Boondocking in Hickory Hills County Park, Medora

This boondocking thing is just the ticket to slow down and watch the world go by.   We've been here since Saturday and I love it.   We're about a quarter of a mile from any highway, high on the hill in a clearing with plenty of sunshine (almost).  We're a little too close to a tree on the south which cuts into the solar charging from about 11 to 2, the really prime time to recharge the batteries.

However, we've switched to our third inverter configuration and it works well.  Our first inverter was the built in unit, 2000 watts, which handles the microwave fine, but sure eats into the battery charge.   Our second inverter is an 800 watt unit that I wired in and is about 3 or 4 amps better than the big one.   Last night, I dug out a 400 watt unit that I had acquired last fall that is supposed to be very efficient.   At no load, it is only 30 milliamps of 12 volts.   With both computers on, it is about half of the 2000 watt unit.    The 400 watt is not wired in, but plugs into the 12 volt socket by the drivers seat and we have a drop cord to power my computer, as well as Sandy's.

So being a little careful about when we use it, we can survive with it till bed time.    By morning, we'll be down about 50 or 60 Ampere-Hours.  So far, our batteries are holding out for us.

The activity around here is to take the lawn chair out under the tree and work on my boondocking seminar presentation for next week, as well as watching lots of birds.  There seems to be a real mix of birds visiting our hilltop.    This morning, we did take a long walk (north I think) and eventually ended up on a bluff over the river.   It was a well cut trail.

We were the only one here last night.  I have a feeling that will not the case tonight, as there are 3 tents up at a couple of sites away.   Sometimes I have the feeling it is the beginning of a party.  I hope they hold the noise down.

Gene