Sunday morning – relaxing a bit and preparing for what will certainly be a busy month. President Obama came to the state last week and declared the fires a “Major Disaster” – & FEMA is responding. My role is as yet undefined, but I imagine that one way or another I will be participating in the recovery effort.
My wife is visiting over the upcoming holiday and we have lots to do – continuing to set up Bertha for full-time living, catching up with each other and with friends here in Denver, and visiting a few new pubs and restaurants that have been on her list for a long time. We are also going to see the Beach Boys perform at Red Rocks Amphitheater. Additionally, I have three important projects to finish at work and a few conference presentation abstracts that I need to get out before I even think of planning and packing for a ca. three-week archaeological project along Kuskokwim Bay (Bering Sea), near Bethel, Alaska in August.
At the moment the Colorado Emergency Operations Center is activated and working on 10 active fires (some of which are very large):
- High Park, Larimer County
- Waldo Canyon, El Paso County
- Weber, Montezuma County
- Pine Ridge, Mesa County
- Flagstaff, Boulder County
- Little Sand, Archuleta County
- Treasure, Lake County
- Lightner Creek, La Plata County
- Stateline, La Plata County
- Eby Creek, Eagle County
The Front Range winds have calmed over the past couple of days, but it remains hot and very dry. I worry a bit about the chance of fires breaking out in this area – both my office and my RV park (west and southwest sides of Denver) are located along the base of the foothills of the Front Range and are susceptible to fire starts.
There have been many thousands of folks evacuated in the past month or so – both north and south of here. Hundreds of homes have already been lost. Kudos to the brave and stalwart firefighters, additional emergency services responders, the Red Cross, and a lot of others who are fighting the good fight! I will be honored to play a small role.
It is clear that an all-clad aluminum caravan can get incredibly hot in the summertime! I hope this thermal situation will work to keep me warm in the winter. My difficulty is that I do not want to run the AC units when I am at work – even at a higher setting – just seems wasteful. Heck, I also don’t want to keep the fans running when I am away either. Bertha sits out in the open – sin ninguna sombra de los árboles. However, her siting was intentional – when I picked the lot I did not want the fickle and gusty Front Range winds to blow tree limbs down and cause (expensive) damage. Since I decided that the location selected would likely last for a year or more, I welcomed the sunny spot as an adjunct heating source come winter. I guess I did not count on a record-breaking heat waves at the end of May and throughout June (and looks like all the way up through the end of the summer and even into Indian summer)!
Windows on an Airstream ought to remain shut when the Captain is on shore! A few days ago I learned a good lesson about leaving the windows open (full tilt-out) in Bertha. In this particular instance I was home and noticed the wind kicking up while I was grilling chicken (semi-East African style, needing attention). When the wind comes up my routine is to run around the outside perimeter of the caravan and knock down the windows either to their lowest notch (hoping the wind would not catch at this position) or close them completely. Doing this from the outside is faster and works well. However, while I was on the port (i.e., street) side of Bertha working forward, the wind hit a window raised it up and down and twisted it – shattering the tinted safety glass. I watched the entire episode fearing what was about to occur. I took a few steps to grab the window before it broke – and got about a meter from it when glass showered my body! Unfortunately, it was so hot that I was not wearing a shirt and was in flip-flops. I got peppered with glass and was pulling shards out of my skin for about 15 minutes – & survived just fine. Problem now is to replace said window!
Gracias a Dios for the awning rigging that we installed in Bertha. Although quite expensive, it most definitely serves to cool our gal down nicely and efficiently. However, once again, the awnings are set onto aluminum struts, arms and hinges = delicate mechanisms that cannot take a lot of stress from twisting / turning / bending in the wind – especially when I ain’t there to intervene (i.e., stow the sails). This situation presents me with a dilemma, similar to the windows – I cannot leave the awnings up when at work – ergo, Bertha absorbs a lot of thermal energy and passes it to the interior. I often get home, open the door and am greeted with temps in the 90s – cannot be good for electric components, etc.
Bertha has a high-power exhaust fan = a tremendous asset! The brand name is Fantastic Fan. This sucker has a three-speed vent covering a 14-inch square in the ceiling of the forward section. It displaces a lot of heated air and even has a rain-sensor that shuts the plexiglass hood. Unfortunately, the hood is susceptible to wind gusts and if broken will be a pain to fix / replace. Needless to say, I cannot leave the hood open (not even a little) when not on premises.
I have studied that path of the sun and know how it affects Bertha. Once again, Gracias a Dios for the two large juniper bushes (really small trees) along the starboard side of our site – provides a goodly amount of shade for most of the rig starting at ca. 1500 hrs.
Our pad site is gravel under Bertha’s belly, macadam on the port side, and cement on the patio (i.e., starboard) side. Both the driveway and the patio reflect heat and add to the overall baking effect of life aboard Bertha!
Briefly, as this post is spinning out of control, here are some of the measures that I am taking to address my “climate” issues:
- Rise early each morning – have a cup of Fair Trade and carefully brewed coffee – and enjoy the cool of the early morning.
- On especially hot days that extend hellish conditions into the evening I seal up the rig and turn on both of the 15,000 BTU AC units – so I can sleep. I manage to get up sometime during the night and turn off the AC and open to windows to let Mother Nature take over.
- Shut all blinds and curtains in the rig as I leave for work – definitely helps.
- Leave a couple of windows open a bit – strategic placement so as to influence air-flow and heat exhaust.
- Start leaving one or both of the floor fans on when I am at work – but am slightly resistant.
- Have perfected a routine of quickly opening up all windows, turning on all fans, and pulling down all awnings – the minute I arrive home from work.
- Sometimes give Bertha and the patio a brief shower when I return, but we are in drought conditions …
Here are some longer-range plans I have to battle the heat:
- Enlist the help of some of my retired gypsy neighbors to watch Bertha whilst I am working or otherwise away from the rig – open windows, turn on fans, pull down awnings, spray down, etc. I will need to work out compensation for these efforts – along with instructions for the necessary tender-loving care that Bertha requires.
- Install secondary solar screens on both port and starboard side awnings – one that can be rigged open when the other awnings are stowed – will require engineering ingenuity, but I am moving forward and making strides in the correct direction!
In conclusion, I have now realized that no matter that I made the choice to reside full-time in Bertha – she is still a caravan, not a house specifically designed for full-time occupancy in all sorts of weather. These rigs are meant to have the inhabitants close by to quickly take care of things that go awry. Creature comforts do come with a price. However, I am still rocking on and loving life.
I always feel the need to espouse some randomness:
- I listened on the radio to Burmese dissident, Aung San Suu Kyi, give a speech at a venue in Europe yesterday. She will return next week to take her seat in the country’s parliament for the first time. I thought it appropriate that she only refers to her country as Burma and the people as Burmese – not accepting the current regime’s name-change to Myanmar.
- I took my lunch in the Capitol Park last Friday – really enjoyed to free drum concert and the multitudinous food trucks and the noon-time festivity.
- I Skyped with a good mate of mine this morning who is on his way to bonny Scotland (Orkney) to participate in an exciting archaeological project – I am most happy and wish him the best.
- I talked on the phone with another old mate from my wild days in Montana during the 70s. It was great to catch up, having not talked in many years – made me think of just how important meeting different people and living in different places have been in my life.
- Had the opportunity to reunite this week with a lot of FEMA folks that I have worked with in various states over the past three or so years – wonderful to be part of such a great and effective Fed Agency.
- It is July 4th – happy freedom day – I have always known that the United States of America is an amazing and wonderful country. I am proud that my immigrant ancestors had the courage to make the sail from the Old World.
Drum session – Capitol Park, Denver.
Shattered window – port side, forward.
Shattered window – port side, forward.
Patio living.
Cedar planter and pink flamingos.
Study – mid-ship.
New Neighbor.
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The Chinese Buffalo 