For the record the topper guy is Ron Butts with Shade Pro RV Awnings. Nice guy and sounds like he knows his stuff.
After this we figured we go to Quartzsite and do a bit of laundry, fully intending to bring it home wet and hang it on some contraption that Brad has planned and I know no details of.
And we did - go to Quartzsite and do a bit of laundry, that is. It was a cool, cloudy day today so we left Robbie at home and the two of us drove in. He dropped me off at a new laundromat the Palm Plaza Laundromat since I was so thoroughly unimpressed with the last one. I loved it. It was clean, quiet, the other users were friendly and the price was great. $2/wash and .25 for 7 min on the dryer I put it in for 45min and it was dry when it finished. Not sopping wet. Well worth the price. So a huge thank you to the management of that place, we will be back.
Our Laundry Hamper
Saw this notice of the upcoming Farmers Market and I'm excited to check it out on Tuesday.
While I was doing laundry, Brad went to go have a chat with the solar boys again. We've been finding that its not keeping up with our energy usage, so he wanted to see what we could have done to it to correct the problem... perhaps another panel and upgrade the controller... the boys suggested tilting the panels and they could fit us in right away. So he came back to the laundromat to pick me up.
We rushed home and packed up the rig for moving and off we went. Dropped her off at Discount Solar yet again for the boys to fix her up. They removed all the panels, put tilting feet on them and replaced them moving one into a better position. We are not able to tilt them for a few days (5 apparently) to allow time for the lap sealant to set up well before the wind hits them. $482US for today's little add-on but apparently it will give us the 20% extra we seem to be missing.
Kendon on the roof of Ace once again
Obviously we also need to cut down on our power usage. We'll have to limit ourselves to a morning and late afternoon charge of all the gadgets on generator power until we are able to tilt these babies. Even after that we will be watching our energy usage much closer, killing the Keurig will go a long way towards that. Brad drinks about 8 cups of coffee a day... yes, I've told him - he doesn't care. So when we were watching Moving Forward the other night and they were showing their Presto MyJo K-cup coffee maker, we knew we just had to get one. THIS alone will save us enough power over the course of a day to send Armstrong to the moon and back. I ordered him one the very next morning along with a new collapsible kettle for both of us.
After returning to our campsite, having dumped the black/gray tanks and reloaded the fresh water we set the rig to better orient her for her new solar setup. Brad promptly began patching the holes left by the atrocious placement of the panels by Woody's RV in Red Deer. He is none too happy with them at the moment and I try to remind him that they are Dealers not Solar guys but he is mad at the hack job they did to our roof and thinks they shouldn't be doing solar if they don't know what they're doing. We have A LOT of patches up there now with the original 4 that came from the previous owners satellite dish, 14 now.
He managed to get 4 of them patched and sealed today but has 6 more to do in the morning. We specifically told the guys at Discount Solar we would do them ourselves so that we can be absolutely sure they are done correctly given the high number of them. All this patching will undoubtedly affect any future sale should we choose to upgrade and we will likely have to replace the entire roof. Long time readers will remember we have some experience with this. Somewhere in all of this we also order 4 new tires for the Jeep ($914US) Gulp!!!
By this time it was 5:30pm and the steaks we had out for supper while tempting were not enough to entice the effort required to cook them from either of us so out for dinner we went. Remembering that someone (sorry don't remember who) recommended Mountain Quail Cafe, that was where we went.
Mountain Quail Cafe
Well, let me tell you - I'm no Gordon Ramsey but I hope that wasn't how you remember it. Not anymore anyway, the business is for sale and while the atmosphere was clean, quiet and the staff were very friendly and happy, the food - well there was some of it that even Brad couldn't eat (he ate in ditches in the Army). He also didn't drink the coffee. I had chicken fingers and when I couldn't rip them apart I picked up my knife and fork but couldn't cut them with those either. It was bad. Just bad.
I've become quite the critic lately. Not sure I like it, but I have been writing quite a few Yelp! reviews. Most of them are good experiences so I guess that balances things out but when we have an experience like we had at the laundromat last week and today's dinner, I just think its important to let people know. Not just potential Customers of these establishments but the Owner/Managers as well. If they don't know there is a problem, they can not be expected to fix it... this is my view on this. Feel free to correct me if you feel different, because I don't like writing bad reviews but...
Well tonight when I was reviewing today's laundromat a Google something something popped up asking me to become a 'Local Guide' doing reviews of the places we experience. I have taken it on, mostly because I can take it off if I should choose to.
I sure wish I used these reviews myself, I must get better at it. Usually when we are going for dinner we just go and see what we see, we don't Google to find out what other people's experiences are at a place. I need to do this more - at all actually.
Generally it was a good and productive day that just ended badly but tomorrow is another so...
Onward and Upward my friends, Onward and Upward.
I want to see the contraption Brad built! Then I want to see your new tires, then I’ll show you mine...then I want to see picture of the roof, and you up there handing Brad a coffee...if he can’t drink coffee anymore I’d suggest the Devils Juice we told you about! Salud!
ReplyDeleteLOL OMG that is too funny. You had me in hysterics, great way to end the night so thanks for that. Just gotta love ya!
DeleteOne of the better restaurants - The Iron Horse - is 35 miles east of you on Hwy 60 in Harcuvar. On your way there check out the Ramblin' Roads RV park in Hope. We winter there. Activities, events, ATV trail rides, etc.
ReplyDeleteThanks Bill, that's a bit far for dinner but we'll keep it in mind when we travel.
DeleteGood noon lunches too. I think they close one day a week, but I forgot which one. Can call ahead.
Deletehttps://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g31342-d7390249-r266729640-Iron_Horse_Grill-Salome_Arizona.html
The key to a good review of a business establishment is HONESTY whether the review is positive or negative. The review does no one any good if it is fudged one way or another.
ReplyDeleteThis is true. I suppose it makes me feel the same way as doing videos and taking selfies... who am I? I suppose I'll keep at it for a while and see if it gets easier.
DeleteWe very seldom go to restaurants, as I would much rather cook it myself better. And save to money. Tilting your panels in the winter does make a huge difference. When we are boondocking we use a 12 cup coffee perk on the stove, needs no electric power, You sure use a lot of power we can get by quite comfortably with 230 watts of solar and 2 -6 volt trojan T105 batteries and still watch tv at night and charge all our devices
ReplyDeleteYes well we have a few gadgets to say the least. The most important one is the CPAP but we also need the phones and laptop charged so that we can talk to you all. :) We will be making changes because its clear we are using a ridiculous amount of power, though our batteries have never dropped below 70% either it should be noted. We try to keep them stocked.
DeleteEverything is a new experience for sure. Still for us, only our second year. We learned a lot last year about things like elevation, solar panels, generators and the sun's location in the sky. Bill, (On Our Way) as I know you've figured out that we are 'mates' now, can fill you in on our solar panels and all that battery stuff. I just know we have a full size residential fridge which requires constant power PLUS our Keurig. Tried the perc and didn't like it for us so we had some upgrades on solar done and have been doing fine. Still learning. Good luck with your learning too!
ReplyDeleteMorning Pat, Sounds like I need to borrow your husband LOL We'll figure it out eventually. We seem to be okay but losing mildly everyday so we hope the tilt will help. Look forward to running into you guys someday soon.
DeleteSorry to hear you had a bad experience at the Mountain Quail, I was the one that recommended it to you. It used to be the best cafe in Quartzsite and it will be disappointing if it turns out to be a flop now. Not to many Very Good restaurants to choose from in QZ anyway! tilting your panels will does help by almost 30% in some cases. we have a total of 405 watts on our roof and it takes care of most of our needs. we dont watch much tv so that helps keep it down too. we have used Shade Pro before and they do great work.
ReplyDeleteDoug, If we're here long enough we may try it again. We liked everything except the food, which really is the point of the whole thing. We appreciate the recommendation nonetheless as we would never have found it tucked away in the back there. Now we know to looking deeper into the side roads to see whats around. :)
DeleteHi Katie: Pat's praises of my solar knowledge is always a boast. I have learned a lot since we started and still more to learn. Everyone will tell you what is the best way to go, so listen to it all and make the best decision that fits your needs and budget, remember everyone needs for power can be different. With the total of 1040 watts of solar panels, 2000 watt inverter and seven 12 volt batteries, we still have to tilt our panels and run the generator at night if we watch TV.
ReplyDeleteThe laundromat we used last year was the Main Street Eatery and laundromat on East Main Street. They constantly were looking after it and the food in the eatery was decent. Also we like Silly Al's, great food also.
Hi Bill, this solar thing will no doubt be a learning curve for years to come. I wrote about my experience at the Main St laundromat last week. It didn't go well though the eatery did look okay but we didn't try it that particular time. We quite like Silly Al's also, its comfortable and the food is good.
DeleteSorry to hear about that laundromat, it was the only one we would use last year, never had a problem.
ReplyDeleteYa know, I feel bad when I have a bad experience - like its my fault for going during a bad time or something, I can't explain it.
ReplyDelete