Well Drilled Holes, HD Antenna Delivered and Grubstake Bar & Grill

Our Location today is Quartzsite, Arizona, U.S.A. 

Last night we both kept toasty warm by staying under our warm Flannel Sheets and Quilted Bedcover. This morning, I once again managed to beat the Sun rising, along with getting everything ready for breakfast, turning on the Electric Fireplace to take the chill out of the RV& opening the window shades. I even managed to get most of my morning reading completed before Kathy came downstairs for breakfast around 8:00 MST. 

Nice to be up at dawn.

One of the first things I check every morning when I first go Online is the local Weather Forecast. Looking at the forecast for Quartzsite for the day put a smile on my face and when I saw warmer temperatures for the next week, it made me really happy. Then I got greedy and thought that I’d look at the Fourteen-Day Forecast. I knew I shouldn’t have done that. In the next seven days, the temperature is slowly going to start cooling off until two days before Christmas the daytime high will be the Freezing Mark. You read that correctly our daytime high will only reach 32 F (0 C). I object, that is not what we drove all this distance for. Yes, I know its worse back in McGregor with colder temperatures and that White Stuff on the ground   When I told Kathy at breakfast she thought that I was pulling her leg. When I showed her the Weather Network so she could see herself she was as upset as I was.

(Hard to See) drilling holes on the Drill Press.

After I finished the last of my reading and morning chores I bundled up and headed outside because it was only 48 F (9 C) at that time. As mentioned in yesterdays post I needed to buckle down to make progress on the Solar Panel Project. Knowing that I had lots of holes to drill on this project and that they had to be drilled perfectly square to the material I knew using a Hand-Drill would not do the trick. While we were in Casa Grande I had gone into Harbour Freight in hopes of finding a press that would convert any Hand-Drill into a small light-duty Drill-Press. They had those things around years ago but since I had a full-sized Floor Model Drill-Press at the time I didn’t need it. But downsizing to sell the house and then to go Fulltime that was no longer practical but I needed a Drill-Press now. What I ended up with was a Five Speed Table Top Drill Press and today it would earn its keep. 

You can better see the Drill Press as I Clamp
the Transfer Template to the next piece to drill.

Placing a small square of Plywood in the truck bed for stability I placed the Drill-Press on it and started drilling the Pilot-Holes that I’d laid out on Wednesday. With the shavings wanting to fly everywhere I used a box from two of the Solar Panels to contain them. Once I had drilled all 29 Pilot Holes I was just about to get down to some serious drilling when our neighbour Tom stopped by to ask about “How this Solar Stuff would help us be Off the Grid?” He was thinking of it for himself and our other neighbour Tom had told this Tom what I was doing. This Tom also has Sleep Apnea so this sounded like a great idea to him so he wouldn’t need to use a generator. It took nearly a half hour to explain how it worked and how simple it actually is to set it up. I also explained why I was making my own brackets and why they are being made the way they are. Tom appreciated the information that helped him to understand the process. 

Kathy saw me with Tom explaining about the Solar Power.

At that point Kathy helped me out by calling me for lunch. It probably helped shorten the conversation as well. Today she made Chicken Sandwiches from the Leftover Deli Chicken we’d bought yesterday and the last of the Potato Salad also from the Deli. For dessert, we had Water Melon. 

Chicken Sandwich, Potato Salad, Coffee and Watermelon.

While we were having our Lunch, UPS delivered our HD Antenna that we ordered on Wednesday from Amazon. That’ll be another project. 

Inside the Grub Stake Bar & Grill

When I went back outside to finish drilling the holes it was a simple process of drilling the final sized holes in the Brackets I had Pilot Drilled earlier this morning, then using them as a Transfer Template to drill the remainder of the Brackets. It was nearly 4:00 when I started to clean up. Using the Dust Pan I swept up all the Aluminium Shavings and put them in a labeled bag. Since the Park collects the Pop-Cans for the Aluminium, that one pound bag of shavings should be worth something. The final score was I accurately drilled 449 Holes in all the brackets today that will help to mount our Solar Panels to our roof. 

Reading Jim and Barb’s RV Adventure this morning, they mentioned Boondocking out in La Posa South LTVA and going to The Grub Stake Bar & Grill for Friday’s Fish and Chips. Kathy suggested we give it a try for supper. After washing up we got in the truck to go in search of the place. We barely got the truck straight on the road and we had to turn into their parking lot. As with most Restaurant/Bars in Quartzsite they look small on the outside but are big on the inside. When we got our orders, they were huge as there were Two large pieces of Cod, Cole Slaw with a small amount of French Fries. We could have walked there and back to help wear down supper. 

Beautiful Quartzsite Sunset.

Since I did adjust the design of the Solar Panel Brackets a bit I need to recount the fasteners we now have. There might be another quick trip to the Hardware Store in line for tomorrow. I almost see the light at the end of this Solar Panel Project. Thanks for following along and feel free to leave a comment. Be Safe and Enjoy! 

It’s about time.

Krackers 

Joke of the Day 

Ask a silly question 

Why is it that doctors call what they do a 'practice'?