Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Moose sighting on the way to Quartzsite!

Isn't he a beauty?

I wish this photo was really taken in the wild!

The prettiest moose I've ever seen - at Cabela's!  I couldn't believe I was able to take photos of such beautiful animals, right there in front of me as if we were in the forest.  They had lots of different animals, some high up on the mountains, others in the water, ducks flying overhead, little squirrels and beavers, many, many animals that looked alive in their habitats.  I've never been in a Cabela's before, but I had heard about the store. They sure do have a good inventory of outdoor things.  The only thing I bought was one of those neck scarves that you soak in water and put around your neck to stay cool in hot weather. I plan to buy another smaller one here at Quartzsite for Katie.

As I posted last time, I stopped at D & R Family RV in Glendale, AZ on my way to Quartzsite to take care of a short list of items I needed done.  Here is my new LP valve:


So now I can shut the propane off to the Wave 3 connector unless I'm using it.

NEWS FLASH!  The year-long issue of my electrical problems has been solved!  Turns out, I've been running my refrigerator/freezer off my inverter when I'm not on shore power.  That's 30 amps.

Since I was spending the night in Ron's shop lot last night, I mentioned to my neighbors that I was going to have my generator running (some of the people are plugged in, but I'm not) for the Presidential Debates. I wanted to warn them because we are all so close together.  They were sweet and said not to worry about it at all. Ron overheard this and said, why are you running your generator?  I told him my solar/batteries numbers would be too low and he said, no, leave the generator off.  If you can't run your TV until 10:00 PM after your batteries being completely full today, there's something wrong with the batteries and we'll return them while they are still under warranty.

He said he'd check them in the morning and then we'll see.  I didn't realize I could run the TV that late on only my solar inverter.  Nice!  I'm even more happy that I stopped here on my way to Quartzsite!  :)

So, the next morning I told Ron that within three+ hours my batteries were at zero.  He checked my batteries and they were good, and after more checking and discussing, he figured out that when I'm not hooked up to shore power, I've been running my 30 amp refrigerator/freezer off the inverter.

All this time, for the last year, I thought the fridge was off if the red light above it was off.  When Ron left for the evening, he noticed the red light on over the fridge, and pushed the button to put the fridge on propane for me, and not realizing what I was doing, I pushed the button again so the light was on, taking it off propane.  The fridge was using the inverter all night.  When it brought the batteries down close to zero, the inverter alarm went off, and I turned the inverter button off.  But the fridge is on the inverter line, and was still drawing power from it as long as it was not on propane.

Ron explained to me that when the red light is on that means I'm running it off electricity, the generator, or the inverter.  If there is no shore power and my generator is off, the inverter has been keeping the fridge going.  "Propane power = red light off outside, light on inside the fridge." Now I know why my batteries have been going down faster than they should.  I wondered why people working on my rig always turned OFF the fridge!  Turns out, they were putting it on propane.  Then I pushed the button and put it on inverter power.  For a year.  Wow.

It's amazing all the things I'm still learning - important things!  I guess when I have room in my brain for more stuff, it just spills in.  My brain chews up the knowledge, spreads it around until I've got it, then opens a new door for more stuff.  You guys who have been RVing for many years - you must know so many things that you take for granted that those of us who are newer on the road still have no clue about. 

WE'RE IN QUARTZSITE!

I was really surprised at how excited I was to be back. I was thinking, as I was driving along the 10, about where I was going, the kind of site I was going to look for, etc. And also thinking about how, last year when I made this same trip for the first time, I was totally clueless. I had no idea how this Quartzsite thing worked, what it would look like, where I'd find a site, etc., as I was driving along with my brand new solar panels and Wave 3 catalytic heater.  I was pretty nervous about the whole thing last year, but determined to "do it."  This year as I was driving toward Quartzsite I was just happy and excited to get here.

We have a great campsite in the La Posa South LTVA. It has some large creosote trees and a large saguaro right outside the door, and also a tall one behind us:

 I took this last night when the moon was rising.   Can you see the Saguaro Cactus in the middle of the Palo Verde trees? 

 This morning I moved The Palms for better solar orientation.
I can also look out my window and see my campsite turned this way.

These are the sunset shots I took last night.  As I zoomed in and moved my camera slightly to the right, I got entirely different views of the sunset.  It was a gorgeous Welcome to Quartzsite! sunset for our first night here.





WELCOME to our two newest Followers:

Maryjane Warren lives in Chino Valley, AZ, and her photo shows her with a beautiful Greyhound. I'm sure Maryjane came over to Me and My Dog from Hazel's blog.  Maryjane, you don't show any information about a blog or RVing interest, but as a fellow dog lover, WELCOME!  Katie and I are happy you are following along with us.

Dawn King also appears to be a dog person, too. Her photo is of a beautiful dog, and I'm guessing Dawn is following us through her visits at Class A Greyhounds...RVing with the big dogs! also. Dawn, welcome to Me and My Dog, we're happy to have you  aboard!

From me and Katie, have a great Wednesday, everyone!  :)

21 comments:

  1. Glad you got your battery issue resolved. No wonder they were running down so quickly!
    Have a good winter in Q. Looks like you found a great spot.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow is right - glad you figured that out. Looks like you got a great spot! Hope to meet you and the lovely Miss K. I plan to be there around the 2nd week of Jan.

    OMG - I so envy you all your knowledge. I'm where you were over a year ago. I feel lost learning all these systems and I get it wrong much of the time. Steeeep learning curve.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I don't let Jim near that store. We never get out of there. Glad you found a great site at Q. Sue hope we get to see you there. Or maybe at Yuma.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You'll be able to run an RV repair business before too long!

    May I share with you what's been keeping me from reading and commenting on blogs lately?

    "This Restless Life: a study of Central Coast California parks through photography, interpretive collage and stories" is a book project of which I'm in the midst. If you have the time and the inclination, would you take a look at my short video to learn more about the project? If you like the project, would you share it with your network of friends and family? Thank you sincerely. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1778487749/this-restless-life?ref=email
    Levonne Gaddy
    Maple Leaves and Comfort Tea

    ReplyDelete
  5. You sure have been seeing a lot of wildlife lately! Good thing they don't have live ones at Cabela's, they would never get you out of there, you'd be taking so many photos! Glad to hear your power problems have been solved for the most part. Nice that you're back in Quartzite, where you enjoy yourself so much. Thanks for all the helpful things you've posted, and the photos.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have always heard that as you get older your brain fills up.... when you need to remember something new, your brain randomly dumps out something else. Good to know that I will be able to learn new things!! While I rarely buy things from Cabela's it is nice to see items in person to help make decisions. Amazon Prime is my friend!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I think it is wonderful that you went into detail about what has been causing your problem with power. It just might save several people from inadvertently making the same mistake. Good for you. When you are parked out there in the heat, do you try to park so that your fridge side is in the shade or try to give it shade somehow? It can make a real difference in how it works. Keep sharing, you are an inspiration.

    ReplyDelete
  8. It was a totally beautiful sunset!! Wow you truly have learned alot! When i left in 2010 for the winter, i would turn off the propane, completely when on the road, then wonder why everything was melting in the freezer!! :) AND that whole inverter thing is way beyond me... never could figure it out!!
    Your spot looks wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
  9. We never stop learning. I'm envious of your arrival in Q. :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Learn something new each day, some days we learnt two things. Happy Qing.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thank you so much for your blog. You have been a huge inspiration for me as I follow in your footsteps. Retirement, buying an RV, selling my house which just went on the market today! I hope to meet up with you on the road, possibly in Quartzsite this winter. Solar and an Olympian heater are near the top of my to-do list. Thank you again for your helpful postings, I've learned an enormous amount from you.

    ReplyDelete
  12. There's a lot to learn about living in an RV isn't there. Once it's learned it's no big deal... but, oh, the learning curve. I don't get to Cabela's very often but I sure do like looking around when I do. Don't ever buy much because I think they're expensive. Their animal displays are always a high point.

    ReplyDelete
  13. That was a great bit of information about the inverter, I will may sure I write it down for when I am out on the road.

    That is sure a beautiful sunset. Enjoy Quartzsite!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Amazing what we keep learning!! So glad you finally figured that one out. For some reason Quartzsite just seems like home during the winter. We certainly don't want to spend much time there during the summer tho.

    ReplyDelete
  15. So glad you made it to "Q" safely. We normally park closer to Bouse to avoid the crowds. But the sunsets are great from both places. Please be carefully and watch Katie, it's still warm enough for snakes.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Great news about your battery problems. There is still a lot I don't know about my RV.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Great news about your battery problems. There is still a lot I don't know about my RV.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Pretty soon you'll be able to teach a "You and your RV" class to beginners! I'd take it for sure!

    Yes I'm a dog person too. You can see more of her at: dawnkinster.wordpress.com

    ReplyDelete
  19. Or..here....is the link! (DUH!)

    http://dawnkinster.wordpress.com/

    ReplyDelete
  20. "Beautiful" skies and you sure had me going on seeing a moose. Ha ha...the joke is on me as there are no moose in AZ :)

    ReplyDelete
  21. Thank you so much for posting this information - I'm definitely bookmarking this for future reference. It's amazing how much there is to learn (and know) about the RV lifestyle.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your comments - we LOVE them!