Day 59, Monday, October 2, 2017 - Silver Falls State Park, Sublimity, OR, Day 2

Monday, October 2, 2017 - Silver Falls State Park, Sublimity, OR, Day 2, 0 Miles, 1,302.9 Towing Miles For the Trip

I spent the morning reading, and digging out a couple more long sleeved shirts out from "dead storage" under the bed. The only way to get at the suitcase I have them stored in is to lift the mattress, prop it up with a broom, and hope things don't come crashing down while digging around (they didn't). As long as I was there I also got out the parts to install the battery monitor. It looks like it is going to go in the face of the cabinet over the range hood. I originally wanted it over the refrigerator, but when they moved the solar controller to under the passenger side dinette bench (I still thing it would be better over the refrigerator, but Escape said NO!) I had them cancel running the wiring. While a practical location would be next to the solar controller (and much easier to do), I don't want to crawl around on my knees every time I want to check my battery status. Anyway, it will be a project one of these days. I might even purchase a Bogart Engineering SC-2030, a solar controller that mates with the Bogart battery monitor. I've never been impressed with the performance of the GoPower system.   Of course, then I will have to find a new way to switch the inverter off & on since it is currently done using the solar controller.

I also tweaked the FM antenna. Escape installs a bolt through 8" antenna with no ground plane. It works OK for major stations, but I sent them a radio chosen for it's high gain front end, and the current antenna doesn't supply enough signal to make it work on weak stations. Since I like to listen to NPR, both the news & the classical stations, pulling weak stations is usually necessary. So, I did a temporary fix by adding a 4' piece of copper wire running between the antenna & the refrigerator vent. It worked. The one static filled news station is now clear as a bell, and I have 3 new weaker ones that are listenable, including one classical station. I'm going to look for a longer stick antenna to see if I can get rid of the wire, but until then, that's my new antenna.

I drove to the nearest Safeway (14 miles) to make sure they had blueberries. The pies for the rally are going to have to be frozen. They have fresh that look pretty good, but at $8.00 per 18 ounces, that would be $32.00 for 2 pies (each pie takes between 30 - 32 ounces of berries). They do have frozen wild blueberries, which I like better than the standard high bush berries, so one 3 pound bag plus one tray of fresh berries will make 2 pies.

Around 3:00 I headed for a shower. Let me tell you, while there was plenty of hot water (although a low volume, high pressure showerhead that produces cold water at your knees while burning your shoulders), you do tend to get dry in a hurry at 50°F room temperature. I really have to start carrying a standard shower head & a wrench! There is a thermostat on the wall, but I thing it is just there to make you think there is heat.

Dinner was as close to a Cuban sandwich as I could get with the supplies on hand, and broccoli. Call it at least a warm sub.

Until next time -