Animas Forks 4WD Trip

Yesterday we took a Jeep trip to the ghost town of Animas Forks.  The road to Animas Forks is one of the mlidest four-wheel drive roads around here.  The photos below were taken along the way.

The houses in Animas Forks were built in the 1900-1910 era by people who worked the booming mines and mills in the Silverton area.  They are remarkably well preserved considering the severity of the winters up here.

Silverton, Colorado

We arrived at Silver Summit RV Park in Silverton on Sunday afternoon.  There are two major passes, Coal Bank and Molas, between Durango and Silverton.  These passes will really test your equipment.  The CAT diesel on this motorhome did better than any other I have owned, maintaining 35-40 mph on the steepest grades while pulling the Jeep.

Campsite at Silver Summit

View From The Campsite

Another View From The Campsite

The D&S Narrow Gauge Train Passing By Our Campsite

It has rained here every day since we arrived, more than on any previous trip here.  The cloud cover has prevented the solar system from achieving a full battery charge for about 1 1/2 days now.  The batteries are at about 88% full charge this morning and I am stubbornly refusing to turn on the 120V AC battery charger.  There is hope for some sun today, we will wait and see.

The photos below were taken while walking around the town between rain showers.

Solar Update

The solar system that was installed on the motorhome earlier this year is really working out here.  We have hours of direct sun each day in northern New Mexico.

The battery charger that normally charges the coach batteries from the campground electric hookup has been turned off since we arrived here on Wednesday.  All 12V power that we consume is being replaced each day by sun power.  The Trimetric monitor shows us to be down about 50 amp-hours each morning before the sun rises.  By about noon to 1 pm these 50 amp-hours have been replaced by the solar panels and the batteries are back up to full charge.

When we are in Silverton CO next week we figure to be using solar power more extensively as air conditioning should not be required there.  The daily high temperatures in Silverton have been running in the low 60s!

Local Vendors

There are some very interesting locals selling jewelry, food, etc in the parking area on the east side of the highway 64 gorge bridge about 7 miles west of Taos.

Gorge Bridge Vendors

We bought a few things such as dried apple slices, cinnamon almonds, a necklace and a blown glass pendant.  The glass pieces were being sold by the rather interesting fellow in the photo below and were made by his sister.

Local Sales Outlet for Sara Chatfield Glass

The lady below was selling various spices for $5 a bag.  She has a web site www.riograndechile.com.  She informed us of a road just a few miles further west that will allow you to drive down into the gorge.  We are going to try it later.

Eske's Brew Pub

Some photos of us enjoying cool outdoor dining in the shade at Eske's Brew Pub.

Eske's also operates a hot air balloon ride service.  An interesting combination of businesses.

Balloons Over The Rio Grande Gorge

This morning there were two hot air balloons visible just west of our campsite.  The balloons are operated by local companies that offer rides into the Rio Grande Gorge.  Our neighbor here at Monte Bello took one of the rides with his wife.  At one point the balloon basket actually drags through the river for a short distance!  We were somewhat interested, until finding out that the cost is $220 per person for about a 45 minute ride.  You do get free champagne at the end of the ride though.

Balloons Over The Gorge

Taos, New Mexico

We pulled in to Monte Bello RV Park in Taos, NM just after 5 pm on Wednesday July 6th. The park is located about 2 miles west of town on Highway 64 which goes out to the Rio Grande Gorge.  It is a very nice clean park that we had always passed on the way out of town but never stayed at before.

The photos above were taken in the park just before sunrise on Thursday morning.  The highest mountain in the background is Taos Mountain.

We will stay here three more nights before moving on to Silverton, CO on Sunday.

Palo Duro Canyon State Park

We are making the second stop on our 2011 summer vacation trip in Palo Duro Canyon State Park after spending three days in Wichita Falls visiting my folks.  The location is site 87 in the Mesquite Camping Area.  The weather is hot, but not quite as hot as Wichita Falls.

It appeared to have rained quite a bit Monday afternoon before we arrived as there was a lot of red dirt washed up on the water crossings and some standing water.  There were some clouds and a little thunder Tuesday afternoon, but no more rain.

After taking a partial hike to Lighthouse Peak on Tuesday we just stayed at the campsite and enjoyed the nice view from this part of the canyon.  We packed up and departed for Taos, NM on Wednesday morning.

San Antonio

We are in San Antonio for the Memorial Day weekend.  Saturday was a trip to the River Walk and Sunday we went over to the Market Square.  At the Market Square one of the musical groups playing was Wayanay Inka.  They are from South America and we have seen them here several times before. 

We took a drive today up to Canyon Lake.  On the way back we spotted a very cool place called the Shade Tree Saloon and had lunch there.

Quintana Beach

Here are some photos from our annual spring trip to Quintana Beach County Park.  It was cloudy most of the weekend and not much chance to test the new solar charging system.

Site No. 25

Several years ago an LNG processing plant was built in Quintana just across from the park much to the displeasure of the local residents.  Today an LNG tanker docked at the plant to unload its cargo.

Huge LNG Tanker Maneuvering into Position to Unload

We had never seen one of these tankers before.  Our neighbor at the camp said it takes them about three days to unload all of the LNG (liquified natural gas).  Once unloaded, the LNG is stored in tanks and converted from liquid back to gas by the plant for distribution in the Freeport area.

LNG Processing Plant

Here are some photos of the local hangout, Bridge Bait Ice House.  It is located under the big bridge going over the waterway to Surfside.

Bridge Bait Ice House

You can sit outside and have drinks and watch the traffic go by on the Intracoastal Waterway.

Patty at Bridge Bait

Boat Traveling the Intracoastal Waterway

We had lunch at Pirate's Alley in Surfside.  The surf was really up.

Beach View from Pirate's Alley Restaurant in Surfside

Original photos of this trip can be viewed at http://gallery.me.com/johntx#100321

Next scheduled adventure:  San Antonio, Memorial Day weekend 2011

Power On

Yesterday the final connections were made between the solar panels and the controller.  The weather was partly cloudy though and the motorhome was sitting in the driveway partially shaded by some pine trees.  Under these conditions the performance was pretty bad, with the charging current registering less than 3 amps on the Trimetric battery monitor.  It was late in the afternoon, so I decided to put the motorhome back in the storage for the night.

Today, the morning clouds started to clear up around noon so I went back to the storage and backed the rig out into the sunshine for another test.  Much better!  Now the batteries are seeing a charge current of better than 15 amps.  I tilted the panels up 30 degrees using some temporary pieces of wood and the current increased to 18 amps.

Panels Soaking Up The Sun

View From The Top

All Panels Wired In Parallel To A Common Point

The Trimetric monitor was showing a small load on the batteries of approximately 1-2 amps before turning on the solar system (I'm not sure from where yet).  The monitor measures all current into or out of the batteries via a current shunt.  This means that the current from the solar controller is actually 1 or 2 amps higher than that shown on the monitor.  This would put it at 19-20 amps (with monitor showing about 18 amps).  This is right in line with the sum of the rated currents of the panels.

17.9 Amps Net Current Into The Batteries

 

The next test was to turn on the Xantrex 2000 watt inverter and power up the 120V system.  I then turned on the 26" LCD HD television, DVD player and the refrigerator (running on propane, but still drawing a small amount of current from the 12V system).  Still getting a net current of 5 amps into the batteries.

That's it!  The system is now operational.  With time left over to watch some of the Masters golf tournament on solar power.

Solar Panels Installed

The three solar panels were installed on the roof of the motorhome today.  Toward the rear are two Kyocera 135 watt panels and the one in the front is an 85 watt panel made by UL Solar.  All three panels are capable of being tilted left or right to provide increased output in low sun conditions.

View From The Front

Panel Output Wiring

The #6 wires to the solar controller are routed through a roof vent that was added above the rear bedroom closet.  All that remains now is to make the final electrical connection to the panels using MC4 connectors.