Goodbye Springfield

After getting a few questions answered and picking up a 300 watt pure sine wave inverter, I said goodbye to all the wonderful folks at AM Solar. 

I headed out 58 and over Willamette Pass to 97. It had snowed last night on the hill as the locals call it but I was assured I would have no problem.   There was some snow on the side of the road and in the trees but none on the road.

The pass is at 5128 feet and this picture is at a little lower elevation. 

After coming back down off the hill, I arrived in sunny Eastern Oregon.  I am staying in this area for a couple days to dry things out.  I will dump my tanks and fill with fresh water before heading out so I should be good for a while and can camp anywhere. 

It is cold here!  Today was a high of 49 and a low of 31. Tomorrow's forecast is for 58/26.  Brr.  Sunny though.

Life is good.

Batteries

Here are some more pictures. I can't show everything because there is some stuff mounted above the batteries where multiple wires are combined so there is just one positive wire coming to the battery. 

I believe I am going to head east this morning to central Oregon so I can dry out. 

Life is good. 

Solar up and running

My solar installation was finished this afternoon.  During the walk through at about 3:30 PM on a grey and raining afternoon I was getting 2.7 amps from the panels.  According to the installer this means all four panels were working very well.  Hopefully tomorrow there will be some sunshine.

This is all I can see of the solar inside the RV.

 

 This is the remote that shows everything that is happening with system.  The charge controller is in the cabinet behind the remote in a "hidden" compartment behind a fake wall Born Free put in to hide some wiring.  So I didn't lose any cabinet space at all.

I also had AM Solar install a 12V outlet with a heavy wire directly under the cabinet with the controller in.

Here is how it all fits together.

I didn't take a picture of the batteries today so I went out in the dark and snapped a few.  They didn't turn out so good but here is one of them.  Tomorrow I will try to get some better pictures.

The thing on the left with the yellow on is a battery cut off switch.  It all looks nice and neat.

In a day or two I will head for Arizona where it will be warmer and drier.

Life is good.

Panels installed!

The four panels are installed. Everything is complete down to the batteries.  Tomorrow they will remove the old batteries and the sliding tray and put the AGM batteries in on their sides.

Here is what my roof looks like now.

The panels will tilt up if I want to angle them to the sun or clean under them. 

Looks good to me.

Solar install

I have been sitting on the Oregon coast for the last couple months enjoying the ocean and not updating my blog.

Spent some time driving the back roads,

and walking on the beach,

hiking on trails,

and dog sitting my son's dog.

Max is a wonderful dog.  Very well behaved and it was a pleasure having him in my life for 2 weeks.  He was a perfect gentleman on our many walks, adjusting his stride to mine and not dragging me around which I greatly appreciated.  I greatly appreciate the training my son and his wife have done to make him the great dog he is.

      Solar install!

Yesterday I left the beach and headed to Eugene, OR to have my solar installed at AM Solar .  They have a wonderful reputation for doing a great job putting solar on RVs.  This morning I pulled up at their facility and they talked me through what I wanted and what they could do.  After giving me an estimate for my install, they started putting it together.

Two of my four 100 watt panels are on in this picture.  The other two are going behind that neat blue lift thing.  I am also getting 2 AGM Lifeline GPL-6CT batteries with a total of 300AH.  Should give me plenty of power.  I will have the Blue Sky IPN PRO remote meter  to monitor the system.  The charge controller is a Solar Boost 2512iX-HV MPPT.  Can't wait to check it all out.  Now I just need to find some sun!

Life is good.

Warning: Sharp curves ahead!

Sharp curves and steep hills were the order for today and yesterday.

Highway 12 in Washington









Yesterday I traveled I90 to I82 then turned off on Highway 12 almost to I5.  The interstate had lots of steep hills and 12 had hills and curves.  Good thing I was not in a hurry to get anywhere.

At the top of White Pass (4500) I saw a group of new Jaguars in different colors.  Looks like they were having a photo shoot.  Later the red and black ones went roaring past me going down the mountain.  I decided not to race them.

Today I took I5 south to Longview and took the bridge over the Columbia River to Highway 30 in Oregon.  Traveling west on 30 there were lots of hills and curves again.  When I turned on to Highway 101 down the coast, you guessed it, lots more hills and curves.

I am settled in here near Pacific City for a while so no more driving the RV for a while.  I will be making some trips with the car but that is no problem.  The coast is grey and cool which feels good after the constant sun and heat I have been in.

Two nights ago I stayed at the Crescent Bar Resort which was in a beautiful spot but the drive down off the cliffs to almost river level was not something I want to do again.  Curvy road and most of the time I seemed to be at the edge of the cliff about to go off.  Coming back out was easier since I didn't need to worry about braking for the curves and I was on the inside.  Here are some pictures from the Resort.

I drove down from the top of those cliffs.

A pretty view of the Columbia River.













I only had one bar when I fired up my Jetpack today so I whipped out my new Sleek 3G and hooked up the antenna getting me a nice 3 bars.  Life is good.

A walk in the woods

Yesterday I went for a walk from my campsite to check out the area.  A small path joins with an ATV trail that winds around in the woods.

Large boulders plopped down by themselves along the trail.

Lots of new growth.

A cute baby tree.

Lovely ferns below a tree stump.

I got up pretty high before the trail ended.

A small ground squirrel sitting on the tree stump.  Can you see it?

My handy Leki poles.  I don't take a hike without them.

Home.

I ended up hiking just over 4 miles which is perfect because that means I accomplished my daily goal of 10,000 steps per day.  I managed 10,770 total at the end of the day according to my Fitbit.

Took this picture out of my RV window.  There is a critter to the right of the large rock in the bottom left of the picture.  I think it may be a yellow-bellied marmot but I am not sure because it doesn't seem large enough.  There is a family of them and they live under a pile of rocks at the edge of my campsite.

It's Thursday already and I need to plan my trip for next week.  Monday I need to leave here and I think I will head to the Oregon coast area.  Probably will take a couple of days to do it.  Life is good.