Wind Turbine Season 2008

Well,

I am a wind turbine tech, and it came time to head out to the mid-west for work as the land thaws out. I saw the opportunity to get my trailer across the mountain range for the season. So, here's the report on the first leg of my journey.

So, I got the brand new truck. Yay.
I got the gooseneck put in it. Yay

I then drove 2000 miles in 2 days because my first day got snowed out. Yuck.

I didn't get to see any of the sites of course, it was purely a here-to-there trek. However, several key incidents mar this beginning to the season:

1. The trailer hit my bed rail. On my new truck. Not happy. (on Second thought... I did want rhino liner...)
2. The trailer leaks. I knew it wasn't totally sealed, but my mattress is now wet. Yuck. Guess what I'll be doing this weekend.
3. Some lucky person along Interstate 70 west bound has the opportunity to pick up a free brake-lens cover from a 23 foot Front Range fifth wheel.
4. Gas can (empty) in the bed came free and flew out of the bed. Darn it.
5. It took out my break away cable when it did. I was going 65. Double &%#* it. Trailer still brakes okay, not sure what kind of damage has been done.
6. At 22 degrees outside, it took my trailer 35 minutes to reach 50 degrees. It is now 65. Goooood trailer.

Okay, sleepy time. Thank goodness I gained 2 hours by traveling west, I need the rest before work tomorrow!

I'll add more as the season continues and I have more adventures with the old girl. (Don't be too hard on her, she was built in 84)

Wow traveling in the cold like that.  I think I rather travel when it warms up a bit.

I know it is a bit early, but temperatures here in Lamar, CO are just high enough to support RV life. I have had my hose freeze up on me now, so I will have to make a run to camping world in the morning for an insulated one. I thought just running the faucet would keep it clear for one night... guess not!

Resealing the roof is top priority also, and with 52 degree weather, It will be perfect!

Sounds to Me like you've had quite the adventure so far!! Good luck! (Ain't campin fun??)  ;D

You might want to pick you up a heat tape and an outdoor extension cord to keep that hose warm, it will help and can be bought in any hardware store.  Good luck.

Just put water in your tank and disconnect and drain the hose at night. Run off you on board tank at night. Saves the cost of heat tape, insulation and extension cords.

Spent all day running to camping world and back (about 400 miles round trip). I did however get the electric hose thingie, insulation wrap and a new hose. It was too late to start the roof this evening, but I got the hose all set up.

I bought the self-leveling dicor caulk (metal roof), some butyl tape and some putty knives for the old stuff.

Also picked up a new brake light assembly and a new light for inside the trailer (cause one of them failed last season).

Sooo... Sunday is going to be stacked with work!

Well, life has been busy in the last few weeks! In March, I flew up to NY to go to school there for wind turbines. While I was there, they decided they wanted me to be an instructor. So, I flew back to Lamar, CO and packed up everything and got on the road in the SUPER fast way of throwing everything where it needed to be. So, another super fast trek back to Connecticut. I stopped by the house and had a few days with the kids and then towed up to the Campgrounds in Averill Park, NY.

I got there, started teaching on April 7th. I've been working long days and I've finally got some time to take care of my old girl and get somethings fixed up.
For one, I got to do Laundry (6 loads worth). And now that I'm not working on turbines, but teaching in a corporate environment, I had to take all my stuff out of the closet so I could hang up nice clothes in there. Now that I've got everything pretty much where I want it, I almost have a camper again. I still have to get rid of my skirt from last year. (it is under the dinette table right now - it's made up of 50 2 mil steal plates) The plates are waaaaay too heavy and they actually push my trailer close to the weight limit (of the trailer, not the truck).

Before I left Lamar, I did have time to do all the checks on my brakes and my tires. No flats on the tires, and they are in very good shape. They're about 5 years old and lots of tread. The brakes needed two clicks on the ol' adjuster, but other than that were perfect. I checked the break away brakes while I was in there, and everything is working all right. There was a lot of dust from the before incident, but that blew right out with some air.

I need to do the whole axle flip to my trailer, it needs to be taller for my truck. The two touched again very slightly. I can rhino liner the truck to cover the damage, but I don't want it to happen again, so I need to make them further apart. I can raise the height of the kingpin, but then I worry that I'll push the trailer even further off level than I arleady have it.

Anyways, so now i'm up in NY, and this campground is absolutely beautiful. I am considering moving the family to Vermont to have them closer.

Anyways, that's how the trip is going. This may be a semi-permanent move, so I might not have to live in the RV anymore. But I'll keep it in good shape for the times i do have to get out in the field again.

Meant to ask last Feb--where did you "camp" in Lamar?
Just before Thanksgiving we stayed overnight at the reservoir State Park just west of Lamar--rest rooms/showers closed, park water off, but the electrics worked fine--only ones in the place--very quite!
Regards from Fort Collins

I read your post back in Feb, glad you are back with us and providing an update.  I do not envy that cold weather!  We live in Southern California and there are a bizillion (that is a LOT) wind turbines out here.  You might look into moving to California. 

In Lamar, I stayed in the Country Acres Motel and RV Park. VERY nice place other than the sticker burrs (sometimes called goats heads). I'm still finding those darned things in my trailer (between the seat cushions).

The turbines in California are pretty old. They are mostly prototypes the wind industry threw up back in the day to see if it was even a viable way of making power. Turns out, not only is it viable, but it is very profitable. So, they are going up like weeds everywhere. Some people don't like looking at them. To me, the idea that they are making completely clean energy is beautiful enough in its own right. Remember, there is absolutley NO FUEL other than wind. And each park makes between 50 and 200 MW per phase (some wind parks make over 800 MW, but they are comprised of many phases). 1.5 MW is enough to power close to 1000 homes.

Wikipedia has a good entry on "wind turbines" if you're interested.

Right now I have the wife and two boys up for the weekend. We're going to look at a house in neighboring Vermont and see if we want to rent-to-buy that one. This is the first opportunity I've had to make the dinnette into a bed, and the boys slept comfortably all night. Alison said they usually don't sleep all through the night, but they did last night!

We have a huge wind farm (actually I think they prefer the term "wind factory") ongoing construction project here in our county in central Illinois.  The huge turbines stretch for miles and miles, and it makes you feel quite small when driving down one of the country roads in the middle of the turbine "field".  From what I've been told, all the power goes onto a grid in Chicago and unfortunately doesn't benefit us directly in the downstate area.  But I guess it is still a good move overall.