Well I’m off to a sluggish start today, I am coming down with Miss Laurie’s cold so I guess the best I can hope for, is because I did get my flu shot the effect will hopefully be less than what has hit Miss Laurie. So I crawled out of bed at 8am just as the solar starts to harvest, the state of charge is at 50% not too bad we only dropped 25% over night or 150 amp/hours. Remember it’s not about how much power we actually use everyday that is at issue, it’s about our ability to replenish the power we have used, and it’s all about that ability while we are boondocking, because the alternator on Thunder charges the batteries when we are on the road.

The weather today is very similar to yesterday, full sun, a good solar day, only difference is the cool breeze from the north, so it feels cooler than it actually is. Because we will be moving tomorrow, what ever the solar array brings in today will be what we have to work with, our time here in Yuma has not worked out as well as we had anticipated, no movie, no visit with Gilles and Francine, no trip to California to see the Pacific Ocean and no supply restocking…just way too many NO’S, but this is real life and we just have to roll with the punches that life throws at us.

So let’s try to stay positive as we move on, we have reserved a dry camping spot on a parking lot in Lake Havasu State Park and it’s on a first come basis. So our plan is to be there early on Tuesday morning the gates open at 9am, to get our pick of the 60’ X 22’ pieces of a parking lot, the direction we park will determine how much solar we can harvest, but since we are going to Lake Havasu for the balloon festival the desired view may effect the parking direction. Because we will be there for a week we need to go there, with full fresh water and empty waste tanks. In a worst case generators are allowed and we may have to supplement our solar. I would also make the assumption that there will be lots of generator noise all over most the week.

So Monday we will head north up US-95 through Quartzsite, so we will most likely dump waste, refill fresh water, and top off the propane tanks at the RV Depot in Quartzsite, we had hoped to visit some people while in the Quartzsite area but that now with our colds doesn’t look likely. We could stop at a number of spots on the way up, I think the actual spot will just remain open at this time, much will depend what time we get on the road, we are less that three hours away from Lake Havasu so it would be good to get up a close to our final destination as possible so maybe to the Parker AZ. area tomorrow.

Solar Update: at 4pm Sunday afternoon our state of charge is 72% so we will not get to where I was hoping as the charging level has dropped off to less than 20 amps if we do get to 75% it will not hold till 8pm…Conclusion we will need more solar panels, looks like at least 400 watts…but we will see.

Here is what I have learnt so far in 2020. Number one the first of the month is not a good time to go to a Verizon store…apparently all the new plan options are announced at the beginning of the month and every old grey haired fart was lined up to do a plan upgrade. Of course I was one of those old grey haired farts in the line up as well and I was able to get double the data on my monthly data plan as well but it was a hour of my life that is just gone…like seriously. The second thing I have learned today, and it’s not even noon, is that the UPS stores aren’t real good at fixing UPS created screw ups, you may remember that I received a wrong item back in December, and that our UPS driver was to bring a return label for, but he didn’t for any one of a plethora of reasons way too long and tedious to even start to get into. So today I went to a UPS store to try to just get a replacement label and drop the package off, let me just say that none of that took place, even though I had a tracking number, apparently that could not take place. And now even though I had just blogged about how I was going to try to be more tolerant of Stupid…here it is noon on the 2nd of January and I have failed in my quest to be more tolerant 😦 So after a long call telephone call with John C. at Amazon customer relations, and after John C. had assured me that they were able to email me a copy of the UPS shipping label, the same label that UPS said could not be copied….

Well it appears that John C. has been unable to to fulfill his promise, as the email I just received has again not got me the elusive shipping label, since I still have not received a shipping label and the package is to be returned by the 6th of January here we go again…so for my sixth attempt to return the item that they shipped to me by mistake, I have decided to attempt another email…and my new approach is to basically just ask for the return address so I can just fill out a new shipping label, that way I can pick a courier that is maybe just a little more helpful than UPS, we will see…so right now it looks as if this saga will obviously have to be continued.

Update…I may have touched a nerve…maybe…just saying.

So I’m just going to declare January the 2nd as a successful day with a small victory after a couple hours of frustration. So just a quick update, batteries are doing a great job, handling over night, solar is is bringing in over twenty amps of power at mid day of which about half is going to recharge the bank. Miss Laurie has came down with a cold 🥶, so she is self medicating with over the counter drugs, the temperature in Yuma is a nice at 70 or 21 degrees, with full sun, the BLM land is about as crowded as we expected but other than some rail and road noise it is a great spot to spend a few days.