Trailer time.....

 7:44 am - Friday - October 23rd - TWW - 39° F (our first morning in the 30's), humidity 48%, cloud cover 11%, wind 8 mph out of the south by southwest.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 60° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were at Bryce Canyon, UT.....

.....hiking the Peek-A-Boo Loop trail. The view this morning.....

....first completely cloud free morning since we arrived Sunday as we begin our 5th full day back at TWW.

We've been living with total chaos in our American Trailer since October 8th when I took down my tool tables back at LPG&RVR in preparation for our trip south, so my focus Thursday was to carve order out of total chaos.  There were several things for which I have been looking, and I knew, in my heart, the only way I was going to find them was to empty the tool bags, set up the tables, and organize everything.  The only way that was going to happen was if I dedicated the day to doing just that.  I ended up moving another couple of wagon loads of stuff to the garage to store, and then began setting up the tables....

.....within a few hours my nervous tick had completely disappeared, and I had found the things for which I had been looking since we arrived on the 18th.  All that is left in the trailer are the things I will access on a daily, and weekly basis.  It is probably the emptiest this trailer has been in 15 years.

Now that we have moved pretty much everything from the trailer into the garage that will kept in long term storage it is time to sift through all of that stuff and begin to make hard choices about what is not needed anymore.  We both know there is a lot of stuff on our the shelving units we installed the last two winters that we haven't seen in a year, or two, or maybe even forgot we had. Storage space is at a premium in the garage, so it is time to make room for stuff we actually need.  It was mostly windy Thursday; I believe it got into the low 20's (mph) for several hours, so working outdoors was not desirable, so being able to spend all my time in either the trailer, or garage worked out well.

All of our solar is working as it should, and I don't have to spend a lot of time worrying about batteries getting recharged each day.  The Eco Worthy dual axis solar tracker is on her third winter of service, and is working like a charm.  Before we set that up back in the winter of 2024 it was a constant struggle to keep our battery banks charged. Getting the solar tracker setup, and working was a life changer for us.  The Bluetti AC200MAX has been in continuous service now for 24 months, and is now entering its third year without even a hint of trouble.  By continuous service I mean it has not been turned off for that period of time, except for an hour, or two when we moved the shed to its current position on February 5th of 2025 (I wrote about that here).

The Thursday Night Football game between the Chicago Bears and New England Patriots was a good one going down to the next to final play of the game.  Entering the final 1.5 minutes the Bears held a 9 point lead, so New England was in a fix; they had to score 10 point in that time to win the game.  With about 40 seconds left they kicked a field goal to pull within 6 points and then attempted an 'onside kick', which failed when Chicago recovered the kick.  All that remained was to hike the ball and take a knee to win, and they (Chicago) did.  We also watched the 5th episode of season 51 of Survivor before heading off to dreamland one more time.

Thanks for stopping by!

The setup continues.....

 7:44 am - Thursday - October 22nd - TWW - 58° F, humidity 73%, cloud cover 55%, wind 12 mph out of the south......partly cloudy skies today with a forecast high of 61° F.  On this date in 2020 TLE and I were in Port Orford, OR....

.....at one of our favorite Coastal Oregon restaurants....Redfish....right on the ocean.  The view this morning....

I received notice that  a couple of things we had ordered from Amazon had been delivered to the Post Office in Seligman, so we had plans to go to town later in the day, but first we needed to install those three 100 watt portable Bluetti solar panels on the roof of the trailer until we are able to set up the new 780 watt solar array we bought a few months ago, and had shipped to Charles and Phyllis.  Combined with the 620 watts of solar panels on the roof of the Newell this gives us a total of 900 watts being pumped into our lithium house batteries.  The new solar array has four 195 watt panels, which when combined with the 620 watts on the roof of the Newell will give us a total of 1,400 watts.  We've had a lot of heavy cloud cover since we returned to TWW, so in order to not have to run the Predator we need that extra 300 watts....

....we connected the three panels in series which produce 70 volts.....the charge controller can handle up to 100 volts, so this is well within its parameters.  Meanwhile the Eco Worthy dual axis solar tracker is doing its job to recharge our Bluetti battery bank every single day.

Next up TLE used awning spikes to tack down all of the turf pieces in place so the wind will not move them, which it would without them, while I spent time in the garage reorganizing the stuff we moved there on Monday so we could move the wagons in and out easily....

Now we can move around the garage interior without 

having to move four things

Charles added to our propane supply

In the rear left corner of the garage we have our emergency food supply, which continues to grow....we've added three more buckets in the past couple of months

.....around 12 pm we decided we had done enough for the day, changed clothes and headed into Seligman.  Whoever is running the road grader out on the north/south arterial dirt road is doing a much better job.  It was graded about 2 weeks ago, and still is very smooth.  Driving the Explorer we were able to reach US-66 in just over 10 minutes.  Last winter it would take over 20 minutes it was so rough.  We were in Seligman a mere 20 minutes after hitting US-66 making a brief stop at the General Store, and then over to the Post Office to pick up our packages and mail.  Our last stop before heading home was Highway Hot Dog for a couple of Americanos, and some Gelato....TLE had the lemon pie, and I the caramel....OMG...I had forgotten how good that Gelato is.....

....while we were consuming our Americanos and Gelatos it began to rain torrentially for about 30 minutes, which was cool as we were in no hurry.  When the rain finally letup a tad we made a beeline for the Explorer and headed for TWW where we arrived without incident around 2:15 pm.

After getting home TLE spent most of the afternoon reading, and I returned to the garage to do a little more organizing before calling it a day.  For the evening's entertainment we watched The Amazing Race....we'll watch Survivor Thursday night.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sometimes the lunch is free, and there are no strings......

 6:51 am - Wednesday - October 21st - TWW - 63° F, humidity 81%, cloud cover 80%, wind 14 mph out of the south by southeast.....heavy cloud cover this morning, but little rain so far, with a forecast high of 63° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were east of Bozeman, MT....

....on I-90 heading west toward the Continental Divide.  We had just spent 20 days working the sugar beet harvest in Sidney, MT.  The view this morning....

....the forecast was for rain all night, but it has only rained about 30 minutes so far.

Our goals Tuesday were to begin unloading the trailer, and moving a lot of the stuff we brought south with us to the garage, pull out all of the artificial turf pieces and cover the ground between the Newell and the trailer, and deploy our patio awning, which we did....

.....now the garage is full of stuff for which we need to find a place.  We only worked for about 3 hours, but it was hard work emptying the trailer, and moving most of that stuff to the garage just so we could get at the turf pieces.

You might notice a piece of equipment right in the middle of the garage that is new to us....it is a Shopsmith MARK  V Home Workshop System.  I was perusing some of the local Facebook Groups and saw someone was offering this machine for free, and they were only about 5 miles away, so I contacted them, and made arrangements to go pick it up Tuesday afternoon.  Used, on eBay, these Shopsmiths go for about $350-400.  It can be used as a table saw, a wood lathe, a sanding wheel, etc.  Anyway, I drove over around 2 pm, and found it was larger than I thought, and was thinking I would have to come back with Charles and one of his trailers to pick it up, but then Steve suggested he could load it on one of his trailers and deliver it, so that is what we did. Within an hour we were back at TWW with the free wood working system.  People out here are so generous!  Steve and Barbara moved out here back in 2017, and had actually looked at our property, but ended up buying the one they're at because it had a well.

With the forecast rain TLE and I had to move the two side by sides back into the barn.  I'm going to have to prime the fuel system in each unit to get them running.  I'm not sure why, but there may be some air in the systems that is not allowing the fuel pumps to create enough suction to pull fuel from each fuel tank.  That will be for another day after the current storm system passes through the Seligman area.

Yavapai Gas Bottles sent a guy out (Ryan) to reconnect our large propane tank to the Newell, and do the necessary safety checks, then later in the afternoon Tom came to refill our tank.  When we left last April it still had about 32% in it.  As you know, we don't use as much propane as we once did, and when we left we hadn't had the bottle refilled in almost 2 months.  Before we reduced our propane usage we were getting it refilled once every 4-5 weeks.

We've now been back two full days, and have been able to get a lot more done than I expected, even though we are taking our time.  We'll continue to plug along getting the rest of the stuff out of the trailer, setting up my tool tables, and turning it into a workshop.

Thanks for stopping by!

The first full day of the rest of our lives.....

 7:29 am - Tuesday - October 20th - TWW - 48° F, humidity 51%, cloud cover 47%, wind 13 mph out of the south by southeast.....cloudy today with a forecast high of 69° F.  On this date in 2024 TLE and I were in Henderson, NV.....

A bonus to parking at the Henderson Walmart Supercenter

....overnighting at the Walmart Supercenter.  The next morning we got a message from Sandy Dittus with whom we worked at Tahoe Valley Campground from 2014 to 2017, who lives in Henderson, to see if we had time for her to come over and visit!  We love serendipity, and this was certainly that.  The view this morning....

......more blue sky than yesterday morning!

Monday was our first full day back at TWW, and while the temptation to work around the clock getting our site sorted, we showed great restraint, picked a few important tasks, got them done, and then took the rest of the day to relax.  What were those important tasks?  Let me list them for you:

- Tilt the 4 solar panels on our roof (total of 620 watts) to a 45° angle to catch more of the sun, which is much lower in the southern sky now

- Set up the Bluetti AC200P solar generator to power the trailer

- Move our two 300 watt solar panels into position to charge that Bluetti AC200P....

.....the solar panels are in the foreground, and the Bluetti is in the Rubber Maid outdoor storage box in the background

- Spray the dust off the trailer and rear of the Newell from the 7 mile drive in from US-66 using water from our dedicated IBC water tote which holds our emergency supply of water

- Attach battery chargers to the Yamaha utility bed, and the Cushman utility bed batteries to get them fully charged

- See if the Ford diesel loader/gannon would start, which it did on the first try (had the battery on a trickle charger all summer)

- See if our 1969 GMC C-10 tilt bed would start, and it did (its battery was also on a trickle charger all summer) 

- Connect our temporary sewer line (we will dig a trench in the next few weeks to permanently bury it)

The septic connection was buried under about 4 inches of dirt pushed there by the torrential rains we had a few weeks ago

And that was it.  In all we worked around 4 hours, but not continuously.  The list of things which need to be done is quite long, and all we can do it take small bites of that list day by day. I was knackered after the four hours of work, so I changed my clothes, and took a nap.

We had varying degrees of cloudiness all day, but all of our batteries reached 100%.  As the sun slid downward toward the western horizon, the land and sky lit up, so I had to take a couple of pictures....

.....we'll continue our work Tuesday by dragging out the large artificial turf piece, and the smaller ones to cover every square inch of ground between the Newell and the American trailer.  We'll also attempt to get the Yamaha and Cushman running now that their batteries are fully charged, and I'll temporarily setup the four portable solar panels to assist the 4 on our roof in charging our lithium house battery bank.

Thanks for stopping by!

"The long and winding road...."

 6:59 am - Monday - October 19th - TWW - 50° F, humidity 56%, cloud cover 39%, wind 12 mph out of the south.....very cloudy this morning with a forecast high of 67° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were in Panguitch, UT....

....at Bear Valley RV Park watching the sun set.  We were on our way to Bryce Canyon, which was amazing!  The view this morning.....

....there was a lot of monsoonal rain this summer, and things have become a bit overgrown.....time to get out the ECHO string trimmer!

The 'last' of things that have given you so much pleasure over the years is always bitter sweet, and that feeling is strong as we have now come to the end of  that "long, and winding road" which has brought us HOME. When we moved into our 1982 Newell Classic to live on February 1, 2011 we had no idea we would still be living in her almost 16 years later.  We thought we might travel for 1,2 or 3 years before finding a place to settle, but as the months, and then years passed into the rear view mirror we found we could not imagine living any other way.  Being able to change our view on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis without the necessity of an escrow is, and has been very intoxicating.  I have looked out the drivers' side salon window to some amazing views over the years, and as I sit here this morning looking out that same window at The Wilson Wilderness, and specifically my sister-in-law's 1982 Newell Classic (the sister coach to our 1982) I find myself smiling.  It has been a long, but wonderful journey to come to this point, this place, where we have decided to spend the rest of our days, however many they might be.  

When we first arrived here at The Wilson Wilderness back in October of 2024 we had no idea how much we didn't know about living off the grid.  The first month was a trial by fire trying to figure out how to configure our entire power system to be self sustaining, and require very little generated power assistance, and just rely on the sun to keep both of our Bluetti solar generators charged and sending electrons into our coach to power our 12 volt, and 120 volt systems.  In fact, we actually discussed abandoning our dream at one point, but we persevered, and with the addition of many more solar panels now have continuous power to the coach and the trailer, and here we are back at TWW to live here full time.....winter, spring, summer and fall.

We left the TA Express truck parking lot to drive the final 112 miles back to TWW a little after 8 am, and were transitioning from US-93 to I-40 in Kingman, AZ in less than an hour.  We exited I-40 4 miles later at US-66 to drive the final 59 miles to our final destination in our wonderful, reliable, comfortable 1982 Newell Classic 36 foot diesel pusher.  

We have had only had three minor issues on the road since we purchased her back in March of 2008.  The first was in June of 2008 when the left front tire exploded on I-10 about 90 minutes west of Mesa, AZ.  The tire service guy was there in 90 minutes, changed out the tire, and we were on the road home in less than 30 minutes from the time he arrived.  The second was in October of 2009 when we pulled off I-40 in Needles, CA late at night to take a break.  When I went to start the Newell nothing happened.  Once again, we called Good Sam (it was around 1 am), and the mobile mechanic was there in 90 minutes, fixed the problem (a shorted trigger wire for the starter), and we were on our way by 3 am.  The final issue was an auxiliary coolant line feeding coolant to our onboard air compressor ruptured in April of 2016.  We pulled onto a side street, found the leak, and drove about 2 miles over to a specialty hose place to have a new coolant line made.  In all we were delayed less than 3 hours, and back on the road.  Considering we have traveled over 100,000 miles in her since 2008, it is remarkable that we have never had a major breakdown.

About 10 miles east of Kingman I took a couple of pictures of US-66....

.....by 10:25 am we were exiting US-66 on the north/south arterial (unpaved) which takes us to TWW.....

.....about 20 minutes later I turned onto the street which takes us to the entrance of TWW....

.....within 30 minutes we had parked the Newell in her permanent site....

....where she has spent the last two winters, and then, with Charles' help backed our 2007 American Trailer into its final resting place....

......within minutes we had plugged the Newell into the Bluetti battery bank, and had power.  Our Eco Worth Dual Axis solar tracker was working as it should, and within minutes of plugging in the batteries were at 100%!  Everything was just as we left it six months ago.  Is this the final time we will take our 1982 Newell on the road?  Probably, but one never knows, does one?

Once we were plugged in I deployed the Starlink dish (on the trailer in the picture above), and settled in to watch some NFL football.  Around 4:00 pm we headed over to the house to have dinner with Charles and Phyllis which was baked potatoes, pot roast, onions and carrots.....delicious....

....I took our first 'usie' as we finished our dessert....lemon bars.  We are HOME, and we are happy!

"The long and winding road" - Beatles

Thanks for stopping by!

Next to last driving day......

 7:07 am - Sunday - October 18 - TA Express, White Hills, AZ - 61° F, humidity 37%, cloud cover 41%, wind 7 mph out of the north....very cloudy today, the last day of our travel south, with a forecast high of 77° F.  Where we are headed today (The Wilson Wilderness) the high will be 62° F.  On this date in 2024 TLE and I were in Bishop, CA.....

....at the Tri-County Fairgrounds.  We had planned to continue our trip south on US-395 that day, but high winds were forecast along our route, so we took a 'wind' day, just as we did this past Friday.  The view this morning....

....at the TA Express truck stop in White Hills, AZ.

We were out of bed by 6:30 am Saturday, and on the road by 7:23 am, as we wanted to get through Las Vegas traffic before it got busy.  We would continue south on US-95 until we reached Henderson, NV where we transitioned to US-93.  The section of US-93 just south of the Lake Mead Vista Point is terrible for about 15 miles.  The road is uneven with lots of dips at first, then the right lane becomes almost washboardy asphalt, if that is even possible.  It's been like this for years, and I wonder why NDOT hasn't fixed it. 

At any rate, about 60 miles north of Las Vegas the two way highway becomes a divided highway the rest of the way to Vegas.  The road was smooth, and the driving was easy.  Just as we hoped, the traffic on US-95/I-11 through Las Vegas was very light.  We took a 30 minute break at the Lake Mead Vista Point, then continued south to the aforementioned rough road.  It seemed like way more than 15 miles, but it wasn't.  Finally, I saw the exit sign for the TA Express (Travel Centers of America) around 11 am.  Our 180 gallon tank was down to around 60 gallons when we pulled into the fast flow diesel pump section.  It was the first time we've 'paid the rent' in 6 months, and was it ever painful.  Using our 'Open Roads' discount card we paid $6.449/gallon (that's the discount price...the pump price was $6.589/gallon) for just 87 gallons ($554.07).  I didn't fill it all the way, because I didn't want to pay almost $800 to fill the tank.  Anyway, that took us to over 2/3's of a tank.  When the prices come down to a more realistic price per gallon we'll begin to haul diesel from town, whenever we go into town, 10 gallons at a time to top off the tank.

Once we were done 'paying the rent' we found a parking spot in the back of the truck parking area to spend the afternoon and evening.  We had just covered 152 miles, and the final 29 were grueling, to say the least.  We spent the afternoon watching college football, and were there ever some great games!  In all 5 of the top 7 ranked teams LOST on Saturday including #1 Georgia, and #2 Notre Dame....what a crazy, crazy day!

Now it is time to point the nose of the Newell south to The Wilson Wilderness, and home sweet home.  Thanks for stopping by!