Celebrating Hallowe'en

Getting dressed up and costumed for Hallowe'en was not originally in the plan. It took some convincing on Mary's and my part to get Paul and David and the folks at Rebecca's assisted living place into the Hallowe'en spirit. It's been awhile since we donned costumes and tried to scare anybody. Once we decided and got everyone on board, however, the costume train left the station. Mary had decided on her costume early and hit all the key shops while the selection was at its best. She took Paul shopping one day and they came home with a costume for him, as well as Hallowe'en decorations for the front yard and inside the house, too. Mary also did some shopping for Rebecca and Rebecca's friends, Darrell and “Aunt Mary”, so everyone had a costume on Hallowe'en day. David and I kind of dragged our feet deciding on our costumes, but once we did we hit all the local thrift stores and managed our costumes and all accessories for under $15 for the both of us. Parsimonious are us!

Paul, the hardest to convince about the whole dress-up thing, ended up being the most excited and it was contagious. He started early on Hallowe'en morning with his make-up and the results were appropriately frightening.

Rebecca decided to be a “flapper”, very much in keeping with her age. Mary applied her make-up and we helped her with her costume. Rebecca acted the part without difficulty. She was stunning! Darell won the best costume prize however, with his Charlie Chaplin costume and imitation. It turned out, he'd been practicing the Chaplin walk and the cane twirling all week.

The family portrait looked a bit different than usual.

Though a fine time was had by all at Rebecca's place, we drove home feeling like we should be enjoying our costumes more. Mary and Paul shouted “Boo!” out the car window a few times, but most folks ignored them … after all, this is Las Vegas. We don't know our new neighbors or anyone else in Las Vegas well enough to have a party at the house. We settled on trying to scare trick-or-treaters at the door (very unsuccessfully, I might add) and watching The Legend of Sleepy Hollow on the tube. We were in bed by 10pm. Sigh!

Early the morning after, we collected all the Hallowe'en paraphernalia from the yard and gathered up all the costumes and accessories and packed them away till next year. We've got to get better at this celebrating thing. Maybe next year.

Road Trip to Grand Junction, Colorado

Do you remember a time when families had only one car and they arranged their schedules accordingly? If the car wasn't available when you needed or wanted it, you walked or took a bus or bummed a ride with someone else. It didn't seem all that difficult and it beat a horse and buggy. That was before it became “necessary” for everyone to have their own car and come and go at their leisure. Our driveway and garage has started to look like a used car lot. Karen has her 1996 Nissan van. Mary has a new Kia Soul. Paul just bought an Infiniti FX35 and we, car-less for years, have just purchased a 2011 Chevy HHR rather than having to borrow a car from one of the sibs whenever we want to go out. Coming or going is always an issue since we only have a 2-car garage … the most sought after parking spots at the house. Someone's car is always in the way and requires moving. With Karen's consent, since she drives the least and we are frequently out of town, we decided we would share our car with her and reduce the used car inventory by one van. Karen's grandson wanted the van, but how to get it to Craig, Colorado was an issue. Road trip!!!

Last Sunday, David and I left at oh-dark-thirty for a road trip in the van to Grand Junction, Colorado … about 520 miles away. Paul had advised us of all the best coffee truck stops en route and we stopped at a Love's Truck Stop just a few miles out of town on I-15 for a caffeine hit. It was a bustling place at 4 am. Traveling in the dark through the flat desert lands is pretty boring. When we entered the Virgin River Canyon, I wish we could have seen some of the scenery. The road signs cautioned us of falling rocks, severe crosswinds, steep grades and sharp curves. We negotiated it all in total darkness midst a convoy of trailer trucks.

Around 0630, the day was beginning to lighten. We crossed the Nevada border into the northwest corner of Arizona. The landscape changed drastically. The rising sun's rosy pink glow lit up the horizon and reflected off the red rock cliffs as entered into Utah.

We knew we were getting into the mountains when we saw the signs for chain-up and brake check areas, 6% grades and runaway truck ramps. Speed limits on this stretch of highway are 80 mph, but we kept the van at 65. We stopped several times en route, mostly because we need to stretch and walk a little every couple of hours. One stop was in Beaver, UT. Sorry, it's sophomoric and perhaps vulgar, but it just begs a stop to see what's there.

We saw the signs for the Zion and Bryce Canyon NP turnoffs and Cedar Break National Monument and remembered fondly our time visiting these. If we had more time, we'd have stopped again, but this is a one-day trip and we reluctantly continued on.

Once we turned onto I-70, the landscape became even more dramatic. This is an incredibly beautiful part of the country. We stopped at the Castle Valley viewpoint and took a little walk. The air was crisp; the sky was blue and the view was awesome.

We were ahead of schedule for our 3:30 pm meet-up with Karen in Grand Junction, so we dawdled for a few minutes at Devil's Canyon viewpoint and then stopped for a quick look-see at Ghost Rock, a geographical landmark for ranchers and travelers for centuries. It's hard to miss it.

The hoodoos are the most noticeable and outstanding geologic formations in the area. The tall red spires definitely catch your attention.

And then we were in Grand Junction, some 530 miles and 12 hours after our departure from Las Vegas. We met up with Karen as planned, dropped off the van and got a lift to the little Grand Junction Airport. Our little Allegiant flight ($51/pp/one way) was only 1 hour 15 mins long and Mary was waiting at passenger pick-up in Vegas to bring us home.

One less vehicle in the driveway now.

We know it's Hallowe'en, but it's hard to write about it until you've actually celebrated it. Look for our Hallowe'en celebration on Wednesday. Yes, we'll be all costumed up.

Happy Hallowe'en!

The Blue View - Latest & Greatest Batteries

Nine of Cups has two battery banks: a single 8D starter battery, and a four battery, 800 amp-hour bank that supplies power to the ‘house’ – our electronics, lights, pumps, refrigerator/freezer, water desalinator, autopilot, etc. – pretty much everything electrical except the starter. If we are anchored somewhere and are running the refrigerator and using our computers, our solar panels and wind generator usually won’t quite keep up with our daily electrical consumption. Depending on how sunny and/or windy it is, the fully charged house battery bank will typically last 2-4 days, at which time we have to start the engine and recharge the batteries. Batteries can only be recharged a finite number of times before they start losing their capacity, however. The number of recharge cycles depends on several factors. Battery chemistry, depth of discharge before recharging, battery maintenance and battery design are the primary factors that determine a battery’s useful life aboard a cruising boat.

We last bought house batteries for Nine of Cups in Pape’ete, Tahiti, about 8 years ago. At the time, we felt Lifeline AGM batteries were the best option available, and we had them shipped from Florida to Pape’ete. We took care to treat them well, and they lasted considerably beyond their expected life of 3-4 years. For example, we never let them discharge beyond 50% of full charge, and we equalized them at the first sign of sulfation.

But, alas, even our high quality, well maintained Lifeline batteries aren’t recharging well anymore, and no longer respond to equalizing. I plan to do a capacity test on the batteries when we return to Cups to see just how much life is left, but it’s fairly obvious that they are reaching the end of their useful lives.

Replacing our house batteries is not like replacing a car battery. First, it is a major cash outlay. The least expensive price I found online to replace our four Lifeline 4DL batteries will cost us more than $2200! Then we have the difficult task of wrestling four 124 lb (56 kg) batteries out of the boat, and reversing the process with the new ones.

There is also the question of whether the Lifeline batteries are still the best choice for us. We were quite pleased with the current batteries, but a lot has happened in battery technology over the last eight years. Has one of the newer technologies - PTTL, Li-Ion, etc. – matured enough to be better suited to our needs? Is it now more cost effective to go with a different battery type? What new products are available? Would we be further ahead to buy less expensive batteries with shorter lives?

Before we plunk out a couple grand or more on new batteries, I need to do some research to make sure we make the best decision. I plan to spend the next week or two evaluating options, checking specs and doing price comparisons. If you are interested in batteries, you are more than welcome to come along. And if you know more about batteries than I do (which isn’t setting the bar real high), I welcome your input and comments.