Quartzsite 2011

Quartzsite, AZ a place where the population goes from a couple of thousand to nearly a million back to the original number in a matter of months. Approaching Q from the east you come over the hill and see white specks scattered all over the desert as far as the eye can see. Each one the specks is a motor home, travel trailer, or a fifth wheel, etc. It is interesting seeing what ingenious ideas each owner has come up with to live out in the desert without hook ups. Some have multiple solar panels, some have wind generators, most everyone has a generator or two of various brands with Honda being the most prominent. A thousand watt generator is ok if you just what to recharge the batteries on your RV, but two thousand or more watts are needed to run the TV, other appliances and electric lights, and even more if you want use air conditioning. The picture is taken in the morning while folks are in line to use the dump station before they head out.

My generator is a older 3500 watt unit with a Briggs and Straton engine. But because it is over 10 years old is not as quiet or as easy to start as the new ones. It is quite a bit heavier than the new ones as well. But it came along when I bought the pick up from my brother in law, so I have used it, though sparingly, for several years. For the last week I have been using my generator to keep my batteries charged while we are parked in La Posa South, one of the areas that the BLM has set aside for use by RVs. By running my generator for an hour in the morning and in the evening I have kept, or tried to keep the batteries charged up. I have discovered that no matter how careful you are, twelve volt batteries are not as good for boondocking as 6 volt ones. The latter hold the charge longer. So when it is time to replace batteries, it will be two gold cart batteries.

Unfortunately, the generator is getting harder and harder to start. The only way to get it running is to spray starting fluid into the carburetor before I pull the starter cord. This works but is not the correct thing to do. So I have two choices. Get a new generator ( $800 - $1000) or repair this one. It does not seem smart to spend that much money for a product that be used infrequently for only about two weeks a year. So when I get to Ajo, I am going to see if there is a small engine repair shop that can tune it up and make it more “user friendly”. Ajo is a small town so I may have to wait until I return home in May to complete this task.