Solar Panel Basics

When we were talking about 12 volt battery basics the other day, I had mentioned that it would be pretty easy to write an entire blog post about solar panel basics...so here it is!

We think that there is no better feeling than to be self sufficient for the electricity in your RV. No more having to worry about finding a place to plug in, no worries about whether it's stable source of electricity, and no need to buy surge protectors or voltage regulators.

Guess who is home?

Yep, two months have flown by, and Sherman is now back home with us. Tana and Graham arrived here yesterday afternoon at about 4:30pm. What an adventure they have all had!

They left here June 8th and headed to Drumheller, Alberta and the dinosaur park there. Then, it was off to Banff and Jasper and the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

We didn't understand 12 volt batteries!...Part 3

In part 1, we talked about the basics of the 12 volt electrical system in your RV. In part 2, we talked about the different types of RV batteries. Today in part 3, we are going to talk about how to keep those batteries charged and maintained.

There are four common ways of charging your RV batteries.

We didn't understand 12 volt batteries!...Part 2

In yesterday's blog post we talked about your RV's battery and 12 volt electrical system. We're trying to stick to the basics, and we're trying to explain everything in terms that the average person will understand.

Today, we'll get into the most popular different types of batteries.

We didn't understand 12 volt batteries!

When we first bought our motorhome Sherman nine years ago this month, we didn't realize the importance of the 12 volt battery system. And I bet it wasn't until almost two years later that we fully understood how the 12 volt batteries work, and their limitations in an RV.

For those of you who don't RV, this article will be of little interest. But for those of you who still don't fully understand 12 volt batteries, I'm going to try to explain in basic terms how the battery system works and how you can make yours better.

Ginger tea, rain, and visitors!

Ever since I stopped drinking coffee a couple of years ago, I have struggled to find a hot drink substitute that I like. When we're in Mexico, we buy a nice Mexican hot chocolate called Abuelita made by Nestle. It's also available in the U.S., but we can't seem to get it here in Canada.

So now, I make hot chocolate the old fashioned way with cocoa powder, brown sugar, and milk. But when our daughter Lindsey was here in June, she showed me another hot drink that she liked, and it turns out that  I really like it too. Homemade ginger tea!

New 10 year passports!

We received our new 10 year passports in the mail yesterday. Back in 2013, Canadians were finally given the option of buying either a 5 year passport or a 10 year passport. I can't really figure why anybody would buy the 5 year one now.

Unless you're maybe 90 years old. Then perhaps you want to choose the 5 year!

Scorpion!

I'll bet you didn't now that there are scorpions in Canada. I mean after all, this is the great white north...scorpions couldn't survive up here, could they?

Well, they can and they do.

August is here!

And that means we can say "next month, we're outta here!".

Our last really busy weekend is over and done with. July seems like it went by fairly quickly, and hopefully August will too. September will drag a little as our departure date gets closer. But, there will still be a lot to do getting the park ready to shut down for the season.

July Expenses

Well, if it weren't for paying for our new passports ($320 CAD) this month, it would have been a really cheap month!

The following figures are all in Canadian dollars. You can subtract about 25% for U.S. dollar equivalent...

One more week!

Isn't it hard to believe that our motorhome Sherman has been gone for almost two months?! Yes, he returns to us next weekend, in only one more week. It's funny that we're excited to see him again!

We received a couple more photos of him. He's actually been down south across the border! Tana and Graham had mentioned that they were interested in going to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, and of course that's only 400 miles (640 kms) south of the Canada/U.S. border.

Cultural Travel

A couple of weeks ago, I had written that we enjoy getting to know the people who live in other countries. We've found that it's the best way to understand different cultures, and to realize that the way we do things as a society here in Canada or the Unites States isn't the only way, or necessarily the best way.

And so reader Sara Horton had asked for an expansion of those thoughts. How exactly do we set ourselves up to have those cultural experiences while we travel?

Planning for Romania

In less than 100 days (96, to be exact) we will be on a plane to Romania where we will spend six weeks touring the country. While that still sounds like it's quite a long ways off, we've been spending some of our free time on the internet getting familiar with the country.

It always amazes me how many cities are out there that you've never heard of. I mean, everybody (I would assume) has heard of Bucharest, Romania. But you've probably never heard of the city of Cluj-Napoca, and yet is has a population of 300,000. Or Sibiu with 175,000 people.

Just stuff

Getting ready for the big long weekend here at the park. We're officially sold out, and the weather forecast looks perfect. Even all of the tenting spots are reserved!

August long weekend is always sold out here. The weather is usually good, and the water level is usually at it's highest. And, it's kind of the last hurrah for a lot of the locals who use the park because harvest usually starts shortly after August long weekend.

The nearest town to the park

Cabri Regional Park is named after the town of Cabri, but the town of Cabri is actually located 20 kms (13 miles) away via a fairly good (usually!) dirt road. It' the nearest town to the park and I usually go there once a week or so during the summer.

The town of Cabri has a population of around 400 people, and quite a few services for a town that size.