Solar Culture

As we begin to sort out the technicalities of our mobile home, we find that it isn't nearly as difficult as we had originally thought it might be. Things just seem to keep falling into place for us.

We decided long ago that our trailer would need to be self-reliant, self-sustaining, we cannot rely entirely on non-renewable sources of energy for our journey. So we researched solar panels. Being in Arizona, you see solar panels everywhere. Yet, the city of Tucson could be entirely run off of solar energy, with some left over, but why isn't it? Large corporations such as Tucson Electrical Power hope to never see the city run cleanly off of solar, and this is happening all over the world. There also seems to be a general lack of awareness when it comes to renewable sources of energy. For instance, I had no idea how cheaply and easily our travel trailer could be powered by Solar... And the benefits!
We will actually get back 55% of all the expenses we put towards the solar panels, including wiring, batteries etc. The state of Arizona provides 30% tax rebates, and the federal government provides an additional 20%. So we found a beautiful 100-Watt Polycrystalline Panel from a company called Grape Solar out of Oregon, and with that great tax incentive, we decided to get two!
With these two solar panels we will be able to power our light fixtures, charge our cell phones and laptops, and do much more! The company said most people run small microwaves (we won't have one of those) with all of that power, it might be helpful for us to save some since we will be in the cloudy northwestern U.S. but even still these solar panels pick up tons of sunlight.

Here is a photo of our new panels and batteries. The best batteries for storing and converting solar energy are actually golf cart batteries!
  

Now we're just waiting for those fun toys to come in to instal them! Then we'll be working on installing a stove and propane tank.

Here's a fun photo of Donna's (Kyle's Mom) 1962 Chevy Nova which she recently restored, and our 1951 Airfloat hanging out!

A funny story.... Kyle has been taking the trailer in to a mechanic he has become friends with just around the corner for some knowledgeable advice. For instance, the tongue on this trailer is very old and needs to be replaced to fit two batteries and a propane tank (They are working on welding this new tongue together). While Kyle was in the mechanic Boyd's shop yesterday a man told him that he makes a living by transporting trailers across the country. He has been doing this work for many years and has driven over 250,000 miles with various trailers, new & vintage, and said that in all of his years he has "never seen anything like [our trailer]!" That just shows how very rare these Airfloats are. They stopped producing them in the 1950's, so for us to have one that is in such great shape is truly a miracle!

Adios!