2026 ~ A Different Kind Of Year
An Adventure In Solar Power
We started the season deciding to venture into the world of solar. Theplan was to set up the trailer and get a portable system to see if this was a thing we wanted to pursue.
I purchased and installed the necessary components and a couple of batteries and mounted everything under the front bed. We purchased a 400 Watt suitcase solar panel to get started. While doing the upgrade we also replaced the 120v/Propane refrigerator with a straight12V, which provided a much roomier food storage space. We also ordered new covers for the cushions inthe dinette area and couch.
A Couple of Days of Biking
Our first trip out this season was to CDA River RV Campground near Cataldo, ID. We took the tandem and rode towards Harrison one day and to Wallace on the second day. We alsways enjoy riding the Trail of the Couer d’Alenes. It was a good couple of days of riding. We had lunch in Wallace before heading back.
Northwest Tandem Rally 2026
The tandem rally was in Cottage Grove, OR this year. We met up with our friends Tom & Diane again this time and had a fun couple of days. Cottage Grove has some good riding along the Row River and the Covered Bridges Ride is always fun. The rally was pretty well done, although the weather was a bit cool and the events were outdoor so there wasw not a great deal of socializing. There was no Saturday night banquet this year.
Normally we will create a trip around the rally, this year we headed back after the rally to meet up with my daughter and her family for a weekend of camping.
A Trial Run
We met Amy and family for a few days at Kit Price Campground on the North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River. This was our first experience with off grid camping. We used the solar suitcase and got along really well. The campsites are full sun and the weather was great so it all went well.
This campground is pretty great. The road in is paved the entire way, including throughout the campground. It is very well maintained and feels very remote.
We had a great time visiting with Amy, JT and Jude.
Competing the Solar Conversion
After the trip to the North Fork, we decided that we liked the freedom of having soar power, so we took the trailer to the SAitrstream dealer and had 800Watts of solar panels installed on the roof. It was pretty straight forward as I had already prepped the wiring and battery conversion.
They also replace the holding tank sensors which had never worked properly. We had made the decision that if we want to spend time off grid, we would need to be able to monitor the tanks and take the guess work out of it.
They had the trailer for a few weeks in July.
The Rest of the Season
So, after we got everything set up for off grid, it turns out that diesl was over $7.00 a gallon, so we didn’t get much more travelling in with the trailer. We did a couple of trips to Usk with the trailer. Some friends have a house on the river and hosted a Mahjong retreat of sorts one weekend, and we returned for the PowWow at the Kalispell Indian Reservation.
It is a nice setting onthe river and the house and grounds are great. They have a swimming pool as weel which was nice as it was quite hot.
The solar worked pretty well, but the A/C would take the batteries down in a couple of hours. The solar was able to charge the batteries back up to about 85% after running down to about 30%. The second trip it was crazy hot, so we did end up plugging in to the garage so we could run the A/C during the night.
It was a good test to see what the limints of the solar are. End result is that we can be completely efficient off grid if it isn’t so hot that the A?C needs to run at night, or more that a couple of hours a day.
We did have a trip scheduled for the Wallowa Lake area in Oregon, but with the fires this year we cancelled that trip. With fuel prices being what they are this year, we opted to do a trip to Orcas Island with the car. More about that in the next post.