I bought a solar panel for the #Airstream about four years ago and have hardly used it. Once in a while, either at a Vermont state park or at our daughter’s in Massachusetts, I’ll set it up and chase the sun through leaves and clouds. It has not been successful – that’s why I bought a generator last year.

Even on our Southwestern trips, we’ve had little use for it since we generally have power available. However, for the last week at South Carlsbad State Park in California, we’ve had only battery power and sun every day. It is so neat to set the unit out in the morning and watch the current flow all day, leaving a fully-charged battery every evening.

A dozen people or more have stopped to ask me about the unit – how it works, etc. no one here, in the hundreds of units we have seen come and go, has solar. Most use gas-powered generators. This is California – where I expected much more attention to green energy. I’ve seen one set of solar panels on a home and no electric vehicles. Perhaps I’m just missing them but with this winter sun almost every day, lots of folks, it seems, are missing the boat.

We leave this lovely site and our CA family in the morning. It’s been a wonderful visit with many new birds. I left some though for the next visit.