MOC Quartzsite Rally, Day Four

Copyright 2013, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

January 18, 2013

Weather is quite nice, the temp early in the AM is already 48, which is considerably higher than the high for the day a few days ago.

The gals were beading again, this time making these cute night lights:

Some of my friends and readers may wonder just what is boondocking and how do you do it. Well, it is camping/rving sans water, sewer or power hookups.  I thought I might show you a few ways to provide power to our rigs while sitting 7 to 8 miles from the closest power plug. One way is solar power, solar panels installed on the roof and wired into batteries and inverters and all kinds of electrical stuff and ta da, power at the light switches.  Yes, that is an extremely simplistic explanation.

Another way to power up is to run a generator or two.  This set up of MOC member John, has two generators, and that container on the ledge set up is 5 gallons of fuel that feeds both generators.  John also has a rather slick power plug on the front of his rig, which does not show in this photo, sorry John. LOL  So, you run the generators, they can power your electric while on, so you can run a toaster or a coffee pot (which those of you who know me, know that that first cup of coffee in the AM is VERY important!  LOL). The generators will also charge your batteries, back at that inverter system, ta da, yep, again, you have power.

Below, this umbilical cord looking set up is rather unique, this plugs into a setup in this guys diesel truck.  He has a dedicated alternator installed in his truck to charge the batteries in his trailer, again, with inverters and electrical stuff, he has power.

I am not going to try to make this confusing, I am no electrician, so, we will keep it simple and let's just say, these are all ways to provide power to our RV's.  RV electrical systems are complicated as there are really two systems, one 12 volt and the other regular household power, 120 volts.  So, let's stop right there with the explanations, the purpose was to show you, not teach you all about power.  LOL  

Let's chat about water.  Our units hold a limited amount of water, somewhere between 50 and 100 gallons of fresh water.  There are no water spigots out here in the desert either so, someone has designed these water bladders, which hold 40 gallons of water.  In town water can be purchased for 5 cents a gallon, back at the trailers with the use of a 12 volt pump, the water is pumped out of the bladder and into your rig.  Ta da, water again for a few days.

Now, what goes in, well, you know, it has to come out.  It is illegal to dump waste water on the ground, so, we have pumpers come out and remove the icky used water.  No photo!  LOL

Moving on to the rest of the day, the trailer show here in the desert continued.  Many visited, chatted about what we liked, what we did not, what works for each of us.  So interesting to hear others chatting and explaining about their needs and wants.  The dealer threw us a pizza party with 15 Goliath pizza's from Silly Al's.  YUM!

Man and J and D and I went to town shopping.  We spend the balance of the afternoon shopping.  J and I each purchased two hats.  I also purchased some kitchen stuff (yea, for the few times that I am forced to cook!  LOL) and I purchased a "violin" bottle.  My cousin Nancy used to collect these, this one was purchased in her memory.  It is also the first one I have seen anywhere in years.  On the way back from town we noted that there are more signs at the turn than there were when we arrived here in the MOC circle.

The hats and the violin bottle:

Back home in Tana we quickly cooked a steak on the grill, tossed a potato in the microwave (powered by our generator) and had dinner. As we were cooking, I noted a pretty sunset.

After spending a hour or so at the campfire, Man and I retreated to Tana.  The fur kids were in need of some TLC, it was time to come home and enjoy a few hours before the generators are turned off and we shut down for the night.

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