2020 July 4th getaway

Was so nice to get out of the House and hit the road to Terlingua.
Gas up twice with pee stop and disinfect gets us there.
The Rain clouds did their thing starting South of Alpine at one of my favorite mountains.
Cathedral Mountain in rain cloud:

It is 2020 the year of Census Taking. Seems they did not venture past security:

The Rain fell as it does in the desert summer and produced many rainbows upon our arrival, as if being greeted by the spirts.

the goal of the visit was to get the power system "fixed." See it has been giving me some issues the last few visits, and I have been suspicious of the charge controller, so I brought a replacement. Upon arrival and hooking up batteries, all system was a go. No issue presented them self. As if to fix its self. What the Heck!
I proceeded to change out the controller as I have been told it is a great upgrade to the one I replaced. Next an upgrade in batteries and more amp hours.
Here is a before and after photo of installation:

Another goal was to finish out the water guzzler. Well almost got this one done in the quick 3 day visit.
Ran 200' of 1/2 pex pipe and set float valve and water troth. Had a leak at the tank at first. Issue was the 2" threaded female pvc attachment could not get a lot of threads on the ibc valve and the teflon tape would not seal. Jeff came by and had some pipe dope, and this solved the problem. So I got the troth set but some how while rocking it it the level got moved and would over flow. I will need to redo next trip.

The wind has been blowing as it does and at some point since the last trip it blew hard enough to lift one of the catchment cover pole supports out of the ground. so we got to rocking it in to keep it in place.

15 years of moving piles does add up

it feels like when ever i get to spend time at the Fort, one of the things I do consistently though the years is move piles. From one place to another, then that one to over there. Start a new pile from the left over pile and then move it to there.
Good things come of from the total of piles moved.

15 years ago this May i started moving pile out in the Solitario when D.B.(daddy-boy)Smith handed of the raw piece of dirt. On Cinco de Mayo 2005 (05/05/05) Fort Cinco Cieto, Terra Incognito, Salvage Yard Ranch was established.

This Memorial Day extended weekend trip the plan was to bring out a new tote water tank and build a water guzzler for the animals.
Plan A, went form plan A to plan B then to plan C the first day real quick. Plan C allowed for easy access to materials (less distance to move the pile), and less up and down the slopes. I was able to back up right to the location due to all the pile moving I have been doing that has cleared out the driveway.
I was also lucky to have the great helping hand of one of our new neighbors in the area. Thanks Jeff! Would not have got as much done with out his battery operated impact wrench, strong back and keen eye for possible mistakes.

When headed out to the Fort a block away from my house i noticed that the tote tank did not get strapped down. Ah, it's not gonna blow out I said, besides the steps are buried under the black dog Daisy. We were only on the highway for a few exits and yep, look up in the rear view and watch it blow up and against the trailer rail, bouncing, sparking and rolling off the shoulder and landing upright on the grass. I was so lucky as it would have been a mess if someone was behind me. Looped around and reloaded it's bent frame undamaged tank. The full 12 hr drive, all I could do was keep looking back to see if it was still there. Eared the new nickname "Straps"

This trip included a lot of animal sightings. On Saltgrass draw as we arrived, two aoudad were spotted. There was cotton tail rabbits, jack rabbits, a tarantella that has made its home under the bath sink, as well as red tails and ravens who came by every morning. We saw a doe when trying to find David's bother Jody, who may be a new neighbor as well. Scorpions were found under one of the wood piles that needed to be moved, as well as one in the bed at night that came out of no where after the sheets were pulled back and inspected. Christine got bit by a bee two days in a row. The bees covered any open water surface. Canon birds were all over the land. Lots of animals were out and about.

Short in and out get a project done trips are always a toll.

Watched the yeti cooler bounce on the rocks tied to the trailer ripping it open on a curve and this was just the start headed back to the hard pavement home.

Straps had even strapped it down.

some Pic's

Filling up for the trip- prior to getting on hi way. Notice unstrapped tank and our new bench Meaux and I made.

The water guzzler roof shade structure down on the point. Notice dent tank cage

Rattler, Daisy, and clouds

thanks to my neighbor for the canopy structure minus the posts...now that's some good salvage!

PoopBox build & Big Buck

The start of the outhouse rebuild begins and east tx buck.

Ready for Christmas....

New Kitchen

Heres the latest and greatest. The new Kitchen Sarah and I got done last stay.The raised garden is at the urban homestead. Planeters, patio, catchment tanks and compost bins. The chickens are also free ranging in the yard. Life is real great.

the bath room and tikki hut shooting range I built for the Crazy Diamond Ranch

some more rainbows and other things around the ranch
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