Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Where was I?  Oh yeah, last Monday we went on a hike.  Now it is Saturday and what a difference five days does make.  On Friday, we moved to Juniper Campground in the Ririe Reservoir Recreation Area near Ririe, ID.  Sites are $16 with full hookups, including 50 amp service.  Talk about luxury; now with the electric side of the hot water heater going, long hot showers are a possibility.   The down side is that we are in a brand new loop on the campground and the “soil” on the site adjacent to the asphalt pad is MUD; wet, nasty, dirty mud, and it is raining.  We came back from a laundry, shopping trip today and the sprinklers next to our camper were going full blast, and it was raining steadily.  That mud is not going away for awhile.  Makes it really tough to walk the dogs to do their business.

I finally gave up on trying to figure out why our batteries were draining so fast.  On Wednesday morning we moved to an electric site back at Palisades.  The electric sites there are $8.00 per night vs. the $5.00 for non-electric.  Rosie and I decided lesson one was if you can get an electric site for less than ten bucks, take it and be happy.  We are glad we did experiment with boondocking for a few days.  We learned there is something wrong with our battery storage/drain system, we just don’t know what yet.  I took all four batteries out of the rig and into Idaho Falls to the Big O Tire store where I bought them 2 years ago.  They tested all in good condition and fully charged.  So it isn’t a dead cell in one of the batteries.  Maybe we are using too much electricity off the inverters; meaning unreasonable expectations on our part (maybe too much TV?).  This coming Friday we will move again to a nice, no electric campground about 10 miles from here; and experiment with different levels of usage.  We also asked our RV guy, Tim, to put on his thinking cap since he did the installation of the whole system, and knows a heck of a lot more about the intricacies than I do.

Our current site is really great from a scenic viewpoint.  The sites are all pull through on this loop and we cannot see another camper from our street side view; just junipers and a rolling hillside.  I will post pictures when the sun comes out in a day or so.  Weather forecast says rain through Sunday night.  Monday is supposed to be better with lots of sun for the rest of the week.

Our First Hike

Not our first hike ever, but our first hike as full-timers.  When we were at this campground last year, we discovered a place called Big Elk Campground about 10 miles from here.  It is too challenging to get to with our trailer, but we just took the truck up there on Sunday morning to see if there was a trail.  Sure enough, at the end of the road was a trailhead for Big Elk Creek Trail #097.

                                 Rosie is chomping at the bit.  She loves hiking.

This was a nice hike on a well defined trail through the woods.  Down below we could hear the roar of the water from Big Elk Creek.  Here are some pictures taken along the way:

     

Unfortunately, I am very “out of shape” (unless you consider round a shape) and couldn’t continue on for more than 45 minutes.  As we started up a fairly steep grade, my ole bod just screamed at me “Stop.  No More.”  So we rested for awhile and started back (thankfully) down the hill.  Almost back at the trailhead, we encountered a group of horse riders coming up the trail.  Of course with every group of horse riders there is a big friendly dog running ahead to clear the trail.  So of course Annie started barking like crazy and Sammy went into attack mode.  Fortunately, I had Sammy on a short leash and under control.  So we stepped off the trail about 20 feet and let everyone go by.  That got my ole heart going again.  Sheesh, I gotta get in better shape.

Technology Update:

The Verizon Samsung Galaxy Tab MiFi is working very well here.  We have 3 bars on the pad and on our phones and are getting good speeds for internet access and sending/receiving e-mail.

The solar panels continue to kick out amps to the batteries.  However, the batteries don’t seem to be holding a charge like I think they should.  I ran the generator for 45 minutes Sunday evening to get the batteries up to 72%.  Went to bed last night with 56% battery charge reading and woke up 8 hours later with 26% charge reading.  I purposely did not run the heater to avoid the fan drawdown and turned off both laptops and did not leave either my phone or the Samsung unit plugged in.  The only thing I can figure is the DirecTV receiver came on at 4:00 am to record a show we like to watch later in the day.  I had a phone conversation with Tim, the RV Guy, and he contemplated I could have one bad cell in one of my four batteries, or they just needed a good, long “slow” charge to get fully charged.  Anyway, just things to keep in mind for the future.

This morning (Monday) we had a light breakfast and took the dogs for a long walk (on flat ground) along the river.  I have rigged up two fishing poles with the intention of trying my luck in the river after dinner if the winds calm down.  I will update with the fishing success, or lack thereof,  in my next blog.

Palisades Reservoir Campground, Swan Valley, Idaho

This is a photo from May 2011 of the Snake River as it comes out of the dam on the Palisades Reservoir.  We spent 3 for 4 days here last year in the “hook-up” section.  This time we are in a “primitive” site because we want to give our boondocking skills a test drive for one week.  We arrived and set up Friday about 3:00 pm.  The camping fee here for us Senior Pass folks is $5.00 per night.  That is $35 for the one week we will be here.

It was overcast most of the afternoon and a light shower went through around 6 pm.  Then the clouds parted and the sun came out. until nightfall.  We did not get a lot of sunlight for the solar panels to recharge the batteries.  When we went to bed, the panel display for the solar system showed the batteries were 68% charged.  We set the thermostat for 65 degrees so the fan would not run so much overnight, yet we would not be too cold since the temp was supposed to fall to 35 degrees.

When I arose at 5:45, the display panel showed the battery charge level at 52%, so we did not use a lot of battery overnight.  The sun came out pretty early and by 9 am, the battery level was at 78% and that was after two hours of TV viewing running off the inverters.  By noon, with the TV off and only charging the laptops, the batteries were up to 92%; so it appears the solar panels are doing their job.  We only ran the generator for 5 to 8 minutes to brew coffee and make toast, so the generator charging was not significant.

My morning systems check showed one empty propane tank, so I went to a nearby Sinclair Station and filled it up. Also filled up my 5 gallon gas container for the generator gas tank.  That led into our lunch time and another hour of satellite TV powered by inverters.  Ain’t technology wonderful?  After lunch we leashed up the pooches and headed down to the river bank for a walk and exploration.  Here are some pictures:

   

A really nice site, but too much shade for our panels.

 

This is us in the center of the picture.                               Rosie focused on Facebook and E-Mail.

As I write this about 3 pm, the solar panel is pumping out 10.1 amps into the batteries and the batteries are 82% charged.  I have two Fantastic Fans going and two laptops are powered up.   The generator has not been on more than 20 minutes total all day.  The solar power installation is looking pretty good. 

Tomorrow, we are going on a day hike to an area nearby called Big Elk Campground.  The road is Big Elk is narrow and gravel, so no way am I going to ever pull our camper up to that campground.  We drove up last year on a day trip and loved it, so Rosie is insisting that we revisit tomorrow and pack a picnic lunch.  Tuesday I have some work to do in Jackson Hole and in Pinedale, WY.   Rosie and the pooches are going along for the ride.  I hope to get in some fishing before we leave here.  My lower back is acting up, so we will see if I can work up the energy to throw out a line.

Where Did The Week Go?

Wow!  A whole week gone by in  a flash.  Full timing makes time fly .

Rosie was able to return to her former exercise routine this week; aquatic exercise in the local pool on Tuesday and Thursday, and Yoga on Monday, Wednesday & Friday.  I kept working on the camper to-do list along with reorganizing the basement for the umpteenth time.  One of these days I will get it right, but it may take a while.

On Friday, some friends has organized a “Bon Voyage” get together for us at the Green Belt on the Snake River in downtown Idaho Falls.  We didn’t know so many people would miss us ; about 40 of our friends showed up for burgers and other picnic type items.  Our good friend, Doug Skinner, did the grilling and we all had a great time.  Five fur kids in attendance also.

 

  The first arrivals.                                                            Burgers on the grill.

 

A great setting.                                                         Our fur kids, Sammy and Annie

Technology Note*  I have been looking at the Samsung Galaxy Tab tablet at the Verizon store for about 6 months.  In addition to the usual Tablet features, it works as a Wi-Fi connection for up to five laptops providing a 3G connection to the internet where ever we can get a Verizon signal.  The store price on this was $229.00.  Wednesday evening I was surfing the Verizon Wireless web site when I notice there was a web only “special” on this unit for $49.99.  Way to good a deal to pass up.  This was a “web only” discount, so I had to do the whole process on the web site, with a little help from a “chat salesperson”.  At 2:45 on Friday afternoon, Fed Ex delivered said unit to the UPS store we are using for a mail forwarding service.  I am a little nutso about new technology items, so I was hanging around the UPS store waiting for it.  Got it back to the camper, but only had time to activate it and play with it for a bit before we had to leave for the party mentioned above.

Saturday morning I set up the Wi-Fi connection, established a password to log on and connected both of our laptops to the Galaxy Tab.  Setting a password on a Wi-Fi unit is important.  Your fellow campers can “see” this connection up to 100’ away.  I have heard stories of people not setting a secure password access and then they are surprised when they surpass their Gigabyte limit of 5 GB or 10GB in a short period of time.  Other people are logging onto their system and downloading all kinds of cool stuff to their computers, unknown to them.  Verizon charges $50 month for 5GB and $80 month for 10GB.  Anyway, the system works great at this location.  Download speeds are much faster than the campground Wi-fi.  However, we are in a full 3G area.  I am sure speeds will diminish in areas with lower signal strength.  I have seen other blogger complain about Verizon Mi-fi equipment (not tablet type, just a connection device), so I will continue to report on how it works.

Saturday afternoon we were walking the dogs around the park when we noticed a rental RV with a flag from Austria attached to the radio antenna.  We really enjoy meeting Europeans vacationing in the USA and went over to say Hi.   Rosie greeted them in German (the language in Austria) and that got things of to a great start.  They were on a 4 month trip through the western US and were having a great time.   Later in the evening, Rosie hosted them at our camper and had a long conversation with them.  They exchanged cards with us; they write a blog in German so I can’t fully understand it, but Rosie is a good translator.  I had a meeting to go to, so I missed out on the evening with them, but they may be back here for another evening before we leave here on Friday.

Our next destination is a campground at the base of the Palisades Dam in Swan Valley, ID; about 15 miles from the Wyoming border.  Thanks for stopping by.

Full Timers At Last!

The house is closed.  The extra car is sold.  All the stuff we want to keep is either in storage; or with us in the truck and/or camper.  I think we are officially full timers. 

We are currently in the middle of a month long rental at Snake River RV Park and Campground in Idaho Falls, Idaho.  This is a really nice park.  A former KOA, it has tent sites, RV sites, and cabins.  The owner is active on the site and there is a staff of 10 or so working diligently to make our experience here a good one.

 
We have a 30 amp electric site with water.  The monthly rate of $400 includes a honey wagon that dumps our tanks every Tuesday and Friday.  There is a flat $75 charge for electricity for the month.  The daily rates are in the mid $30 range.  The sites are gravel pull thrus and grassy back ins.  The sites are level.  We selected our site in early April.  It is on the end of a row of pull thrus, which means we have a large grassy area with two trees and no neighbors on our street side. 

   
We are the very last site on the row on the right.     This is the front of our site.  Note the neat fire ring.

 
                                                     This is the view from our front door.

We are about 100 yards from the Snake River, but there is no direct access from the park.  There is wildlife in the area including a variety of water fowl, squirrels and what appears to be either muskrats, marmots, or beavers.  Every time I try to get close enough for a picture they scurry off to the river.   Here is a picture of one of the resident squirrels watching me with some degree of curiosity:

We have hosted friends at our site and the staff has no problem with guests parking on the grass in empty tent sites across the road.  Overall, a very pleasant place to spend our first days of our new life.  However, we are anxious to hit the road. 

A final note on the significance of this day.  Forty five years ago, in a small apartment on Olympic Blvd in Los Angeles, California I was fortunate enough to wed the lovely lady that is sharing my life today.  We hope this adventure will take us through the next forty five years.