Solar or Gas

Blythe, CA  High 77  Low 49

I really need to catch up on blog posts. We are currently in Quartzsite but I am going to make a couple of posts about our time at the Bluegrass Festival in Blythe.

We arrived at the fairgrounds in Blythe on Wednesday afternoon. The actual Bluegrass Festival didn’t start until Friday. On Thursday morning the Festival offered a free tour and we decided to go for it.

We got to tour the Solar Generating Facility and the Blythe Energy Center.

George, our tour guide.

 

The NRG Energy solar facility was built in 2009 and has a capacity of 21 MW. It consists of 350,000 PV panels which generate enough electricity to serve the needs of 17,000 homes.

In the above picture, the building with the number 14 on it is an inverter. There are 21 inverters which are slightly larger than the ones in our RVs.

 Ginny and Mickey were on the tour with us.

The facility displaces over 12,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year which is the equivalent of taking 2,200 cars off the road.

There is no water used, it’s a silent operation and requires only one employee to run the facility.

One of their weather stations.

Next we went to the Blythe Energy Center which is a natural gas-fired combined cycle power plant. This plant burns natural gas to produce electricity.

Everybody was issued ear plugs because it is a noisy operation. The combined cycle means that they use a gas turbine generator which not only produces power but also exhaust gases which produce steam. The steam is used to run a steam turbine generator which also produces energy.

There are 75 people who work at this plant and it is capable of producing 1,100 MW.

I didn’t understand a lot of the presentation they made so I sent Jim on the actual walking tour of the plant without me. No pictures were allowed inside.

Blogger-Fest Update

 

Jeri put together some updated information for our blogger-fest on Saturday. Sure hope to see you here.

Blogfest - 2015

 

Just wanted to remind everyone out there about our upcoming Blogfest in Quartzsite. I’m sure hoping all of you will join us. If you have a blog, we want to meet you. If you are thinking about doing a blog, come and learn from the experts (that would not be me).

 

Sure am hoping we see you there. If you have any questions, just ask. It’s going to be very easy to find.

Dental Work in Mexico

Blythe, CA   High 74  Low 46

Our trip to the dentist in Mexico for Jim has now turned into three trips to the dentist.

We had an appointment on Monday with Dra. Yilka Gomez, DDS. Jim was very impressed with her and felt really comfortable with the work that she recommended be done. She went over the x-ray with both of us and explained everything that needed to be done. Her English is very good which is really nice.

Jim thought he might be able to get away with a couple of fillings but no such luck. He needs three crowns, a root canal, and a filling. The total for all that work is $1,141.00. Less than the cost of one crown here in the US.

While we were in Yuma we parked at the 14 day BLM land at Pilot Knob. Toni and Doug saved us a spot in front of them. Sure was good to see them again after almost a year.

Sunrise at Pilot Knob

On Wednesday we headed up to Blythe to meet up with a bunch of other people at the Bluegrass Festival. Most of our group is from our RV park in Apache Junction. But today, Karla and Eric pulled in behind us. We met them in 2009 at the Escapade in Sedalia, MO.

Sunday we’ll head back down to Yuma so Jim can go to his dentist appointment on Monday. Then Tuesday we’ll head up to Q. As soon as I know where we’re going to be I’ll let you know so if you are anywhere in the area we can get together.

Then on Sunday we have to head back down to Yuma for another dentist appointment on Monday. I’m not planning any further than that.

My Skittlez

Mission Accomplished

Yuma, AZ  High 68  Low 55

Friday we headed back to Apache Junction and sure enough, our passports were right where we left them. We said hi to Ginny and Mickey and stopped for lunch and then headed back down to Casa Grande.

Went over to check on Bill and Jan and got to meet Irwin and Kay who were also visiting. Found out that we parked next to each other in the Casa Grande RV Park. Nice folks from South Carolina who own a Montana fifth wheel.

Saturday morning we got a really late start leaving Casa Grande. Jim didn’t sleep very good and was really tired. We stopped at Dateland so he could take a nap before we headed down to Yuma.

We are out at the 14 day BLM land behind the Pilot Knob RV Park. Toni and Doug had saved a spot for us and it sure felt good to see them again after almost a year.

This morning Tina and Jeff came out to visit and the six of us had a fun time. Then it was time for some football. Well, except for Toni and Doug who had other friends to go visit.

Tomorrow is Jim’s dentist appointment in Mexico. I’m just hoping it’s not raining on us.

Still the Best Burger in Arizona

Casa Grande, AZ  High 68  Low 48

Scooter Update: She is back to feeling almost 100% again. In fact, trying to keep her slowed down is almost impossible. We don’t let her jump or use stairs so when we leave the rig, she has to go back into her cage. But she feels great.

Porter’s Cafe in Superior. Paul and I decided we wanted a hamburger and Jim said the only place to get one of those was to go to Superior. Beautiful day for a drive even if it was a little windy.

They had this Bud train sitting on the bar. Very eclectic collection of items displayed in Porter’s.

This afternoon we left Apache Junction and made it as far as Casa Grande. We don’t want to push ourselves too much. Seriously, we wanted to stop and see how Jan was doing with her busted foot. Bill had made a big pot of chicken and noodles and we enjoyed every bite.

Got back to the rig and Jim looked at me and said, “Did we bring our passports?” Nope. They are back in Apache Junction. It would be a little hard to get into Mexico on Monday without them so tomorrow we have to make the trip back to Apache Junction. Looks like we won’t get to Yuma until Saturday.

2015 – Whether we’re ready or not!

Apache Junction, AZ  - Way too cold. High – 46  Low 28

We had a wonderful Christmas season in 2014. Jeff and Tina came through town and we were able to meet up with them for lunch. Great people that we will meet up with in Quartzsite this month.

Christmas Eve we got to have lunch with Paul, Dianna, and Bobbie. Christmas day Paul came to our house and helped us out with our turkey dinner. He brought a cherry pie from Village Inn that was fantastic.

We went to visit Aunt Happy a couple of times and she’s still going strong.

The weather man said that New Year’s Eve was going to be rainy and cold. We decided to celebrate by meeting up with Paul, Jeri, and Terry for breakfast at Cracker Barrel. The rest of the day we just hunkered down.

Today is the first day of a brand new year. 31 557 600 seconds to spend however we want to. Let’s not waste them – enjoy every single one of them – even the ones when you’re sleeping.

These are my beautiful Superstition Mountains covered with snow on this first day of 2015.

Lots of people out taking pictures of this beautiful scene.

January will be our annual journey to Quartzsite. This year it is going to be via Yuma and Blythe, CA. More on all that later.

Jeri has been busy putting together a blogger fest. If any of my readers are in the neighborhood, please join us.