After a couple weeks of mostly Wal-Mart overnight stops, but also 3 free nights at a casino with full hookups, I'm finally at my 2 week long stop to get me through the rest of this month. I've had to go a little over my budget for this month (kicking $80 on credit to next month, *sigh*) but you do what you gotta do. I won't be as short next month hopefully. I also may just have to quit trying to pay so much off at once. It puts me short and I end up feeling stressed and what not.
So anyway, I'm at Wahoo Bay near good ol' Okay, OK. Now the title makes sense, huh? There is camp host who comes by to collect into, namely your license plate number, the site you are occupying, how long you plan to stay and your signature. They told me that the state park just 1.5 mile away allows day use for $5, and has hot showers. I will probably go do that a couple times instead of paying the camping rate like I planned to do once. They have one vault toilet and trash cans here in the free area. There is a boat launch here too, but that costs if you are so inclined to use.
Oh, they also warned not to leave trash behind, because the agency is really going after people with fines. I pointed out that I leave places cleaner than I find them, and they thanked me for that. You know it's bad when they have nothing nice to say about the locals who frequent the park, constantly breaking rules and leaving it trashed. Fires outside of designated rings is a no-no too, you can't make your own either, like the one at this site made from retaining wall stones that somebody left behind.
So anyway.... my 100W mono solar and 190AH SLA battery setup is working very well. I'm typing this from my laptop with it plus the 120V LED light strip I had in the truck camper plugged into a 175w inverter and they are barely pulling on the battery. It's totally dark out, so the solar panel isn't contributing any. Now I wish I hadn't bothered to spend $20 filling up my gas cans for the generator. I really don't need it that much. I guess I'll use it during the day for the generator and 120V WindMachine fan if needed, and/or the TV. In any case, I'm doing great for electricity while off grid.
I still need to finish fixing the fresh water system. The tank drain is leaky so I need to replace it. The newer Thetford toilet I was given was seeping from an O-ring, the one and only internal part you can actually replace! I put a new one in (50 cents) that fits really tight so maybe it'll seal, but I have yet to test it under pressure since my fresh water tank is currently empty. I'm still using my two 5 gallon water jugs from the truck camper days. Hopefully that fixed it, otherwise it's gong to be $30 for the whole part. Once I replace the tank drain valve, fill it up and test it again, I'll now if it needs it or not. Or if I just get someplace with a water hookup again.
