108V and Dropping

With the now steady 100-degree-plus temperatures here in Lake Havasu City, we surprisingly are having more visitors to our park on weekends.

Apparently, since it’s also hot in California, a lot of Californians are driving to Crazy Horse, and when that happens the voltage in the park drops as more air conditioners and microwaves are used.

We use a plug-in voltage meter to measure the park voltage coming into our park unit (or motorhome), and when the voltage drops below 108V, it’s time to hook up our voltage regulator.

Basically, it can “boost” incoming voltage by up to 10% — so 108V becomes 118V.

Since low voltage can harm motors (like a refrigerator compressor), we choose to boost.

On the bright side  . . .

Work continues on our water softener shed. We should have it done in another few weeks and then we can have our rental softener installed.

The Shed

One of the Best RV Studies I’ve Read

Maybe not the best bedtime reading, but . . .

Though this study is probably intended more for RV park owners rather than RVers, it contains some interesting information about RVers and RV parks.

Some quotes from the study:

• Americans currently own nine million RVs, a million more than on the road five years ago.
• Fuel prices would have to triple to make RVing more expensive for a family of four than other forms of travel.
• A standard RV uses only 27 gallons of water/day, whereas a household consumes 150 gallons/day.
• Greenhouse gas accounting confirms that actual RV travel creates a lower carbon footprint than comparable air/drive/hotel vacations.

A Study of Sustainability at RV Parks (2010) by Linda Powers Tomasso.

Preheat

Midnite @ the Oasis – a May night on our patio

It’s Summertime and the living is . . . HOT! Last week the temperatures in Lake Havasu hovered in the hundreds. For a former Wisconsinite, those are temperatures we might rarely see in July or August. However, in Arizona, this is just the beginning — the Pre-heat.

During the next several months, temps will climb past 100 on a daily basis — the real Heat.

And then there’s August — the monsoon season — extremely intense short rain storms followed by searing heat. Can’t wait. If push comes to shove, we can pull the RV out of storage and head for the mountains where it would be much cooler. So with the heat in mind, we had sun shades installed on our patio and most of our windows.

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The shades lower the amount of sunlight, decrease wind, and add privacy. The shades are rated at 80% which means it’s hard to see in, but easy to see out.

On the domestic side, we “made” our bed . . . an Ikea storage bed that raises up to reveal a space beneath . . .

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Finally, the Snow Birders all left about a month ago and very few campers are left. We get an influx of Weekenders every Saturday and Sunday, but other than than, it’s sparse. However, we hear that Memorial Day weekend is nuts here.

Where’d everyone go?

“He’s Just Looking for a Meal”

A Gopher snake (Pituophis catenifer).

Feeding a Roadrunner

Here’s a short video of our friends Jim & Marianne feeding a ground beef ball to a roadrunner on their porch.

The sound in the background are boats on Lake Havasu.

Listen for when the roadrunner clicks it formidable beak.