Some blog readers who live here in the great state of Alabama have been apologizing to me for how bad the weather has been during our visit to Tuscaloosa, as have been my son Travis and his wife Geli. Please don’t feel that way, you folks cannot control the weather.
But apparently I do have some impact on it, because as anybody who knows me is well aware, a dark cloud of cold and rain seems to hang over the top of our motorhome. And no matter how far or fast I drive, I can’t escape it. A couple of weeks ago the snow in Tucson was more than halfway down the Catalina Mountains and overnight temperatures were down into the low 20s. Meanwhile, it was warm and sunny in Florida. Travis said it was in the 80s here on Christmas Day, but now the folks in Florida are shivering, we had snow here in Tuscaloosa Saturday, and the snowbirds in Arizona are now enjoying lots of sunshine. So don’t feel bad; it’s not you, Alabama, it’s me.
We did have a pretty decent day here yesterday. The sun was out, the sky was blue, and though it was cool, it was a nice enough day that we spent some time at the park, where I let Travis fly my DJI Phantom drone.
The more I fly this thing the more I like it. Being new to these high tech toys, I bought the base model because I knew I was going to crash it at least a few times learning how to fly it. And I have, as did Travis yesterday. But the darn thing seems to be indestructible. I’ve bent the plastic propellers so much they were at a 90° angle from normal, and they are full of nicks from crashes, but we bend them straight again and it takes right off and flies just fine.
I suspect I will eventually upgrade to a newer model with more features, but not until I’ve got the hang of this one. The good news is that the prices on them have dropped so much in the last few months that for what I paid for this one I can now buy one with a lot more bells and whistles.
After reading yesterday’s blog about RV Upgrades We Have Made, some blog readers wrote to ask if we have solar panels on our Winnebago motorhome. No, we don’t.
At one time we did a lot of dry camping, and we had a big solar setup, 540 watts, on our MCI bus conversion, and a big bank of absorbed glass mat (AGM) batteries. Our longest stint of boondocking was 7 months straight when we were not plugged in at all. The solar panels and AGM batteries worked fine and we seldom used our generator. But we’ve reached the point in our lives where we prefer the comforts of full hookup RV parks and seldom dry camp overnight. So when we bought our Winnebago we did not move the solar panels to it.
I’ve also had readers asking if I am still taking MSM, which I have reported on several times. I’ve been using it for quite a while now and the MSM has greatly reduced the pain and swelling in my fingers and given me much more flexibility. In cold, rainy weather like we’ve had here this week, I still have some discomfort, but the overall difference has been dramatic.
Congratulations Pat O’Brien, winner of our drawing for an audiobook of Fomorian Earth: Star Borne: 1 by my friend Sharon Delarose. We had 60 entries this time around. Stay tuned, a new contest starts soon.
Thought For The Day – Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
My husband takes MSM for allergies especially in the Spring. His nose would pour from allergies but MSM put a stop to that, thank God. He starts out taking 2 three times a day (2×3) for about 4-6 days then, as he improves, drops it down to once a day. He takes one a day to maintain and only ups the dosage in the blooming season, if needed. We won’t be caught without MSM. We get it from Amazon.
I agree with you about the solar panels. We boon dock about 2 weeks out of the year. Not enough days to be cost effective for us,
We arrived Tucson the day you left. Thank you for leaving so we can have this wonderful weather. Daytime highs around 70, lows in the mid 40s, and lots of sunshine. Who could ask for more? Thanks again.
We do not boon dock now but have solar panel on he roof, we used them quite a bit back when we would go to Quartzite for two week with the boomer, but like you Nick we prefer the full hook ups now, The solar panels still keep our batteries charged when we are staying put in TX. Would we do i again do not think so.