This morning we are headed to the LTVA at La Possa south for one more dump and refill on our 14 day pass, the forty dollar pass allowed us three dumps and refills as well as garbage. So we have the generator running as we are doing a load of laundry, we had enough water and grey tank space so might as well take advantage.

We are being pushed a little because we have an appointment shortly after noon to have a couple of windows repaired, the side windows of the coach are dual pane thermo windows…but what happens over time they leak and get moisture in between the glass. This is caused in part by the elevation changes that the coach experiences as we move across the country, this fogging impairs the view, which is annoying, but when it impairs the drivers view it gets to be a safety concern. So there are a number of companies offering a service to correct this, the issue is that if they have been fogged for a number of years the glass gets etched, so even after they are cleaned and resealed the vision is reduced. In a home the glass would be replaced…simple right, the problem with the coach the glass is tempered so if in an accident it will just crystallize the same as the side window on your car, but the tempered glass can not be cut, so the glass would have to be cut and sent to be tempered, but a lot of the guys out here in the desert are replacing it with regular glass that would shatter into shards which could cut someone badly if broken.

The other option is to have them made of laminated glass, while expensive, it can be cut to measure, and like your car windshield does not crystallize or break into shards. It will never become fogged again, therefore never reduce our vision, so they are removing our windows today, they will cover the opening with plastic, and return them in a couple of days, a major undertaking and a major expense but a necessary one.

We have repositioned the coach to get a better solar harvest, we can stay here for another week on BLM at Roadrunner, then we will have to move on, we will either go to LTVA or another BLM, it will depend on what Miss Laurie can plan, as our next reservation in not till the middle of February in Nevada. While we can stay on BLM sites for free this time of year internet is nonexistent and cellular service is very limited, I have had multiple days that we have been unable to post our blog or even receive email or texts, so all is well in our world, but there have been rather large gaps in our connectivity.

It’s Monday morning at 7:54 and the sun has just hit the solar panels, it’s a mild 48 or 9 degrees this morning, and while we are discharging at a rate of 16 amps this should start to turn around over the next hour or so. The forecast for the day while in the mid 70’s will be cloudy as a new storm is hitting the Pacific coast, while there is no precipitation in the forecast, high cloud will temper our solar harvest.

We will be adding to our solar array, with the addition of two more panels, Matt at Continues Resources has 210 watt panels on at the show for $190 and this will bring our total array to 1.1 kilowatts which is the maximum that our controllers can handle, so this week will see us adding some new panels. I just need to track down a couple of tilt mounts, and some wire connectors, and a battery cut off switch.

Well the high cloud turned into just heavy cloud, so while the solar started to carry the load of the coach, we were not replenishing our barrel bank, so it turned into a generator day, and the forecast now has a cloudy day for Tuesday with rain as well. So I have started to upgrade the puck lamps in the coach, Miss Laurie has never been a fan of the brass / gold trimmed lighting so now we have frosted glass, and I have to admit it is an improvement to the appearance as well as the lighting. The original lamps had halogen bulbs which I switched out to leds, which reduced both the draw and the lumens, so these are a much nicer lamp both on and off.

You can even see in the daylight how much more light is hitting the window valence, and the puck lamps in the ceiling almost disappear into the headliner. We are pretty much captured from visiting, or getting out, until the windows are reinstalled, hopefully Wednesday morning then we will go and visit with friends at La Possa south, and head back to the tent for a few items.