Officially rocking new Bumfuzzle plates. Wait… Bum Fuz? As an aside, Minnesota used to have great license plates, with blue raised lettering. This switch to black block sticker lettering (it was probably ten years ago for all I know) is really horrendous. It really feels like everything we touch these days is of lower quality and a less appealing aesthetic. It’s what we get for our obsession with having everything available for dirt cheap, I suppose. Bleeds into every facet of life, even the lowly license plate. And seriously? .com? Who thinks that the license plate is driving web traffic? Even worse, minnesota.com isn’t a state website, it’s just some huckster who happened to land the domain and throw a daily deals site up. Which I guess is where the EXPLORE comes in. Apparently, exploreminnesota.com is the state’s website. What a mouthful. Sorry. I digress.
Solar. The easy part is done. I sprung a little extra money for the flexible flat panels and wow did that ever make installation simple. I cleaned the roof, laid the panel down, and taped with EternaBond. Those things will never move, and they didn’t require a single screw. I started with 400 watts, but this roof could easily take another 400 in a row with these, and 400 beyond that if I wanted to get sloppy.
Boxes of Christmas gifts began arriving. Side benefit for the kids, of not being on the road or at sea for Christmas, is that family is able to track us down.
Pretty random collection of gifts this year. A trumpet, a stopwatch, a skateboard, tennis rackets, a hammock, and a bunch of other miscellany.
Lowe is good at belting out trumpet music. The rest of us can’t seem to nail down the lip vibration for it. And Ouest is a natural at street tennis. Tennis is a sport I’ve wanted to get back into with the kids for a while, so I’m happy. It’s such an easy sport for us wanderers. Two rackets and a ball is all we need. There’s almost always a court somewhere nearby, and if not, we can just volley in the street.
After Christmas we packed up the bus and headed out again. Just up the road a bit is Picacho Peak State Park. We liked it there.
When our kids are older, one of the enduring memories they should have seared into their heads should be of us reading signs filled with random facts to them.
My business partner and I were in the same area for, I think, the third time in a decade. Sort of crazy how easy it is to run a business remotely these days. Keeps you from having to socialize with the rif-raf.
4 Comments on “BUMFUZ XMAS”
Guess I’ll cross out the bottom line on my hat now.
Well I got busy for a few months moving from island life to motorhome life and see you all jumped back to land mode too. Would like to hear how the flexible panels work out. I’m real nervous about putting unneeded holes in the roof but want to do as much off the grid as we can. We’re in the same corner of the world as you out in the desert west of Yuma, heading up to Quartzsite next month.
HA! HA! We also read all those “random facts” signs! We spotted a Blue Bird RV driving the opposite way as we toodled down Texas route 35 today-not you? How goes the project? Hope you’re still enjoying the challenge!
Cheap stuff is certainly right. I’m starting to build a workshop with a living quarters. Good luck finding quality components. And when they are found they’re backed up in the supply chain.
I am very interested in the flexible solar panels and how they work out. That’s what I want on my next truck camper.
Safe travels and warm days to you all.