Day 41, 42, 43 - Benson, AZ - TT

Saturday (41) - We got our second Covid shot in Sierra Vista, AZ. We went there through Tombstone along a nice scenic, winding road. They were less organized than where we got our first shot in Tucson but eventually, we got through the paperwork. No problems (so far) from the shot beyond a sore arm. 

After the shot, we headed further into Sierra Vista to get the oil changed in the Prius. It’s hard for me to believe but we put almost 25k miles on this car since I drove it out of AK back in August 2019. This doesn’t include towed miles. Completely reliable. 

No update on the other two solar panels. The status hasn’t changed since Thursday afternoon where the package was listed as “Amarillo, TX, In transit”. 

Sunday (42) - Last night around 2am, I had a reaction to the shot. Fever, headache, sore muscles, and very thirsty. But by morning I was feeling better except for being tired. We went to a birthday party, had blackberry ice cream at the Benson ice cream parlor, then sat in the pool and jacuzzi until late afternoon. All in all, a good day. Still kinda sore but nothing like last night. 

I finally got an update on the solar panel shipment. The FedEx site now shows that it left Phoenix this afternoon. Who knows where it’s headed next. They say that delivery is expected on Tuesday. Hopefully, since we plan on leaving on Wednesday. 

Monday (43) - A long-ish testing session this morning as the candidate had DSL internet issues. But we eventually finished. The second two solar panels arrived in the early afternoon. There were enough calm periods (less wind) for me to get a second panel installed. Now, the panel voltage is 44 volts so the voltage drop in the 10AWG wire of 0.8VDC is less significant. Still, 2% which is right on the edge of reasonable. With the third panel, the loss will be 1.2% which is a good number. Any higher and I should go to larger cable. 

Since rain is in the forecast, I applied Dicor to all of the screw heads and fastened down the cable with cable ties. At our next stop, I’ll see how things are holding up. I used the remaining Dicor around the Eternabond tape on the roof vents. 

Right now, I’m relaxing at the jacuzzi. It looks like it shouldn’t rain until tomorrow afternoon. By the time I got the second panel connected, we were already getting clouds. I ran out of screws so I can't get the brackets mounted to the panel. Maybe tomorrow morning I'll work on the brackets.