OAUSA Net - October 6, 2022 - Borrego Fest Wrap-up

[DaveK]

Borrego Fest Wrap-up

Well.............we had a great time in Anza Borrego. The turn-out was light, but the desert, the weather, the campground, the food, the evening campfire, the beverages, and the camaraderie were the best. It seemed clear that the economy and inflation took their toll on our numbers, but we made the most of the weekend, as these pictures show.

We made the Stage Coach Trails camp our home for 3 days, and it was clear that they have made several significant improvements to the entire camp. The consensus seems to be that this will be our Borrego Fest location for a while.

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CAMP

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COOKING / KITCHEN

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STAGE COACH FACILITIES

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VERY UNUSUAL FLOWER BLOOMS

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Here are some interesting facts about the Saguaro

Quick Fact
Saguaro flowers bloom for less than 24 hours. They open at night and remain open through the next day. They only have that very short time to attract an animal to be pollinated.

Saguaro Flowers
Saguaro flowers are usually found near the tops of the stems and arms of the cactus. They are white in color about 3 inches in diameter. They emit a strong smell, sort of like overripe melons.

Flower pollination
During the night the flowers are pollinated by the lesser long-nosed bat and the Mexican long-tongued bat. During the daytime the flowers are pollinated by bees and birds such as the white-winged dove.

Saguaro Fruit
After the flowers have been pollinated they mature into bright red fruit. When the fruit ripens it split open showing juicy red pulp. Each fruit can contain up to 2000 small black seeds.

Uses of the fruit
Ripe fruit is an excellent source of food and moisture for many desert animals. Some of those animals include finches, woodpeckers, doves, bats, tortoise, javelina and coyote. Humans also eat the fruit of the saguaro. Tohono O'odham Indians have been harvesting the fruit for as long as they have lived in the desert. Source: Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

Saguaro Fruit (Source: This Is Tucson )

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CALIFORNIA QSO PARTY (HF radio contest)

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WANTED POSTERS

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COFFEE DELIVERY

Santa (Jack) arrived with many bags of some of the best coffee we have tasted. The coffee is roasted locally (Temecula) and all coffee drinkers left with a bag or two. His special roasts were served at breakfast each day, and a new, "OFFICIAL", OAUSA coffee has been crowned.

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THE GENERAL STORE

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COMMUNICATION UPGRADE

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[NotAMog]

I'm not able to be present for the net but here is my Borregofest writeup for your reading enjoyment -

Camping Out in a Tesla

I did something a little different for Borregofest this year. I've been dealing with the aftermath of a water leak at home so I didn't want to take extra time going to Anza Borrego as I had originally planned. I just came for the Friday and Saturday nights of Borregofest. Since it's a 300 mile each way trip for me, was only two nights, and with the price of gasoline being what it is I decided to campout in my Tesla Model S.

Fortunately for me a new Tesla supercharger station opened in Yucca Valley just that week which is conveniently located on my way to Borregofest. I charged there on the way down and on the way back. It took 45 minutes to charge to 80% on the way back which is exactly how long it took me to order and eat my lunch at a nearby Subway.

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Here is a picture of my camp at Borregofest. I took advantage of the fact at each site had a 30A 120V electrical connection. Fortunately my site had two 30A (TT-30R) outlets so I was able to use one to charge the car and another to power the refrigerator using appropriate adapters on the RV outlets.

Staying at RV parks is one way to travel with an electric car to areas that may not have EV chargers. You can plan your nightly stops at RV parks with power and charge the car overnight while you sleep in the car or tent camp beside it.

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I slept in the back of the car using a "bed in a box" called a Dreamcase along with heat shields to block the light which attach to the windows using suction cups. It feels like you're going to sleep in a space ship when you use the remote to close the rear hatch.

https://dreamcase.eu

https://evannex.com/collections/interio ... la-model-s

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It's a little hard to see in the picture but the Dreamcase gives you a full size bed in the back of the car. Fortunately, it agrees with my back so I find it firm but comfortable. The Tesla has what is called "Camp Mode" which allows you to keep the heater and air conditioning on as long as the battery stays above 20% charge. Being that the car was plugged in this wasn't a problem. The weather was temperate enough that it wasn't necessary to use camp mode at night but it was still nice to use it to cool down the inside of the car before bed.

Cooking in the Solar Oven

I brought the solar oven to make brownies for dinner on Friday and Mexican corn bread for dinner on Saturday. During the day it was hot and sunny with little wind, although we did have more than a few dust devils come through camp on Saturday, so the solar oven worked quite well.

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Using an Electric Induction Cook Top

Most of the camper conversions on Sprinter 4x4 and other van chassis today use electric induction stoves rather than propane. Induction stoves are extremely efficient with their use of electricity because they use magnetic fields to heat the cooking vessel directly much like a microwave oven heats the food directly. It is practical to power them with a small bank of lithium ion (usually LiFePO4 or lithium iron phosphate) batteries.

To try this out, I got a single "burner" induction cook top. They only work with ferrous metals so stainless steel and aluminum are out. They do work very well with cast iron. For the Saturday potluck I made rosemary garlic potatoes in a vintage Griswold "chicken fryer" which is a high sided frying pan with a domed lid. It worked quite well. One nice feature of induction cooking is that is operates much like cooking with gas. Turning the heat up or down is relatively instantaneous unlike a traditional electrical resistance heating element which reacts very slowly.

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Happy Campers after Dinner

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[Diesel4x]

Looks like it was a blast!

Please check in Randy KF6KOC
and Becky KF6RGR

thanks!

[KA9WDX]

Check in please - Thanks - Should be great listen - Compared to how I camp out, you certainly don't, "rough it," and you guys and gals camp in style LOL...certainly bring along much more, "equipment" than I did, when I camped out.

Bernie

[Hmfigueroa]

https://youtu.be/JQdImo6jpsg

https://youtu.be/JQdImo6jpsgn

[Geoff]

Please check me in tonight.

[KM6OJB]

Please check me in KM6OJB
Thanks
Joe

[JackM-KK6WXQ]

Good evening!

Please check us in:

Jack M KK6WXQ
John D KM6FXI
Kevin P KK6DGL

Thank you!

[H380]

Please check me in: Bob -- WY6R

[H380]

Please check me in: Bob -- WY6R