Go Leaf Peeping Now, Before It’s Too Late

Ahhh, wonderful fall. The waning warmth from the sun brings a welcome chill from summer heat, migrating birds start heading to their southern range, and deciduous hardwoods begin turning red, orange, and yellow heralding the leaf peeping season. Sugar maples give up the green for eye-popping reds, orange and brown tones come to the stately oaks, and white-barked aspens put on a display of vivid yellows and golds. But if its aspens that trigger your camera finger, take your pictures now, as aspens from Arizona to Colorado to Idaho are falling by the tens of thousands. Read more  Read More →

Are We the Anchor to Mainstreaming Electric Vehicles?

Axeon electric vehicle By Bob Difley On Wednesday, 18 scientific organizations wrote Congress to reaffirm that there was a consensus among scientists on the validity of global warming. They cited melting ice caps and the world’s oceans this past summer hitting their highest monthly recorded temperatures. On Thursday the Pew Research center for the People & the Press released a poll of 1,500 adults that found that 57% believe there is strong scientific evidence that the Earth is warming up, and has been over the past few decades. But that majority figure was not seen as a positive moment to global warming believers. Why? The reason is that the percentage of people—according to the poll–believing in global warming has dropped from 77% just since 2006. That’s a 20-point drop in believers. “The priority that people give to pollution and environmental concerns and a whole host of other issues is down because of the economy and because of the focus on other things,” said Andrew Kohut, the director of the research center, which conducted the poll from Sept. 30 to Oct. 4. “When the focus is on other things, people forget and see these issues as less grave.” However, half of all the respondents said they supported establishing limits on the emission of greenhouse gasses—even if it meant higher energy prices. Three-quarters of Democrats believe the evidence of a warming planet is solid, and nearly half believe the problem is serious. But, far fewer... Read more

Could this be the breakthrough electric vehicles need?

By Bob Difley Can anyone deny that the world is entering potentially one of the most disruptive periods of change in the transportation sector since the internal combustion engine was invented over 100 years ago? The activity surrounding and driving alternative energy vehicle development–hybrid electric, plug-in hybrid electric, or all electric (EV)–produces news stories everyday with words like newer, better, larger, smaller, more efficient, and breakthrough in the headlines. Auto manufacturers and venture capitalists are pouring money into technological advancement of vehicles, batteries, EV  technology, charging systems, and infrastructure.  Garage entrepreneurs and small cap tech companies are scrambling to grab a piece of what could be a very enormous pie, especially when the pie expands to include pick-up truck, delivery truck, RV, and bus size vehicles. In a step closer to realizing these goals, now IAV Automotive Engineering, a German company with facilities in Michigan, has acquired a patent for their Star Trekie EV wireless road charging system, that magically beams energy to your EV. The technology requires installing electrical conductors into roads that would generate magnetic fields which would charge an EV’s battery as it drives. RFID tags would identify your EV and bill you for the amount of energy used. This could be a game changer–if it works–and a disaster for all the companies scrambling to establish battery charging and swapping... Read more

Nickel-Lithium: The Next Battery Break Through?

By Bob Difley As electric vehicle proponents, alternative energy entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists have predicted, the development of better, more efficient batteries will give the electric vehicle (EV) industry the game changing boost it needs to change the way we think about transportation. Battery technology, which produced the successful development of the lithim-ion battery for laptop computers and then in the Tesla sports car, is now about to take the next leap forward with a battery that can be produced at lower prices but with greater capacity, meaning an increased range between charges. Well, the lower price hasn’t happened yet, but researchers have created a new generation battery by combining Nickel and Lithium to produce a battery that can store more than 3.5 times the energy of lithium-ion batteries.. This is a prime example of the payoff from the money and effort going into the development of smaller, cheaper, safer (the Nickel-Lithium batteries are less prone to burst into flames as some lithium-ion batteries in laptops have), and more powerful batteries that will deliver more miles between charges as the era of the Electrical Vehicle (EV) is knocking at the door. Other companies are developing the components that will complete the EV. One such company (Proterra) claims to deliver a full charge to lithium batteries in ten minutes, and has produced an all electric bus that also includes a regenerative braking system that they claim will capture 90% of a vehicle’s... Read more

Want to be on top of alternative energy? Learn Chinese

By Bob Difley The shift away from fossil fuels to alternative fuels like bio diesel and diesel fuel made from algae–which is now being tested in airplane jet engine–as well as the the expansion of alternative energy sources like wind and solar to power the coming electric vehicle age is exemplified by the opening of a giant solar energy center by Silicon Valley based Applied Materials, Inc. and the government’s decision to invest up to $60 billion annually in alternative energy. Wait a minute. It seems that Applied Material’s solar center will not be providing jobs and energy in Silicon Valley, or even in California–or anywhere in the USA. Instead, it will be in Xian, China. And the government’s $60 billion dollar investment in alternative energy, that’s the Chinese government, not the one in Washington, D.C. Not only is China where the alternative energy action is, but analysts predict that in as little as two years China will be the world’s largest consumer of solar energy.  And by 2013 their clean technology sector could top one trillion dollars annually. “If the US doesn’t get serious, China’s going to own this industry,” says a spokesman from Applied Materials. “The get that these are the industries of the 21st century,” says Silicon Valley tech investor Alan Salzman (whose investments include Tesla Motors, BrightSource Energy, and Solazyme). “The level of support for green tech there... Read more

Where do Snowbirds Go Between Summer and Winter?

By Bob Difley The threat of early winter snows, sometimes arriving as early as October in the higher elevations of the Sierras, Cascades, and Coast Ranges, snowbirds, along with the feathered version of migrating birds, are starting to make plans for heading south. However, with daytime temps still topping 100 degrees in the lower desert snowbird roosts like the Coachella Valley in California, and the lower Colorado River, Phoenix, and Tucson areas of Arizona, you might want to consider heading for one of the high deserts for a month or so. Read more  Read More →

Coyote Camping in the Southwestern Deserts II

By Bob Difley In last week’s blog I described how to find dispersed boondocking campsites (coyote camping) in the American deserts. Now that you know how to find coyote camping spots, the following tips will help to enhance and expand your desert boondocking experience: The best way to find dispersed campsites in the desert is to explore first in your tow or toad, checking the road surface for soft spots, lethal potholes, and muffler-killing rocks. Try to find roads that follow the less-eroded high ground rather than up a wash, where the surface could be sandy and soft. You can often find “desert pavement” on the higher surfaces, a naturally occurring tile or cobblestone-like surface that is very hard and supportive of even heavy rigs. And you are likely to have better views from the higher ground. Choose a spot, if available, that has been camped in before, rather than destroying desert plants in creating a new site. Haul as much water in Jerry Jugs or inflatable blatters (available at Camping World or RV and boating supplystores) with you as you can carry. Dump these into your fresh water tank as it goes down to give you extended staying time. Buy the type of sewer cap that has a fitting for a garden hose, which you can then lead off away from your site for your gray water to drain into (dig a deep hole and cover outflow with a layer of sand after each use). Never dump your black water except into an approved dump station). Solar panels work great in the desert, even... Read more

Coyote Camping in the Southwestern Deserts

By Bob Difley BLM undesignated campsites near Why, AZ Boondocking around Quartzsite and on land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) LTVAs (described last week in Desert Solitaire II) is an easy and effective introduction to desert boondocking and snowbirding. Support services and supplies are plentiful, and the great gathering of veteran boondockers, akin to the mountain man rendezvous of 200 years ago, stand ready to help out if needed. Read more  Read More →

Desert Solitaire II

By Bob Difley Last week in Desert Solitaire I said I would write about how to boondock in the desert, in both communal locations like Quartzsite, and in solitary sites under a lone desert willow. Either way, camping in the open desert on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land, rather than in a designated campground, is what lures many snowbirds to the desert in winter. Most RVers call this camping boondocking, though in Quartzsite, you could end up even more crowded than in a hook-up campground. But the choice is yours. The options offered by boondocking allow for groups of friends to circle the wagons much like the early pioneers did on the Oregon Trail. Though the pioneers chose this method mainly to protect themselves from marauding Indians, today’s RVers seek social camaraderie instead, putting tables, chairs, and a communal campfire in the “hub” of the circled wagons. Here again, you can choose to camp in close to town and have neighbors, or move further out and have your group area all to yourselves, a definite advantage if you are nudists or practice strange rituals or ceremonies. Quartzsite RVers also can make the decision of choosing a dispersed campsite, which is essentially any open piece of desert land that fits your personal requirements, that is close to town–which will contain the most RVs–or one that is further away and therefore more solitary. A unique aspect of the Quartzsite area is that there are several hard compacted dirt roads... Read more

Desert Solitaire (Tribute to the original desert rat, Ed Abbey)

By Bob Difley Before my wife and I began fulltiming we took several week-end and Christmas holiday vacation trips wrapped in the chilly blanket of the Northern California winter. One particular trip we camped in a state park redwood grove and there was no one else there except for a ranger or two passing through. In fact, the ranger had to open the restrooms for us, since they didn’t expect any campers and had kept them locked. No heat either. We decided then that when we got to fulltiming we were going to spend our winters in the southwestern deserts, where it was warm and the sun shone most of the time. And when it infrequently rained, it didn’t last long. And so we did. Read more  Read More →

Next Page »