Fire on The Mountain

Last Friday as we were wiring up the solar panel and installing the charge controller, we noticed a column of dark smoke making it's way up into the blue sky from some ways away.



 "Somebody's rig's on fire!" someone said.  It was a fifth-wheel trailer parked up on a low hill, and as we watched flames erupted from the roof.  There was a scurry of activity, looking like an attempt to save what they could, but in a frighteningly short time, the thing was fully involved and it was clear there was no hope of saving it.  My campmate got a better shot, which you can see at her blog at http://www.blsbdv.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-sombre-reminder.html.  (You can tell she's Canadian by the way she spells sombre).  The fire department eventually arrived and made a rather leisurely and desultory effort at putting it out, but before that happened there were some pretty spectacular detonations as propane tanks and possible tires went off.

We heard various stories, some suggesting that the person using the trailer had only a couple of weeks ago lost two other trailers to fire.  Nobody seems sure what really happened, but Slab City has a dark side, and it is an accepted fact that one way of dealing with unwanted neighbors is to burn them out.  We will probably never know what happened here, but it is a reminder to be extra cautious about fire in an RV, especially an old wood framed trailer like, gulp, KD.

Saturday's hazy sun started to put back into the bank what running the pump and lights had taken out (in the form of power in the batteries), but Sunday was a much brighter, clearer day, and well before sundown the batteries had reached "float".  They were fully charged, and all from one 85-watt solar panel!  The full-strength sun made all the difference. I no longer have to worry about turning on a light at night, running the fan to suck out the cooking fumes, or taking long showers and running the pump.  The marvelous, wonderful sun will make more energy for me in an endlessly renewable cycle.  Never before have I understood how wonderful solar energy can be.  In a place where there is nowhere to plug your phone in unless you have a battery or a good and helpful friend with charging capability, and no way to run the systems you need to live comfortably in a little house on wheels without a way to charge the batteries, the ability to take the gift of nature and turn it into power is meaningful on a much more personal level.  It's true that we care most about what affects us directly.  To paraphrase my campmate, now I've become a solar junkie.

Kadydid is alive in a way she has not been for perhaps a long time.  Her new water heater makes and maintains hot water, plenty for me to use whenever I need.  The electricity flowing through her wires gives me light and powers the fan that ventilates and the pump that gives running water.  Her plumbing hums with water and her drains work well.  Her freshwater tank is filled and her auxiliary water take up line gives me access to a much, much larger tank than KD could carry herself. 

It's a good thing.