Had my normal breakfast. Turned on the generator at 7:20 to test our Inteli-Power PD9160A power converter with it disconnected from the battery. (You may read more about our power converter problem on the blog entry for December 14, 2009.) It was putting out 13.6VDC which is within spec. I connected the converter to the battery, and it was putting out 30-some amps at 12.7VDC — not within spec I don't think. After charging the house batteries, and at the same time getting direct VAC from the generator, we turned off the generator around 8:00. We talked about the advantages of trying to fix our power converter or getting a new one, and decided to get the cheap floor-display model that had a Buy-It-Now on eBay. After purchasing it, I finished a blog entry. We started to prep the RV to move around 10:25. I stowed the solar-electric panels, and we left around 10:50 with me in the RV and J following in the Jeep.

We stopped a mile or so down the main road to hook up the Jeep to tow.

We stopped at the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) office in Socorro to pick up some topo maps of the area. J wanted to confirm that we had in fact been boondocking on BLM land (we were) and we also wanted to find out exactly where the BLM land was near Bernardo where we intended to boondock tonight.

We went to the Spin City laundromat in Socorro at 11:45 and started our laundry. The woman manning the shop asked us to move the RV from in front of their building, where we had parked on our previous visits with no problem, because "the owner didn't like big vehicles out front." Uh, OK — I think the owner had taken care of us on our previous visits, but we complied and moved the RV to a public park just down the road. I had lunch around noon.

I ordered 25 feet (7.6m) of 1/4-inch (0.6cm) marine grade bungee cord from a seller on eBay so that I can repair our Protect-A-Tow. It's a device to protect a towed vehicle and extends between an RV to the towed vehicle. There's a continuous loop of bungee cord threaded through a channel about its periphery and it's attached to the RV by four carabiners and to the towed vehicle with two carabiners. Our bungee cord receives extra wear at the front driver's side of the Jeep, and the outer case of the bungee has worn through again. Before the bungee strands break again, I'll replace the entire loop and try to reinforce the exposed area that wears through.

J went to the nearby Taco Bell for lunch as I waited for some things to dry. We left at 1:45.

We went to the Denny's parking lot in Socorro to use the fast open Wi-Fi network. After J started uploading some things, she went to the nearby Smith's grocery store to pick up a few things. We left at 2:33.

We stopped at the rest area on I-25 near mile 167, and the dump station we had been planning to use was shut down. :(

We stopped at Bernardo around 3:05. I unhooked the Jeep and took it on a recon mission to find a place to boondock on some nearby BLM land. I found a suitable place then returned to the RV. J said she would follow me in the Jeep as I drove the RV to the boondock spot. Oddly, she backed up the Jeep, turned it around, and waited, while pointing the other way, for me to pull out and go down a road behind us. However, I pulled forward to get on the road in front of us, and had to walk back to get J — so much for following. :)

We reached the boondock spot and I got the RV more or less situated. Then I changed into cool weather photography clothes and we left in the Jeep around 3:45.

The sun went behind a thickish cloud bank around 3:50, and I thought our photographic opportunities would be shot for the rest of the day.

Bernardo Wildlife Area of the Ladd S. Gordon Wildlife Complex

[You may view a brochure with map of the Ladd S. Gordon Waterfowl Complex as a PDF file.]

We went to the La Joya Waterfowl Area of the Ladd S. Gordon Waterfowl Complex, which is south of Bernardo, because I thought that was where J suggested we go. I was surprised that it was closed. J thought we wanted to go to the Bernardo Wildlife Area which is east of Bernardo, so we headed there.

We drove east along US-60 and saw signs for the Ladd S. Gordon Wildlife Complex and the Bernardo Wildlife Area, but there weren't any signs for the Auto Tour. We stopped so J could go online through her iPhone to get directions. Can you tell we were reallly prepared for this trip? :) She found that the entrance to the Auto Tour Loop is just north of Bernardo, so we went back to town and then up the frontage road along I-25 and finally ...

Reached the Auto Tour Loop through the Bernardo Wildlife Area of the Ladd S. Gordon Wildlife Complex at 4:20. There were lots of sandhill cranes out in the corn fields. We stopped near the southwest corner of the Auto Tour Loop as the cloud bank was starting to get some color. After a while, the whole cloud bank lit up orange and some cooperative sandhill cranes flew by in a perfect spot (below left). Unfortunately, they were flying away, which is a general no no, but the color and formation still make for a nice image. A little later, as the color started to fade, I captured a single sandhill crane, flying the correct direction, and I love the mixed red and purple color on the clouds (below right). We left around 5:15.


We returned to the RV around 5:30. I moved the RV a bit so we were pointed due west, then I went up on the roof to tilt the solar-electric panels to the south so they'd be ready to go in the morning. J started to fix dinner of her chicken Marsala. (See the recipe above.) I downloaded the images I took this afternoon and performed a downselect in iView.

We had dinner around 6:30 of J's chicken Marsala with angel-hair pasta and fresh broccoli — it was delicious!

After doing the dishes, I had some Aalborg Jubilæums Akvavit while downselecting the images I took this afternoon in Capture One (C1). We turned on the generator at 8:00 for an hour to charge the house batteries. I selected and processed two images for the blog.