We got off I-90 at Moorcroft, WY but we still had 30 miles of gravel roads before reaching Eddie's "Ranch". It was mid-afternoon when we arrived and it didn't take us long to get set up, we'd be dry camping during the install. While we had our new battery bank (2 Trogan T105RE's, giviing us 225Amp Hours) installed back in Oregon, we'd have to be rather conservative with our power until we got the solar panels on line. The rest of the afternoon was spent organizing all the parts and developing a shopping list for the locally acquired parts we'd get tomorrow morning.
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| Moon rise of the Wyoming prairie. |
After the morning shopping trip to Gillette, WY, (a 100 mile round trip) the assembly started that afternoon. A solar system consists of 3 major components: the Solar panels on the roof, the battery bank and all the electronics that connect them together. Well, I guess you could say there's a 4th component, the wiring that connects everything together. In fact, one might say the wiring is the MOST important component! You can have the best quality equipment on either end and if the wiring is deficient, they'll never perform to their designed potential.
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| Installing panels. |
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| Always a traumatic event, drilling a hole in the roof. Eddie hit just the right spot in the wall cavity behind the power center. |
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| Installing junction box leading inside the camper. |
Over the next few days the install continues until we found that we needed additional parts. We had some down time while waiting for the parts to arrive via UPS so we decided to take a day trip to Devils Tower, only14 miles away as the crow flies...
...but 47 miles by road.
As we neared the end of that 47 mile drive, the view got more and more impressive.
The 1.3 mile Tower Trail meanders around the base of the impressive monolith giving many views. There were benches along the path to enjoy all sides of the Tower.
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| There were many climbers on the tower. |
One spot along the trail you can touch the base of the tower.
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| Can you see the secret message in this picture? |
On our way out, we stopped by a sculpture designed to frame the monument.
It also looks pretty good "au naturel" too.
This is where we started seeing the first fall colors of the year.
Back on the ranch...
Here's some critters that wandered around the camper during our time here.
There was also a herd of cows that made sounds like a vibrating cell phone. We'd wake up in the morning and say "I wish that cow would answer his phone!"
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| Wide open spaces. |
09/22
The installation complete, we said our good buys to Eddie, Aileen and daughter Laura before heading back to the real world.
Coming next, Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
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