Let’s just do a little updating of our trip to get here, yesterday we were at 7300 feet at 11 o’clock and when we settled into Craggy just before 2 o’clock, we are now at 750 feet, after todays drive the trip computer is showing 9.2 mpg, Thunder is good on fuel but not that good. To put it into perspective we dropped over one mile in height today, could explain the computer reading… you think.

Since we crossed the border on October 31st and started our western push we have travelled 2616 miles (4200 kms) in 14 days, that’s just under 200 miles (320 kms) a day, the biggest day was 341 miles (548 kms) that was our day when we left Amarillo TX and stopped just west of Albuquerque NM. We have been pushed by weather and had one small repair after picking up some bad fuel in Arkansas, we had one day of heavy rain, again Arkansas, I’m starting to see a trend here… I am sure it is just a coincidence but we may bypass Arkansas on the way home in April…just saying

What a beautiful morning here at Craggy, it’s in the 50’s with clear skies, our battery bank is not happy this morning, I’m not just sure why, so I will be checking connections (we have been over a few patches of really bad roads) this morning as they were at 100% yesterday. Today will be a solar only day, as we are hopping not to need any generator as supplement as we start into a week of true desert boondocking, keep in mind that the four batteries that we are using are the same batteries that I felt were near failing two years ago, that we have nursed along, and we are hoping to replace this winter with lithium.

It is sunshine like Arizona that the full potential of your solar system gets a chance to show itself our 700 watts of panels on the roof of Thunder are bringing in 26 amps, then the solar controllers are able to boost that to 30 amps and that is at 10:30 and the sun is not yet directly on the panels, I also have our 200 watt suitcase in direct sunshine bringing in almost 11 amps of power

That’s over 40 amps of power flowing into the system, what we have to keep in mind is that all this time we are using power for a number of tasks. The inverter is giving our 110 volts that is running our creature comforts, satellite, television, recharging lap top, running the basement bar fridge (a guy needs cold beer), recharging our portable vacuum, and other small draws.

The picture above shows the amount of power being pushed into the batteries, so although it varies from minute to minute of the 40+ amps being produced almost 30 are being pushed into the battery bank for use latter, the battery bank is the key to any solar system and this is why it is our next upgrade, so far the 900 watts is more than enough to carry the load during the day and recharge our batteries, I may have to add more panels when the battery capacity increases.

Thursday Morning and I have been woken to the furnace alarm, if the voltage drops below 12 volts the burner on the furnace gets a little finicky, and as much as the battery bank was full yesterday, after a few hours of television and recharging equipment, and the well below freezing night the old batteries just can’t do their job anymore. So I had to fire up the Generator early this morning to recharge the batteries and supply a little warmth to the coach, it is 29 or -2 here this morning the disadvantage to elevation as it is 59 or 15 degrees in the valley, we are going to descend over 6000 feet today to a spot along the Colorado river that is below 1000 feet of elevation. It has been a busy first few days in Arizona but the warm temperatures of the valley are calling and I’m ready to sit in a chair in the sun and take a few days off, and after that we may even get the kayaks in the water.

Lake Havasu is our destination today, should be about a four hour drive, we will top off the fuel and find a little piece of desert for a week or so, just dry camping on BLM land. Craggy wash just north of Lake Havasu City limits is our desired spot, only a few miles from supplies, it is a 14 day stay location, the Bureau of Land Management allow us to settle into a spot for 14 days at no charge, there are no services, what ever you pack in you must pack out. After your 14 day stay you must move on at least 25 miles away, where you could stay another 14 days and then you could come back to Craggy wash. Now because there are no services it means you have to have enough tank capacity for both fresh and waste water, generators are allowed to provide power but not between 10 pm and 6 am (quiet time), there is normally a camp host with some sort of sign by their rig that you register with, there are numerous spots in Arizona that this is done and we will be staying at a few over the winter.

There is also BLM land that is designated LTVA (Long Term Visitor Area) these areas offer limited services, they have a dump station, potable water fill up spigots. and garbage dumpsters on site. Now the fee for this is $40 for 14 days or $180 for 6 months, in the LTVA you can stay in the same spot for the duration, breaking camp to dump and reload with water. There are groups of people that gather every year as a community and will have a method of trucking water and waste water so as a group then never have to move. The Arizona desert is a labyrinth of ATV trails, running in all directions through the desert and large groups can be seen daily heading into the desert, the ATV becomes your main source of transportation as they are accepted on most roads and in most towns in the Arizona desert.

So we are settled into Craggy Wash in the Lake Havasu area, solar panels are tilted to get the best bang for the buck, temperature is 82 or 25 degrees and nothing but sunshine. The battery bank is full and with the evening temperature only going down into the high 50’s the furnace should not be required at all, today is the first time we have been able sit out since we were at LHR (Lake Huron Resort), it’s great to sit in the sun and absorb some vitamin D after a month of cold weather and being chased across the continent, but this weekend is going to be mid 80’s with just a little cloud tomorrow should be nothing but solar…will keep you informed.