'Glamdocking'

 7:01 am - Saturday - January 4th - TWW - 41° F, humidity 29%, wind 10 mph out of the south by southwest......partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 52° F.  On this date in 2016 TLE and I were boondocking in the Anza Borrego Desert with good friends Mike, Liz, Steven and Linda....time for a sunset fire.....

Left to right: Moi, TLE, Steven, Linda, 

and Mike (Liz did not make the picture)

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

Friday was to be the last day with highs in the 60's for over two weeks, so we were out early to get stuff done while the sun shines, as they say.  First task of the day was to do a 'burn pile' out of the very dry stuff we cut up Thursday.  It wasn't a very big pile, but it burned with a lot of intensity.  TLE and I had to stand back about 20 feet.....

.....we had two shovels, and two 5 gallon buckets of water should the need arise to put out any spot fires, but there were none.....

Burning down nicely

Almost done

.....we also picked up some more clippings from the trees around the Newell that I had cut Thursday in an effort get rid of more shadows on our Newell solar panels.  As the sun begins to move higher in the sky with each passing day those shadows will begin to disappear, but for now we need more sun hitting those panels.  At present we only have about a 4+ hour window with they are completely bathed in sunlight with no shadows.  Even the smallest shadow on one of the 4 panels will dramatically reduce the wattage going into our house batteries.

Once that was done TLE headed inside to do some reading, but my day was not done.  I headed out to the trailer to work first work on the wind turbine.  You may recall that we installed it over 6 weeks ago, but were not getting the results we expected.  There are three wires which come out of the base of the actual wind turbine motor, and I only utilized one of them thinking that each wire provided 12 volts, but I was wrong.  I need all three connected to get 12 volts (the instructions were very vague on how to connect all the wires.  Now it is ready to reconnect to the pole, and the control module.....

.....next up I worked on revitalizing those 42 year old electric motors which used to power two of our Suburban gas furnaces (kitchen and bathroom).....

....these motors cannot be taken apart very easily, so I did not attempt that, but I used WD40 to clean the exterior, and the shafts, then dripped oil down the shaft from both ends (the bearings are not sealed).  Once that was done I connected them, one at a time, to the 12 volt bench tester I have to run them for a few minutes each to get the oil to penetrate as far as possible.  As I did so they began to quiet down considerably.....no more squeaking, or screeching.  I'll keep them for future use should any of our existing motors begin to go bad again, but I don't think that will be an issue.  The new motors will probably outlive TLE and I....at least that is my hope....lol!

Finally I turned my attention to a long delayed project.....mount The Wilson Wilderness sign on the metal frame left here by the realtor through which Phyllis acquired the property.  I had a piece of 1/2" plywood left over from the shelter for the Predator 500, which only had to be trimmed a tad to fit the metal frame......

....now it is ready to be deployed.

During the afternoon TLE and I refilled our onboard fresh water tank, and then refilled the IBC water tote with another 275 gallons of water from the water tower.  Then, while the hose was still hooked up I washed the Cushman and Yamaha ATV for the first time since they arrived......

....and with that another TWW day came to an end.

Life here at the 'Wilderness' continues to be idyllic for TLE and I.  This is probably the best winter gig we've ever had, and we are serious about that.  We are basically boondocking, but it feels more like 'Glamdocking' (a take off on 'Glamping')....I think I just coined a new phrase....lol!  We're living way off the grid, but we have all the comforts of living in an empty RV park, plugged into an electric pedestal....kind of like LPG&RVR feels when we arrive there in late April each year, before all the customers begin to arrive.  We've pretty much got the place to ourselves 5 days a week, and when Charles and Phyllis come for a day, or two it is a whole different, but still great experience.  They will be arriving again this morning (Saturday) for another stay, and I believe we'll be heading into town to acquire another 1800 gallons of water, shortly after they arrive.

Thanks for stopping by!