Quartzsite Round-up

Just a quick round-up of our few days back in Quartzsite. As I posted from my phone, our solar install was completed late Friday. We got it done at Discount Solar as they had done my installation on my Class C. They started at 9am and finished around 6pm. Phew! Long day for all of us....

We killed time by:

1. Getting coffee at the little bakery shop down the street.
2. Browsing Beall's Outlet and Family Dollar where we picked up a few things.
3. Watching the install.
4. Getting coffee and pastries at the little bakery shop down the street....we sat down this time and enjoyed all the signs scattered around the store and above each table. (see pics below) We were at the "Impossible" table.
5. Checking out the local General Store...decent grocery selection for the basics.
6. Quickly running through the little flea market set up beside the general store.
7. Visiting with friends Dave & Leslie who stopped by to see us. We had missed connecting the last time in Q, so this was great. We chatted about a wide variety of things. They headed out as we got the walk-through on our solar setup.
8. Enjoying the UNBELIEVABLE moon rise and associated sunset. (see pics below).

NOTE: Stu is doing a full blog on our entire rig setup and the details on the solar install. I will only list the basics here for those who are interested.

• Four Kyocera 135SX solar panels
• Six AGM 6-volt batteries
• Blue Sky Solar Boost 3024i with IPN Pro
• Prosine 2.0 (2000watt) Pure Sine Wave Inverter
• ITS 50 amp Transfer Switch
• #2 gauge wire from junction box to batteries
• #8 gauge wire from panels to junction box

We headed out to a different parking spot at Hi Jolly, a bit frustrated in choosing the best site due to it being dark. LOL! It had gotten cold and we ate up a bit of our battery charge running the furnace but our first night went well. We woke to batteries well above 50% (memory bad but think it might have been about 76%).

Stu slightly moved the trailer to face more southerly and then raised the panels. First OOPS....they forgot to give us the braces for the panels. We'll have to pick them up on Monday.

We did a little computer work and watched to be sure we were charging...and we were. We turned off the inverter and headed into the car show. The weather was perfect so we headed out on the bike. We were almost there when Stu asked if I had remembered the camera....oops, nope! LOL! We did have the little waterproof camera on the bike so we opted to give that a try. Not the best for the day...out of 129 photos taken, only 62 were kept and some of them aren't the best but I kept them. Here are a few, the rest are at SmugMug. While there we ran into friends Mike & Janna from Montana. We had met when I was workamping in MT the summer of '08. We'd tried to connect while in Q earlier but again, that didn't work out. We had a great chat and look forward to seeing them again in Yuma area.





On the way back from the car show we stopped at Grandma's Heaters (north end of the parking lot at the RV Pit Stop) and picked up a 10,000 BTU Pro-Con Blue Flame heater. It will get installed when we get back from Florida. Until then we will use the furnace sparingly. We have converted most lights to LEDs and fluorescent but forgot the outside ones. We'll get those when we are back in Yuma at the Arizona Market Place.

When we got home we grilled some ground buffalo burgers, sweet onions and four colors of peppers. I've been playing with finding a marinade I like since eating with our friend Ara. I think I hit on a combination we both enjoy and we'll try it on chicken next. What didn't go on the veggies (grilled in tin foil), went into the burgers. Stu had the leftovers for lunch today and said it was still good!

Sunday (toady) was our day of rest....the batteries are great and we've had the inverter on all day since about 8am. Both computers running, used the microwave a couple of times (for 1-2 minutes at a time only), now using the Blu-Ray and TV while Stu watches a movie and I blog. I did snag a couple sunrise photos. We find ourselves getting up earlier and going to bed earlier...a good thing!





One last note, I haven't been posting daily updates on our walking but we are averaging a minimum of 30 minutes (3,000 or so steps) up to 2-3 miles (9,500+ steps) every day. We are both seeing a difference...both in how our clothes are fitting (especially Stu) and our arthritis. Still have to grab the Tylenol and Aleve but it's worth it. We are both committed to getting stronger, healthier and hopefully a little thinner before this year is out. Processed food is getting shunned as much as possible, trying to eat out less, and doing more healthy cooking and eating. Viva 2010!

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna & Stu

PS. As always, check out all the photos in our SmugMug galleries.