My original goal was to have everything set up and ready to go for Burning Man and be completely green. Run the rig off BioDiesel and use solar panels to cut down on the generator use. But the lenders had other plans. Since the loan took so long to close and clear I didn't have the rig until the Monday before the Saturday we were supposed to leave. So as time was limited and I didn't know how it would run on BioD, that was the first thing nixxed, however it will eventually be converted. BioDiesel, it's good stuff!!!
With only a few days to get the work done I headed up to Lake City to meet with Jon palmer of Palmer Energy Systems. This guy was so damn interesting. They live on 500 acres and live off the grid, solar and generator only, even their water is hauled in. We sat down and he took me on an electric golf cart tour of the property and then handed me the outline he had for the rig. $8500 ! Ouch, having just shelled out to buy it and have it insured and registered this wasn't an option. He ran the numbers for me and showed me how long it would be before the solar panels earned their keep, unless i ws boondocking it a lot. I knew it needed batteries right away so I opted for those some rewiring and an electrical management system ( think of an RV surge protector). Next we will do inverter then solar. Oh yes we will go solar!
It took me 2 days camping out in the RV to get that completed and I drove all eve Wednesday to get home. I was beat. Driving the new rig was physically demanding till you get the hang of it. Not to mention nerve wracking. When i got home all i wanted to do was sleep, so I did.
The next few days were a blur, mostly me buying stuff I didn't need and trying to make an appointment to get the il changed on the RV. I don't understand why you need to drop it off for 2 days for a 45 minute oil change. I finally found a place that would take it in for only a day to have it serviced. Shoudouts to Kadina and Kat for driving me and picking me up from there. Friday night I had it bacvk and was ready to start loading things, but did I... NO i went to Jordan's BBQ. Saturday though I was up early (which for me is 8 AM) and packing
prepping and loading you can check out my organization skills on our other blog http://burningmantrip.blogspot.com
or right here:
Sean and Adrian finally arrived and we compared our lists. Flashlightss...check, Grbage Bags...Check, duct tape... check, Zip ties...check, Shade structure...check, 50' rope 1 copper piece... check. The rest we knew we had to head to the various stores to pick up in order to have our on the playa and on the trip. Bikes, respirators, Space age bubble wrap, you know the essentials. we didn't have nearly enough time to get everything we needed and get out by the arbitrary time of 6:00 PM. So instead we both didn't get out on time and didn't get all the items on our lists, naturally. It's par for the course. We finally got out around 8ish and were on the road to O-town for the night
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