I also received the new slide tray for the new Norcold.  This will enable us to pull it out of its cubby hole like the other Norcold.....

....I'm going to install it in the through bay Saturday.

We had an early dinner around 3:30 pm with Charles and Phyllis in their house....

....TLE had me grill hot dogs for dinner, and Charles provided the vino.  We so enjoy it when they are here, but they have obligations down in Phoenix, so they commute back and forth.  Around 5 pm we headed out to the firepit for another sunset fire.  It was very subtle, and I missed the actual sunset, but I got a picture of the afterglow....

....thanks for stopping by!