Winter Range - Sun City, Arizona

We made the trek from Yakima, Washington to Sun City, Arizona in five driving days and four overnight stops.  We made the trip uneventfully for the most part.  The two memorable things, excluding the magnificent scenery, were the high fuel prices and our less than fully performing coach batteries.  Diesel fuel for this trip was around $4.25 per gallon along the highway.  We were able to find $3.85 prices farther off the highway some of the time.  Our battery bank, four each 6-volt batteries, two pair connected in series, then those two pairs connected in parallel for a 12-volt battery bank system, were only holding about one half of a full charge.  We noticed this as soon as we unplugged at Swan Valley.  Nevertheless, we made both the Yakima trip and this Sun City trip without further problem.  We always had enough power to start our generator, and we did that each night that we stopped.  Since then we have equalized our way out of poor battery performance and back to all battery systems go!  That took three equalization sessions of two to three hours each with overcharging voltage going all the way up to 16 volts DC.  Always remember to turn off your 12 volt appliances as the equalizing over volatage can possibly damage those sensitive electronics in refrigerators, thermostat/HVAC systems. leveling systems, etc. 

First day out of Yakima; crossing from Washington into Oregon over the mighty Colombia River.

Snapped this pic below in northeast Oregon, near Pendleton, a very large solar array along I-84.  The picture captures only a small fraction of the array.

Cattle down on the winter range southeast Oregon, near North Powder.

We saw plenty of snow in the higher elevations.  Time to head south!

Jackpot, Nevada!  Notice to cowboys: Livestock Brand Inspection ahead.

More snow up high.

A shot approaching Wells, Nevada

Leaving Wells, climbing out through the southern pass.

More mountain road carved out of solid rock.

We always see this guy... riding a bike up a very long grade in the middle of nowhere.  Probably 50 or more miles from Wells, Nevada.

Almost to Ely, Nevada our second overnight spot.

Look at that!

Pit stop at the Extraterrestrial Highway.  This is a nice shady stop and we always look for aliens.

Look, there goes an alien now!  Oh wait, it's just Gari stretching her legs.

This is the E.T. Jerky place just down the road.  Ever had ET Jerky?  We hear it tastes like chicken.

Colorful Cottonwood trees seen along the Panranagat National Wildlife Refuge waterway.

Lower Panranagat Lake

Interesting erosion pattern, Yucca in the valley below.

More texture, more Yucca.

154 acre, 20 Megawatt Apex Solar array at Rt 93 & I-15 north Las Vegas, NV

Apex control building

Cruisin' Las Vegas past old Fremont Street.

Another solar array, this one at Hoover Dam

Scenic overlook at Hoover Dam; not much water right there in Lake Meade.

Kingman, Arizona

Sediment layers; how do you suppose that happened?

The magnificent rocks at Nothing, Arizona.  The iconic Snoopy rock in the frame.  See him?

Snoopy Rock Iso.

Joshua Trees live nearby.

Rounding the last traffic circle at Wickenburg, Arizona.  That cowboy's horse is dancing over a Rattlesnake.  This stretch of Rt 93 is Rattlesnake alley.  In less than an hour we will be at our Sun City destination.  We hope to enjoy a couple months of excellent winter weather while there.