It is Almost Time Again

We are now about a week away from heading out for our third year on the road.  At present we are waiting on the arrival of a new trailer axle from Ohio (we'll discuss that in a later post), and a new battery from North Carolina.  The former should arrive any day now, whereas the latter is scheduled to get here next Thursday.

Old Freeze Out Road, near Emmett, ID.

In the meantime, our plan is to spend most of our time at the Gem County Fairgrounds RV Park in Emmett, Idaho ($20, power, water, toilet - no showers).  It is the cheapest campground with power and water in close proximity to Boise.  We already know that we need to be back in Boise this Sunday (for a party), Wednesday (for Alea's final Dr. appointment) and Thursday (to install the new camper battery), so we figure it doesn't make any sense to go very far afield.  Besides, we will also need to return to Boise to get the new axle installed, once it finally shows up.

The one advantage to camping in Emmett is that we are on the old Idaho Hwy 16 alignment, which includes "Old Freeze Out Hill."  That provides a nice, 2.5 mile climb on a road with virtually no traffic.  So, weather permitting, I'll be riding up that as often as possible this week, in an attempt to quickly regain some lost fitness.

So you might be wondering what have we been up to since we've been back in Idaho?  Here are some highlights, some of which link to more detailed explanations:

1. Obviously the main thing has been the full replacement of Alea's right knee and her recovery from that surgery,
2. We have reconfigured the interior of the van (I'll likely discuss that in detail in a later post),
3. We've installed a solar panel on our van, 
4. We've done some sewing: in addition to some minor mending, we've made a cover for our fan (which we will leave in storage this year), a cover for our camp chairs (so we can leave them out overnight without having them covered in dew), and a galley sun shade,
5. I have been working on three separate book projects, including the latest draft of a book about my Davis ancestors of Jackson County, Illinois, 
6. We've been dealing with taxes - amending our 2014 & 2015 taxes, and filing our 2016 taxes, and
7. In general, we've spent a lot of time looking for tiny improvements to our gear and equipment, in an effort to further improve our awesome life on the road.

The new solar set up is working great.  It provides more than enough power to keep our Dometic refrigerator cold during the day.  And it has pointed out something that we had suspected since about midway into our trip to Mexico - that our present camper battery has seen better days (thus the wait for a new battery).

The main cause of the camper battery failure was due to a blown fuse on the charge line that comes from the van's alternator (which happened when the van's battery was replaced last fall).  That meant for about three months we unknowingly had no means of recharging the camper battery, except when we were connected to shore power.  So the battery voltage was repeatedly drawn down to a very low level, which significantly shortened the life of the battery.

Both the van and camper batteries should last far longer with the new solar setup, as it assures that both batteries are fully charged during the day, whether we are driving or not, and mostly regardless of what accessories are drawing power.  Of course it will work best in full sun, but it still produces a reasonable amount of power even on cloudy days or in partial shade.  If we had the new battery now, we would be camping for $8 per night near Montour, ID, since access to power would only be necessary on cold nights.