With Dixie At Geneva State Park

 We got the wheels rolling again, and decided to have a shorter run today. 

300miles would do it and get us down to Lake Erie and Geneva State Park.

 This time of the year available spots are easy to find in State Parks.

Again we had great weather, very little wind, not much traffic and no drama whatsoever.

Days like this are always the best and worth to remember after years gone by.

After arriving in the State Park and picking a site, we went for a long walk heading over to the beach. 

Not many campers here alright. We were so amazed about how warm it still was. 

What a relief from the cold days we had to begin with. Btw, an electric site at Geneva can be had for $35 - a bargain these days. They have great very clean shower houses as well.

Happy Roads

The weather Gods are still with us as we traveled under super blue skies again. The hills {mountains) of Massachusetts and New York are a challenge for our rig but we have done most of it at 50mph.

We do miss our Class A. It is more roomy, has more power and does not have to fill fuel every 200 miles. It's easier to handle than
this white box behind the van. But it definitely costs a lot more running down the road.

Albany, NY

We enjoyed admiring the colourful countryside along the I-90.

Calling it an early day we turned into a Walmart we have been staying in earlier, at Oneida,NY. This really is a great spot if one is willing to travel a few miles off the interstate.

The place is called W A M P S V I L L E , which certainly has a funny ring to it.

Lunch along the road

We also loved the drive along the scenic Mohawk River

GONE

 After weeks of planning and hectic packing we hit the road today. We are traveling with our trusty Flagstaff TT and though we hate the price of gas, we are confident that we will save big by using our gas driven van rather than the diesel Class A. In fact, when we stopped for gas along the Maine Turnpike I came across a Class A being at the pump ahead of us. His filler had stopped and in passing I read $450.  FOUR-HUNDRED-FIFTY!

The guy was from California and he is up to "lose" $3000 before rolling up in front of his home.

But nough said about that. Our traveling weather couldn't have been better. Blue sky and sunny skies and wonderful fall colours along the road.

Took a short lunch break at Tidal Falls, ME before heading on south.

Are camped for the night at our usual spot at the NH Liquor Sales along the Interstate. Yes we checked out their offers of the day. :-))

More Solar Talk

Being passionate dry-campers we need to be independent, or close to independent in terms of services from outside.

The last two winters were spent in our Beaver Motorhome. first thing I did then was mounting 1200W solar panels on the roof. We hardly ever used the generator after that.

This year, we leave the Beaver at home, due to outrageous diesel prices. Instead, we revert to our travel trailer pulled by our Chev Express van. A little better fuel mileage and the lower price of reg. gas will be more budget-friendly, though still way more expensive tha last year. Funny enough Repubs don't complain about it.

But the trailer doesn't have much solar on the roof, so I ordered 4 extra 200W-panels. When they arrived a few days ago, one was broken. (FEDEX) I got a refund for it, and today it was time to mount the other 3. Btw. the panels came from HQST in California.

I decided to do it the same way as I did on the motorhome using double-sided Eternabond, strut channels and slotted angle irons. This method allows mounting solar panels without drilling into the roof. Extra use of self-leveling caulking provides an even stronger bond.

Eternabond, strut channel and slotted cross-bars

And while I was using the trailer roof gym area, Bea was going after her own business. For several weeks she has been a dog-walker for a neighbour lady who had a surgery. Her dog, Rory, a labradoodle of sorts, was a bit of a hand-full to begin with. So Bea put her dog-training skills to use and is already seeing great success in the change of Rory`s behavior. 

Today, Rory`s owner had a day-long errand in the big city, so Rory stayed with us. And what can I say, it was fun watching Dixie and Rory getting along with eachother.

It is pouring down right now, but tomorrow I will start connecting the panels to the new MPPT charge controller.