Thursday

Some additional pictures from the solar installation on Thursday:

We are generating 31 more amps DC than we are drawing...

The new solar controller

Miss Kitty is ready to drive!

A story: On Thursday afternoon, the folks from the Sunlife Amateur Radio Club (which Carl belongs to and with whom we are parked) had a shared lunch. It was so good, and we were sitting around the tables visiting after eating.

I noticed a motorhome coming out of the camping area beyond us, and that there was a man running along behind waving his arms. The motorhome did not stop, the guy with waving arms stopped running, so I continued to watch the motorhome as it came by where we were sitting. As it passed, I saw that the tow vehicle was loose, being pulled by the safety cables. Without thinking twice, I jumped up and went running to try to get the driver to stop. He was moving pretty quickly, but I had a little bit of an angle to the road and thought that I might be able to get his attention. I was beside him, waving my arms for all I was worth while running as fast as I could run. He finally saw me, I crossed my arms over my head ("STOP!"), and he came to a stop. I heard a "thud" and thought, "Oh, no, the car ran into the back of his rig!" It took him a while to get his rig door opened, and then he said, "Yes?" like, "why are you running and huffing and puffing like a crazy woman?" I figured he would have heard the thud but evidently he did not. All out of breath, I managed to say, "Your car is loose." He had a shocked and surprised look on his face -- I turned around and headed back to our group. I have to admit that I was a wee bit worried that if his car had crashed into the back of his motorhome due to me signaling that he should stop that he might decide that I was at fault and want to sue me... so I decided to remove myself from any further proceedings.

The guys from our group had followed me over there (Carl had gone in to Gracie for a moment and had no idea why I was suddenly a long distance away from the tables). He went to see if the guy would need any tools that he might have. Carl said that it appeared that the tow bar came loose from the receiver -- he said that the driver had a hitch pin in his hand when Carl got there and that he didn't know whether the driver had totally forgotten to put it in or had just not actually secured the towbar with the hitch pin.

Another guy from our group who was at an angle where he could see the motorhome and the towed car while I was running said that the towbar had come down to where it was on the ground and was "pole vaulting" the car -- that was the thud I had heard. I guess it had done that three times.

The guys who were over there with the driver said that, amazingly, nothing seemed to be broken, just that the tow bar had not been properly attached. The tow bar and car looked to be in okay shape. I asked them if they told the driver that his car had been pole vaulting, and they had not... I sure hope he gets all the components checked out soon.

Later in the day, Carl and I walked back to the roadway area where the driver had come to a stop and you can see the places where the towbar stinger dug into the ground and then evidently the car raised up and "pole vaulted" forward to the next place that the towbar stinger dug in... 3 times.

The ladies that we were with were amazed that I had run to stop the guy... I have to admit that I didn't even think before I took off running. After reflection, and thinking about the fact that I can barely walk over this ground without stumbling over a rock here and there, I figure God must have been with me to allow me to run and not trip! I could have really gotten hurt if I had fallen... and that would have been really stupid.

The area where we've been parked with the Ham Radio group is Road Runner.

We walked down to the entrance to the area where the information board is located. This lists the areas where you can park for free for 14 days.

This shows where the various 14-day free parking areas are. We park with the Christian Fellowship group up on Plomosa Road. The Safari Trek folks park over in the Dome Rock Mountain area. And the Blue Bird group parks in the La Posa Long Term Visitor Area, which has a $40 fee for 14 days, but has access to a dump and water supply.

No clouds with the sunset on Thursday evening.

We sat with folks from the Sunlife group in the evening enjoying conversation.