Bill and Lisa's Great Adventure: September 2014

Rimrock Meadows First Two Weeks: http://www.rimrockmeadows.com/

We arrived on a Saturday afternoon and proceeded to Walmart for supplies, then to the club house to fill up with water. We have a 100 gallon tank onboard, mainly for showers, washing dishes, and such, and filled 10- 1 gallon jugs for drinking and coffee. Then we drove back up the hill to our property, everything look almost exactly like we left it. We had to pull a few weeds out of the driveway, but the shed and contents were all perfect and the Internet was up and running.

Drive to our Property

Well, we had decided just to relax that night since we had driven over 1000 miles in two days, but if you know me, I cant sit still for long, so by the time we settled in we were set up.

On Sunday, I decided we needed the popup put up as well to block some of the morning sun.

Our Setup (and ignore the wagon that comes later)

The mornings here are fantastic, cool and calm, and the sunrise is great. Wish it came a little later.

Sunrise at 5am.

Since I am working out here, most of my meetings and dealing with folks( even though I manage the West Coast) are usually based on east coast time with many meetings around 5:30 or 6 am PST.

The days are mostly nice with temps in the 80's or 70's. In the heat of summer they can go over 100 but we missed most of that by coming so late. The sky is just amazing- always blue with puffy white clouds.

We walk every day and our paths take us near some deep drop offs into the coulees.

The Palisades and Moses Coulee

Coulee near our property

We never know what we might find... a deer one day, a hawk chasing bunnies, snakes and bones?

Bones on one of our walks

We try to take a different road each day and as usual, we get to see at least two fighter jets flying down the valley.

But the views are fantastic

One of many mesas in Rimrock

and especially when we crest that last hill and see home.

We pass the time working and doing chores, like washing clothes...

Lisa doing laundry with our Wonder Washer

Or tossing rocks!!!

Or taking the ALS challenge.

(Recycled pic from last year)

Meanwhile... I do all the hard work!!!

So for those that are interested (Matt, Mark, Jerry,Jesse) our setup!!!

On the motorhome we have 3 Renogy http://renogy.com/ 100 watt Monocrystalline solar panels.

Have tow deep cycle batters in the motor home that power either a 410 watt or 1000 watt inverter, attached to a transfer switch with the generator so it will switch automatically between the two. We have a gasoline 4000 watt Onan generator and as of tomorrow, a Sportsman 4000 watt propane generator. We had to leave our wonderful Duromax at home since it would not fit.

Outside is a battery box that has two 6 volt Trojan batteries which usually are our main power source. It is connected to a 25 amp charger so when we run the generator it will charge up/

In the shed and on it, are solar panels that charge two batteries and our light. The antenna is for our internet service and is powered by the batteries in the shed.

410 watt inverter that runs the Internet antenna and out WiFi router.

WiFi router.

The motor home has a 25 pound propane tank and we have an additional 30 pounder sitting in the camp. These run our generator, camp stoves, grill, hot water, and fridge. We also have a 100 gal fresh water tank and 50 gallon sewage tank that we dump once a week at the campground. Grey water can be dumped on the property. We usually go to the club house twice a week for water, ice and to dump our tanks. We also go to town once a week or so to get food and other items.

Life here is so good and the sky is so incredible. Night and day... just wonderful images.

Puffy clouds floating by...

Moon over Rimrock

Sunset

More night sky...

In closing:

I love the big sky of the west, growing up in Maryland and then Florida you never get the sense of how big life and our country is.

There is something profoundly satisfying in owning your own land and surviving off the grid or trying too, as we have discovered, that quiet and I mean absolute quiet is precious, seeing thousands of stars in the night sky is priceless and the early morning sunrise and smell of dew on the sage just unbelievable. Every day I live out here I very much appreciate what God has created and it’s just not the sights it is also the people. Friendly, compassionate, ready to lend a neighbor a hand. I love the West and if it ever works out, I will plant my old bones in the big sky ground here.

Until next time....... Bill and Lisa

The Trip:

Well ,we finally departed on August 15^th after much running around, attempting to get the jeep repaired and other last minute items. The jeep got a new exhaust system and then died on the way home, luckily near our mechanic, Mike. Also, Lisa was following with Allen (our grandson) who we were watching that day.

Mike rode with me for a bit, and the sputtering finally happened with someone else in the jeep. Mike said it’s a fuel system issue. We thought long and hard about just taking it and dealing with the loss of power but finally we said let's go without it, knowing that our only wheels out west would be our 30 foot motor home. We started to pull out around noon and BAM! A mean ole thunderstorm hit, dumping buckets and buckets of rain. We finally just left, knowing we'd be dealing with wet roads and poor visibility.

Our first stop was in Georgia just south of Atlanta.

Then we made our way through Tennessee and Kentucky, stopping in Paducah for the night. The next day was a long one with us traveling though Illinois, then over the Mississippi river.

Bridge over Mississippi River

The Mighty Mississippi River

Through St. Louis and over the Missouri River

Kansas City

to Kansas City.

Kansas City KOA

We had a good time sitting outside since the weather was a bit cooler than we were used to in Florida. The next morning I had to work so we headed out later that afternoon to our next stop in South Dakota.

Iowa!!!

Something you will never see anywhere else is construction ahead with the left lane closed and everyone lined up, waiting their turn! No one tried to drive up the left lane and cut in at the last moment! I like Iowa!!!.