Inverter and Batteries Today

Mike of Jolly Rogers RV in Cheyenne, Wyoming, installed two of the new golf cart batteries in the side battery compartment first.

Pete pulled Whimsy around to the front driveway of Jolly Rogers RV with their pickup this morning where I will be staying in Whimsy for the next few days as they install my solar panels, catalytic heater, BigFoot Levelers, fix the water heater, etc. Mike here is wiring in my new 2000 Watt inverter which will magically transform my battery power into usable house current to run everything in Whimsy.
Without the inverter the only things that get juice in the 5th wheel are a few paltry fluorescent lights and the slideouts and landing jacks. With the inverter I can run all of my appliances and all the outlets and lights will work. The four deep cycle golf cart batteries are necessary to store enough power from the solar panels, generator, alternator, and or shore power to run all of Whimsy's electrical systems without being plugged into shore power making her an ultimate boondocking rig.

Lucky is my co-pilot. On the advice of Linda York, President of Pet Pals, Inc. pet rescue, my large dogs are all seat belted in now and the little dogs ride in their crates when we are underway. What a pleasant difference that makes! The dogs are secure and much quieter. Lucky never was a problem but since he loves to ride in the co-pilot seat he sure could have gone through the windshield. Now he has his own seat belt harness, as do Sadie and Jake on opposite ends of the backseat with the other three crated in the middle and on the floor.

Another gorgeous Wyoming day here in Cheyenne. Perfect for wiring in four new house batteries and an inverter. Temperatures were in the 50's and no wind.

Pete plugged in Whimsy out front of Jolly Rogers RV so that the animals and I could stay in the RV while they begin working on Whimsy's new inverter and batteries. They had to drop the bottom off of Whimsy's backside to get to the wiring and electrical panel. As Mike was working on it he noticed that Whimsy's fresh water tank is dropping out! Good thing he spotted that. What a mess that would have been.

It is such a beautiful evening out. It is a totally different atmosphere living in front of Jolly Rogers RV just off East Hwy 30 in Cheyenne. The dogs love watching the cars speeding by and their favorite vehicles to bark at are UPS trucks. Amazing!

One might think being in the parking lot of an RV service place would not be very pleasant. On the contrary it is just different and actually quite pleasant. Lots of hustle and bustle during the daytime, but the city lights sparkle like jewels tonight and there are many Christmas lights visible from this vantage.

Two of Whimsy's new house batteries are in the front compartment with the new inverter. The other two batteries are in the side battery compartment, see the picture at the very top for those.

Movie Time

Tonight thanks to more wonders of modern conveniences like the Verizon air card, and Netflix streaming movies, and of course my Dell Vostro computer, I can watch any movie I want from the Netflix collection of 17,000 movies that stream instantly on line. Of course most of my kids don't watch the movies with me but sleep like Morris and Casey are doing above, but Sadie does watch movies with me especially if there are animals in them.

Tonight I have decided to watch Moonstruck on my laptop. Since I purchased my nifty Phillips speakers yesterday at Walmart we are able to kick back in our reclincer at the opposite end of the living room and still hear the dialog.
Last night we watched An American in Paris. Hope you are having a wonderful Thanksgiving. We have so many blessings to be thanking God for today. Among them are life and liberty, but above all is His free gift of salvation made possible by Jesus' suffering the punishment in Hell for eternity for each and every person who will ever live.
Have you accepted His free gift yet?

Happy Thanksgiving!

What is more luxurious than a nap after a big meal? Why, the meal of course! On the menu today was homemade pumpkin pie, Baked turkey breast, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing and cranberries. Start it all off with a festive rumnog and you've got it made. All of this plenty was prepared by me in my wonderfully fun to work in little RV galley. I used to have a huge kitchen with tons of cupboards, drawers and counterspace but I have more fun working in my little RV galley than I ever did in that huge kitchen. Perhaps the small galley forces me to be a more organized cook?

This detail is of the icy pond in one of my paintings.
However, the weather here in Cheyenne, Wyoming, today was lovely and sunshiney, up in the 60's. Perfect for the walkies I like to take with my six wonderful dogs each day. How is it possible to walk six dogs? Take two walks with three dogs! Oh, and be absolutely sure to use "Gentle Leader" head collars if you don't want your dogs pulling and being unpleasant. Thank you a million my friend, Linda York, for introducing me to these wonderful head collars that transformed my dedicated pullers to well mannered dogs that are a pleasure instead of nightmares to walk. Even my two pugs have "Gentle Leaders" now.
What a fun walk we had today. My dear friend, Sandy, called me while I was walking. She was walking, too. We chatted and walked the whole time together almost like old times except she was walking north of Torrington, WY and I was walking east of Cheyenne, Wyoming about 90 miles apart but we were looking at the same moon and sun setting and describing what we were seeing. As I write this at 8:43 pm the temperature is 47 and it is clear as a bell. Gorgeous.

Monday we are to have our solar panels installed, along with a catalytic heater and Big Foot levelers from Quadra Manufacturing!

Fun With Solar Panels at Jolly Rogers

Sorry for not posting sooner but have been parked at Jolly Rogers RV park in Cheyenne WY. Roseanne at Jolly Rogers is helping me order my solar panels and other goodies that I want to have installed on Whimsy to transform her into a wonderful boondocking RV. Also trying to decide between a Flame or Cat Heater. Asked Roseanne if they ever installed levelers on RV's. In particular Big Foot levelers. She said they don't install them often just because people don't have them installed much on 5th wheels. However, she said they did install a Big Foot leveler on a 5th wheel and they were impressed with the design and quality above others they installed. The reason was that each leveler is a complete unit and there are no long hydraulic lines running underneath the floor to leak out. That makes two good recommendations I've had for the Big Foot levelers. So, Big Foot levelers it will be. Have always wanted levelers and now will splurge on them. As Tioga George was informed parking out of level can cause the fridge to fail in RV's. So in the long run it may pay off by saving the fridge. Who knows if I am ever really level? However George has always had levelers on Miss Tioga so that wasn't his problem, a bad weld he suspects. He said he has had 7 Dometic Fridges since 2003. Mine is a Norcold. Hope that makes a difference.

Also need a few maintenance repairs done on the RV. The Suburban water heater will not flame. The electric element heats the water just fine but that won't work for boondocking. Gotta have the flame. Also there is a leak from the china commode! Like it's not seated properly. Just a slow leak but aggravating. Hope it's not cracked or something.

Guess I will be here awhile longer so will have mail forwarded to Cheyenne. This will be the first time I've ever picked up mail General Delivery. Seems kind of strange no longer really having a permanent address other than my mailing service address. Am sure I will eventually get used to it and it will become a routine like checking air pressure in the tires.

There were lots of big snow drifts between Hawk Springs, WY and Cheyenne even though the temperatures have been in the 50's and 60s. Was really lovely today in the 50's and no wind. Great for walkies.