Favorite places: 2021.09 FORT BRAGG California

Not using the Van.
Using the truck: 1500 Ram Laramie.
Parked a block away from the Sizzler under a tree, to give Callie some shade.



Stopped off at the Sizzler, where chickens roam the grounds. Callie sees lots of cluckers.


In front of the cups is the Back Camera for the trailer. Vegetation sometimes shows in purple, but a small price for the night vision.


Stayed at Robinson Casino.
We are center in picture; Trailer with large back window.
There is another trailer, without a tow vehicle, that has a couple of signs that read "Free". It is a fixer upper, in bad shape.


One of my favorite weeds. I think Tar Weed. Love the smell. About the only thing growing around here. Everything is either brown or dead.


Here is the rest stop, half way between Willits and Fort Bragg. I call it the Donkey Rest Stop.
Fort Bragg, about 15 miles up ahead, is out of fresh water, and wells are dry. But there is water here. And it is running.
The Donkey had plenty of water available for making steam, and plenty of wood for fire. Steam Donkeys pulled Red Wood logs out of the woods.

You can see some poison oak too.


A Donkey and a Dog.





Wow! First time that I have used my new homemade Wheel Chucks.
I see a problem. The tires are not supported at the bottom of the tire, in the center. I would like three contacts.
Also, after the trailer is positioned on top of the chucks, the truck should be placed in Neutral, brake released, and the trailer will settle about a half inch forward or backward. It will be the same procedure with three contacts.



Here are my solar panels. The time is 14:22 DST. But that is according to most colloquial California clocks, and it is not correct. The real time is 13:22 PST. When dealing with solar panels and efficiency, DST can not be used. Only times referenced to GMT, and using the UCT System, can be used. At first glance this time looks just past maximum at noon. But even that is not quite accurate. Fort Bragg is on the Western end of the time zone. Each time zone can be an hour different. So "13:22" technically is for the nearest local meridian to the east, regardless of the fact that 13:22 is used for the entire time zone. I am going to guess Solar Time is roughly 13:00, or about one hour past maximum. Fortunately, for right now, the time of the measurement will not matter much, because the change of Cosine 90 degrees, noon, is small. At straight up noon, the Solar Flux changes very little. So we can be an hour off.

The "A" (100W panel 19.83v,6.56A) reads 4.42 Max Amps,................. 67.4%
The "B" (100W panel 22.5v, 5.75A) reads 3.97 SC Amps,.................. 69.0%
The "CD"(30W+50W 21.8V 1.85A, 21.6V 3.13A) panel reads 3.60 SC Amps,... 72.3%
The "E" (80W panel 22.0V 4.91A) reads 3.40 Max Amps,.................. 69.2%
The "F" (100W panel 22.5v, 5.75A) reads 3.79 Max Amps,................ 65.9%
Solar Flux Meter reads 60%. I think it is over 10% low. I will recalibrate it later...


A way to compare panels is to compare to the group average.
(4.42 + 3.97 + 3.60 + 3.40 + 3.79)/5 = 3.84

A panel, 100W, is 1.15 better than the rest.
B panel, 100W, is 1.03 better than the rest.
C panel,30W+50W, is 0.94 of the rest.
E panel, 80W, is 0.86 of the rest.
F panel, 100W, is 0.99 of the rest.


No, the best method is with my Solar Flux Meter, but I have to calibrate it. Probably adjust it to about 71%, or a few percent above these actually measured figures of 68 or 69. There has to be some accounting for atmospheric obstructions.
That is, if the sensor is not dirty or has a leaf on it. Have to climb up on the roof and look, before making changes. Perhaps the falling condensation from fog affects the sensor differently than the big power producing panels. Or perhaps there is condensation on the inside of the sensor. Such a leak would be really bad.

The newest panel is the A panel, and its performance is good. But the best performers are the oldest: The ganged C and D panels. Together they are only an 80 Watt Panel, however they perform the best. These two oldest ones are also performing the best according to the original factory specks for short circuit current.

To be fair, and at least objective, none of the panels are level. The roof of my RV, like all RVs, is convex and bowed upward. The jest of the matter, is that there is nothing major wrong with any one panel. All look good.

As an after thought on the Solar time...
The local meridian is -120 exact degrees.
My longitude here is -123.80871 degrees.
I am West by -3.80871 degrees. Consider, 15 degrees equal one hour. That is 0.254 of an hour; about 15 minutes.
My guess of 22 minutes is a little off. It is 15 minutes.
So the Solar Time is 13:22 - 15 minutes, which is 13:07, which is an hour and 7 minutes past highest elevation maximum sun, zero degrees zenith.

Going back to the Solar Flux meter. What should it read theoretically with clear skys, due to Earths position? This place in Fort Bragg is -123.80871, 39.42658 at 13:07. When I punch the values into a Sun zenith and azimuth Calculator, it gives Azimuth of 41.9 degrees, which is sun from vertical.
Cos of this gives percent Flux. 74.4%
So I have to decide: Do I want to calibrate to a "practical" sky, or to 1.367 kW/m2 in space?
One is 71%, the other is 74.4%.

My old calibration, of many years ago, which I have never checked, is 60%. If you take 1100 w/m2 hitting the earths surface divided by the 1367 w/m2 in space, times 74.4%, the result is 59.5%. That is my old value of 60%! Now, I know where I got the damn 60% calibration! And it is wrong! I was stupid for even thinking like that. It has nothing to do with space! I do not give a damn about space. I am going to choose a new calibration point, in this case, of a couple points above actual measurements. My highest panels are 69%. So, that is going to be it, plus a little more. I choose 71%, in this case. Because that is what they actually measure. And I can now cross check the sensor calibration by measuring any single Power solar Panel. I have to give credit to Power Generating Panels for Solar Flux calibration. They are just as good.

How could I have been so stupid? I do not care about space up there!


We are not officially here untill we role out the matt.
We got this blue mat at a military base in Virginia. And it has been rolled out in several states. This is looking out the door. The door is open on the left. There are shoes in the shoe holder, and the awning out a little to keep the fog dew off. The awning can easily be opened to any degree, depending on wind conditions and need.





OK, now we are going to walk toward the ocean and turn around, so that I can show where we are at; I have not told you yet. We are the trailer with the big back window. In fact the biggest back window of the park.
We are on the Pomo Bluff at the Harbor RV Park in Fort Bragg. This is our favorite RV staying place in Fort Bragg. We may be peons amongst the big boys, but we have the biggest view. We do OK with our small size.


Or, turning back toward the ocean, this is the view. Looking down from the cliff. It is about 30 feet, straight down.


The sun is going down. Here the disk of the sun is 50% down.


Night view. Looking back at the town, Noyo bridge, and RV park.


During one of the days I made Potato Salad...


After the potatoes are cooked, I add a few eggs to the same water. The object in an RV is to save water, and in this case, also save gas, as the water is already at 212 degrees.

Normally, I do not use Red Potatoes. I like White.
But in this case, all I could find was one White Potato, so the rest are Red. Side by side, the Red is stickier, almost slimy. The White is fluffier, and a better taste too.


We are standing at the edge of the Bluffs, looking down at the entrance to Noyo Harbor. Here is a fishing boat outpacing the incomming fog. I love the cool fog here on the bluffs. It can linger for a few minutes, changing your world to white. It can also attempt to rise in the sky as clouds, and burn off, reveiling a bright blue sky. This place is beautiful.

We just came back from pulling the trailer 6,000 miles on a trip to Virginia. There the humidity could be 100% with warm drizzle. Here the fog is also at 100%, but the effects are quite different. I do not know which "100%" I like better. I like them both.


That was the entrance; Here is the other end of the river. The marina moors a lot of boats. Some light fog still manages to come up the river.


The voltage can be low at times. But most of the time it is normal; about 118. Some of these motorhomes are massive, and use a lot of power. In contrast, we do not need any hookups at all. But sense Electrical is there, might as well use it.


We are now leaving Fort Bragg. It was 200 miles to Fort Bragg from Chico, but we have done a lot of running around. Looks like 41.8 miles worth. Counting the running around, we averaged 10.4 miles per gallon with the cheap stuff, or regular. The first day was 79 degrees, now it is 57 degrees and is the coolest day. Normal is 60 in the day, 50 at night.



Our tanks were not empty when we started.
But now after 5 more days:
Fresh is 19%
Grey is 40%
Black is 50%
It is about right, as we go about two weeks before the Black and Grey are 100% full.
And 50% Fresh water lasts the same two weeks.
After dumping: Fresh 19%, Grey 15%, and Black: 0%





Robinsons Rancheria Casino. We stayed here overnight.


Coming back from Fort Bragg to Chico the gas milage was 11.5 mpg.
Going, there was some high speeds on Freeways, about 65.
Coming back there were some back roads with speeds 40 mph.


The van, without the trailer, got 19.5 MPG both ways. The van with trailer got about 10 to 11 MPG both ways.

Contrary to popular opinion, the gas milage of the tow vehicle makes little or no difference in the gas milage of the combination of the tow vehicle plus the trailer. I have also demonstrated this fact mathematically elsewhere on this site. I stand alone, and in opposition to all other people conserning this fact.