So we mentioned in our last post that we were looking for a way to keep our RV powered away from campsites and civilization.  We got some estimates on solar panels and the results weren’t good.  It would cost upwards of $15,000 to get the RV outfitted with enough panels to power our stove, air conditioner, water heater, etc.

This is how we learned to install our system..

What we did find was a how-to for making our own RV solar panels.  It worked pretty well, we have 6 panels up and running, which is plenty of power to keep us powered over night from one day in partial sunlight.  Building the solar panels was pretty simple.  It took us a bit of time to get the hang of it, but we got them done, even with no great handyman expertise.

We built the solar panels during a rainy weekend outside of Tacoma.  We were staying with our daughter and her husband so we had a bit of space and basic tools.  Except for the solar cells themselves, we were able to find all the parts at the hardware store down the street.  The solar cells themselves can be bought all over the web for about $70 each.  All together, the project cost us about $800 dollars for six solar panels, with all the batteries, wiring, and electronics.

According to the manual we used, the same method can be used to make solar panels for a home, boat, RV, or whatever else you want.  We found that they were pretty easy to build and they work great.  If you’re interested, you can read about Green DIY Energy here.

Good luck with your travels.  Until next time, may the roads rise up to meet you.

One of our favorite things to do during our cross country travels is to go camping away from the typical campgrounds and spend some time in nature. We like the serenity of being away from lots of people, there is just something special about the calm. Being hidden away from the world has sparked our romance up to a new high, being out where nobody can find us.

Unfortunately, it was quite difficult for us to be away for too long. That’s one of the downsides of old age I suppose, but it’s really difficult for us to be away from the little things that make lives easy. For example, having specific heart-healthy diet requirements prevents us from straying too far a refrigerator and a stove. It’s even harder for us to travel with the grandkids, young children just have a hard time dealing with cold meals.

We spent a fair bit of time checking out different ways to outfit our RV with a power supply that would do well for a week or more away from a charging station. There’s surprisingly few options, either we could buy a generator and take lots of fuel with us out into nature, or we could buy a huge battery bank and charge it before we leave. Both of these have the same two downsides in our mind. First, they’re very expensive; we live on a retiree’s budget, which wasn’t helped at all by the economy. The other is that we don’t like the idea of bringing lots of fuel or pollution out into the environment.

We’ve been considering solar panels as an alternative, they’re a bit expensive. Once they’re built though, we can spend as much time we want out in the wild. There would be no further maintenance, or gas to keep filling up. We’ll let you know if we come to any solutions.

Welcome to our travel journals. This month we spent driving down the Alaskan Highway from Fairbanks Alaska through the Yukon and down to Glacier Bay where we’ll spend a few days fishing. It’s one of the most beautiful places that we’ve ever been. Here is just one photo of us near a lake:

If you ever get a chance to drive through Canada, don’t pass it up.

Spending all of this time out of society in raw nature has been really eye opening. It’s really frightening to see all of the news that this kind of natural beautiful scenery could one day no longer be here. In our reckoning, that would be an actual tragedy.

We recently built four solar panels for our roof. They’ve been great for powering the RV and appliances. We haven’t had to plug in for over week, which is really helpful when you’re camping away from the main stays. We’ll write more about that later.