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Favorite places: 2023.09 FORT BRAGG California |
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Everything is Epoxy "Pours". The table, counter tops, sink cover, stove cover, even the floor.
After you breath the stuff, you are hooked.
If it is a fixed object and does not move, then you can epoxy it. It turns into a thing of beauty.
An Epoxy Pour is when you do not like the color or surface of an existing structure. 
Sleeping and sitting on the couch, the doggies were bored crazy. I could not stand it either.
We have stopped just off of 20, a few miles west of 5.
We are not there yet; Linda had to stop and go pee.
As you can see, in a rush she left the RV door open.
The sun is almost down.
Seeing Linda jump out, the Little Ones started hopping about, and promptly lied:
They said that they had to pee too.
But no, after they got out, they forgot all about what they were supposed to do, and instead, they just wanted to "sniff".
So everyone bailed on me, and are off doing different things.
Robinson Casino
The ocean is a long trip. It takes two days. Total trip is 200 miles.
On approaching the RV, I could see Taffy's white face in the window. And she jumped down, and ran to the door before I could get it open.
There they were, tails a wagging, and wondering what I had in the napkin.
These are supposed to be dogs, but I think they are cats.
The one on the sink is Taffy, and the one on the table is Callie.
a RedWood Park
The next day, after a couple of hours of travel, we stopped at the first part of the "RedWoods".
There is no name established for this park. And it certainly qualifies for a nice rest stop.
It has a Steam Donkey. And for those traveling by car, it has an overused outhouse.
This picture was taken from the center of the field, where there is a single stand of tall redwoods.
There are picnic tables in this dark cluster of redwoods that form an isolated family of trees.
After 40 years of stopping here, I still do not know what to call this place. I do not think this park is on any maps.
And has never been named. The best that one can do is to put the geographical coordinates in the GPS. 
Perhaps, it should be called the "SteamDonkey" park. No... People would not know what that was.
Nobody has named it.
Here is the iconic part: the steam engine.
More people can see it here, than if they took it away and put it in a museum.
Here is another Flow Indicator. This one shows the heated recirculating water flow. Its failing!
It is new, but from China. The people there are childish and have a cheating attitude, even with their fellow countrymen.
And if this thing blows, it can cost me hundreds of dollars.
Standing guard for anything in general...
On the couch is an oscilloscope. 
MacKerricher has gobs of free space between camp sites. And that is one reason MacKerricher is so expensive.
Linda and I get two discounts: The Old Person discount known as the Senior Pass, and Linda's Disability State Pass. We pay less than half of everyone else.
Otherwise, we could not afford to go to State Parks. At least not in California.
These trees are shading my Solar Panels for most of the day. Even in full shade, I can get a few amps, perhaps 30 watts.
That is enough replenishment power for the bathroom, like water pumps, electric shavers, Linda's hair curler. And also enough for lights, and cell phones.
All the sun can replenish in fog overcast and shade is about 20 Amp Hours. Maybe less.
At the Overlook of the beach at MacKerricher, the Black Birds and squirrels are very tame and will practically eat out of your hand. Well...
As long as the doggies stay in the car.
The seas were unusually heavy with large waves, and frothy white beaches, and white caps solid across the whole ocean.
Even when calm, Linda and I hear the sound of waves in the RV. Love the sound when I go to sleep.
And at times during the night, we can hear a single thunderous clap of a particularly heavy wave slapping the shore.
This is a hawk. But I can not identify it. Wish my brother was here.
This thing has a loud screech. It is not after my Little Ones, it is probably after the squirrels.
Ben would know. He was a good brother. That was my brother Ben.
These pictures were taken from my porch area. I am the trespasser, not them.
The squirl places his belly flat down on the warm straw, cusps his hands, and eats a single green stem of grass.
I sware these big birds are very smart, and know when to be tame and when not.
Most spots at MacKerricher are shaded. And some are shaded all the time. And my MacKerricher spot is no exception. It is shaded too - except for about an hour.
But I still make power. I get it in two ways... 
I still get about 3 or 4 amps in diffuse sun light. Which is through shade, fog, or overcast.
I use parallel solar panels. The advantage is that any one panel might find a glimpse of Direct sun light. Parallel panels work independently.
It can be operated by Solar DC.
It can be operated by Propane.
It can be operated by Solar AC.
It can be operated by Park AC. 
I have personally seen people running up and down the loops, frantically looking for campsites that can accommodate rigs longer than 25 feet.
My rig is 23 feet bumper to tongue, and people call it short. But I can go to State Parks and fit in most spots.
I can also fit into two tandem parking spots in a parking lot. Bigger rigs can not, and have to park out along the side.
I have already discussed how I do not want to give up State Parks.
Everyone coming to MacKerricher can ride bicycles on paved paths. You can see bikes on cars and RVs in town, showing their intentions.
There is a path miles long, along the ocean. And I have managed to walk it, but a bicycle would have been nice.
Here is one of my Charge Controllers. The battery is being charged with 7 amps. After several days the battery is starting to loose and go down.
It is down to 13.18 volts. When it is full, it is at least 13.56 volts. Day after day, it is slowly loosing.
My Combiner is putting out 10 amps at 15.7 volts, with half the panels in the shade.
In these dismal conditions, priority has intelligently been given to the charging of batteries, little else.
To the left is the old MacKerricher Beach, the main beach, which has been destroyed and washed totally away.
I remember the steal tunnel, and the wooden walk way and wooden stairs.
In those days, you could walk under the sand, in a tunnel, to the beach.
If a doggie fell over the cliff, I would not be able to save her. The impact would probably kill her. And if not, she would not have the capacity to fight.
My dogs mind very well. I do not even need to raise my voice, and they absolutely obey - every time. Despite their obedience, the cliffs are a hazard and concern to me.
At the Donkey Park, for the first time in many days, the solar panels found full sun.
All three batteries were low, from a five day handicap of shade.
Here Lithium Battery Number-3 is up to a "full" 13.55 volts, but is still very hungry.
It pulls in over 8 amps. And will continue for hours. It is not really full.
Non of the batteries had this opportunity at MacKerricher.
And as we travel down the road, the batteries will get another bunch of full sun.
There is only about 3 volts of headroom driving the regulator of the Charge Controller.
But this is good for 1/10 C or less. In this case, 10% of a 100 AH battery is 10 amps. I can do that with 2 or 3 volts above the target voltage of about 14 volts.
I have already done it, and where the only heating is in the wires.
Pulled off the road for a little rest. I can not go more than a couple of hours. Have to pull off anywhere that is shady and cool.
Still about 5 miles from the Casino where it will be hot. Might as well wait out the heat near a cool lake before proceeding.
I found these, literally right outside the door.
There is something amazing about the color of red blackberries mixed with black blackberries. They just "pop".
I walked both up and down the road about 300 feet; this is the ONLY spot of blackberries.
What are the odds of that? Just five feet away from the door! Arms length. There they are! And no where else.
Picked some blackberries for Linda, and picked a handful of blackberries for me.
I mixed some buttermilk with tea, and placed the blackberries on a napkin on the table.
Now nobody, in the whole wide world, would have wild blackberries with buttermilk and tea.
I feel so special along side a hot noisy roadway.
Everyone is happy. Big ripe sweet blackberries and ice cold buttermilk are special. Absolutely.
