Well that’s not too tough of view out of our windshield…as the sunsets over Lake Havasu, looks like a great start to a very good week. We ventured out to the blue sign store today, to pick up some basic supplies, Miss Laurie is still self medicating with over the counter drugs, other that a few cough drops I have had no medication for over 36 hours. I have set up the outside chairs, got out the barbecue and fire pit, in fact we had barbecued burgers last night for dinner. And then I watch the news and find out Iran has fired ballistic missiles at US military bases in Iraq and just wonder where this is going. And as much as I do not have an answer, I do know it’s not going anywhere good, but then I knew that right after the drone strike.

So Iranian news is claiming mass casualties in the strikes on the military bases and Fox News is now claiming that the Iranians intentionally missed the bases because they were afraid to start a war, every politician that can find a news team and can get in front of a camera is making a statement either for or against…but I’m sure it’s all just fake news…and then there is a Ukrainian jet crash this morning that killed everyone on board. I’m thinking it could be a very interesting next few days, as every body is jockeying for the most favourable news position, no one wants to look weak, and with most leaders that could be worked out with this cast of characters I’m not sure it can be sorted out…which will in the end cost innocent lives.

Enough about the world problems it’s now time to look at my problems…we went to start the generator last evening and she was a no go. Of course it was about seven last night when I tried, so it’s pitch black, so I just did a few quick checks and gave up until daylight today, which should happen in the next hour. Here is what I know, the generator starts off of the chassis batteries, the chassis batteries are fully charged, sitting at 12.8 volts. The chassis batteries are at the back right corner of the coach, all the chassis wiring starts at a panel in the left front corner of the coach, and some place in between I have a bad connection. Because I have less that 12 volts at that panel and with any kind of load it drops to “0”, so I’m thinking just a bad connection, so that’s Brian’s first job this morning. There is no end to generator noise here, they are supposed to be off at 10pm and not on till 6am, but of course people seem to ignore the rules if it doesn’t fit their needs or schedule…these are the people I just refer to as “special”, the only reason they are special is because their mommy told them they were.

The balloon festival actually starts at noon on Thursday so today was just another moving in day, although there aren’t a lot of spots left close to us, we will most likely take a walk or bike ride today to get an idea of the layout as I know we are about a mile and a half from the actual balloon field, that’s what happens when you only book six months in advance. This is the tenth year for the festival and it draws around 25,000 people each year, it is all inside of the Lake Havasu State Park that sits right on the shore of Lake Havasu, it’s located just north of the “London Bridge”. There was lots of boat traffic on the lake, with more to come as the weekend nears, but our vista out the windshield has been pretty good so far.

Generator update: the culprit connection has been located and dealt with according, descaled, wire brushed, and filed to a clean shiny surface, reinstall and tightened, and now we have our generator back on line. Just another day in the life of a full timer, we just take it in stride, if these little issues were a reason to drink, we wouldn’t ever be sober enough roll down the road…just saying.

World War III Update: I was so relieved to hear President Trump almost say today that he would deescalate the attack on Iran, and we didn’t learn anything else at least now we all know why and what caused this near catastrophic event…it was the “bad previous administration” that brought us all this close to imminent danger…like seriously…give your head a shake. I’m almost sure we are all sleeping just a little better tonight knowing who is in control now…just saying I’m not.

As I watched the news last night, one of the stories on the world news shortly after the deployment of thousands of troops to the Middle East, there is a story of a wheel falling off of an Air Canada flight out of Montreal, now luckily every one on the flight was fine and the plane turned around and landed on the remaining wheels. I hope we can say the same about all those America soldiers that have been called into action, I don’t know what will come of this military action but I have a feeling it may not be as good of out come as the flight. I normally try not to comment much about military actions, but this was like poking a really big hornets nest with a real short stick. On the same news cast was coverage of millions in Iran at a funeral, again the crowd was huge, which tells me there are a lot of really angry Iranian people, so like I said a really big hornets nest…ok that’s enough said on that topic.

Now maybe it’s the cold medication talking but as I watched some of the interviews from Iran a couple of things stood out, first and for most how brave or stupid some of these reporters were for being there? But even more than that was that even the children that they interviewed had so much hatred that I found it pretty amazing, because all this hate had to taught. Where does that much hate come from, no one is born with hate, it is an emotion that has to be learned, and I’m sure that all the propaganda that everyone is being bombarded with every day is a factor, but it’s not a lot different than being prejudice against someone for the colour of their skin, their ancestors, or their political or religious beliefs. These are all learned traits, I look at the Middle East as having more hate than anywhere else in the world, and after wondering why? I have to imagine it is why there have been wars there as long as I can remember, we have watched as one country will invade another and after someone (the United States) steps in to stop it they just end up having a tribal war amongst themselves and hating who ever got involved, it’s as if they have so much hated they just need an constant outlet and it doesn’t really matter who they direct their hate at as long as it’s someone.

I know that was a little deep for a Tuesday morning even for me, but it was just something that I thought I had to get off my chest…on a much lighter note it’s 6 o’clock in the morning the temperature is 45 or 7 degrees, clear sunny sky is forecast with expected highs in the upper sixties or high teens, we are only an hour from our destination so a short travel day, my effects from the cold are lessening while Miss Laurie is still suffering, once we are settled I will need to pick up some supplies, we are running low on a number of items. As I expect to be spending a fair bit if time outside over the balloon festival, unlike our last stop on BLM land we will get our chairs out and possibly the fire pit, our space is 60’ X 22’ which is not a bad size for our coach with our slide out we are just ten feet wide so that will give us a good sized sitting area, and depending on our location we may even set up in front of the coach, if that gives the better view, but that will be decided in a few hours.

On the solar / battery front, we have been enjoying all our creature comforts but we are struggling to replenish the batteries, after our move yesterday @ 4pm we were at a 70% SOC (state of charge) and this morning @ 6am we are at 35% SOC (that’s 210 amp), while we got the benefit of the alternator charging yesterday, we brought in minimal solar and with such short days at this time of year we are continually falling behind. Think of it as a big tank and we are using power out of at an average rate of 20 amps per hour so over 24 hours that is 480 amps, the best solar harvest I have got so far was 35 amps, now that was after any DC loads we had but before our AC loads, but even forgetting factor, that the 35 amps for eight hours of sun (which is a stretch) is only 280 amp which leaves us 200 amps short. Yesterday the alternator was producing 60 amps for about 4 hours so a boost of 240 amp. So until we can get some more solar added to keep the tank full we are going to have to use our generator to get us closer. But it means that we are going to have to work at getting maximum solar harvest for now to reduce our generator run time.

As you can see we are settled in, and are meeting all our new neighbours, they cut off entry at 6pm. So the fun will start again tomorrow morning, the issue that everyone is having is that the spots are only 45’ long not the 60’ so people are having to park in the middle of the area to get their opposing slides out then comes the issue of where to park you tow or towed vehicle…all I’m going to say it has been entertaining.