Rain was in our forecast at Hot Springs Village for much of the day, and in checking, western Arkansas was scheduled to be free of rain and partly sunny. With nothing on either of our schedules, she suggested we visit Queen Wilhelmina State Park since neither of us had ever been there. Kay packed sandwiches and drinks, and after a late start, we drove south and west through Hot Springs, and then west along US Highway 270. Much of the route was south of Lake Ouachita and in Ouachita National Forest; it was a trip I’ve been wanting to take for a long time! 

Our first stop was at a US Forest Service Ranger Station; Kay asked about day hikes and primitive camping, and received great information from the staff. They did have a policy of only one set of guests in the office at a time, but they made an effort to come onto the porch and speak with her before she went in, waiting on another couple to finish.

From there we drove to the state park, only to be shrouded in heavy fog about half way up the mountain. Visibility was less than a hundred feet! Obviously, there were no views to be had, and it didn’t make sense to do any hiking. After driving around the park, we drove back down the mountain, and made at least one photo where the fog had partially lifted.

Enroute home, we stopped at Hickory Nut Mountain Campground, a US Forest Service site recommended by the ranger. It was indeed beautiful. We opted to hike a short trail up the mountain to where a fire tower had been, photographing several things along the trail. We do enjoy day trips.

I had to get out of the house and away from Hot Springs Village. Kay was scheduled to spend the afternoon at the casino, so Dan Olson and I went to Camp Robinson Special Use Area. Dog trainers were everywhere, and with their compressed air “duck dummy” canons, occupied most of the area. Dan made a few photos, and I kept busy making, and trying to make, adjustment to the camera. (NOTE: The shutter locked on 10-second delay self-timer when in manual mode. After living with it for the day, internet search revealed it is not an uncommon problem and the solution was to reset the camera. It worked, and no other settings were lost!)

We finally gave up on Camp Robinson, and drove to William Kirsch Preserve in Little Rock. Overcast skies made for a good photo-making day. A few late season wildflowers were blooming, an occasional butterfly flittered about, and grasshoppers were everywhere. Tree leaves had just begun changing colors. CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE

Kay and I played bridge with the Morrises tonight. Once again, Kay dominated the scoring with Jackie coming in a close second. We all were dealt strange hands most of the evening, and I had several with fewer than 6 points. Poor Jim had feast or famine hands, and most were famine. 

Fatigue from Covid-19 has finally arrived. While there are many chores to be done and tasks performed, a high degree of sameness surrounds us in our everyday life. Social networking is definitely out, so we only do social activities with a very select number of friends and family. When will this ever end?

I finally managed to get a haircut Thursday; that was the highlight of the day. Kay enjoyed golf with her ladies group on Friday.

Saturday, I finally got back to working on the Briefcase Solar System. Holes were cut on the left side of the briefcase for Anderson connectors, and the connectors were epoxied in place. See photos below.

10AWG wire was attached to the Anderson connectors on the inside of the briefcase. One set will be from the solar panels to the charge controller, and the other set will be from the charge controller to a battery bank, including an inline breaker.

One of the many things I detest about being old is all the medical appointments one has to attend. Of course, if one had taken better care of himself, he would not have so many appointments. Today, it was back to the cardiologist for a chemical stress test. This means no caffeine for the last 24 hours, and combined with the slow-release nitroglycerin, I had had a severe headache for the last couple of days. I was first injected with some nuclear chemical, and after waiting, a number of photographs were made of the heart. And then, I was injected with another chemical to “speed up” the heart to the point of stressing it. I was short of breath for a few seconds, and had a slight feeling of compression in the heart area for a few seconds, and otherwise, no ill affects. I was then allowed to have caffeine, and since Kay had pre-positioned a cup of black coffee in the car, I gulped it down. We drove to McDonald’s for a late breakfast, and a convenience store for Diet Mountain Dew, supposedly loaded with caffeine. And then it was back to the cardiology clinic for more waiting. Finally, a few more photographs were made of the heart, and I was released. No calls were received in the afternoon, so apparently nothing showed up in the stress test.

No progress was made on the Briefcase Solar System today. However, in addition to designing and building it, I purchased a Rockpals 250-watt Portable Generator Rechargeable Lithium Battery Pack Solar Generator to allow use of a CPAP when without AC power. The lack of being able to operate the CPAP has been a major impediment to primitive camping. Because the lithium battery pack does not have a 12 volt cigarette lighter receptacle, I bought a 12V Power Supply cable for CPAP machine so that it could be hooked up, basically a plug and chug! and the Rockpals lithium power station can be charged with the solar system!

Kay and I played pickle ball in the evening with the Paddle Wheelers. Kay continues to improve and there we’re several good volleys during the matches. Serving seems to be an Achilles heal for her. Afterwards, we enjoyed a “socially distanced” happy hour on the parking lot of Waypoint Marina. We live such a blessed life.

October is birthday month for our immediate family with birthdays October 6, 13, 16, and 21. Forty years ago today, my baby, Jennifer Ann Dunn, was born in rural New Orleans, LA—it was one of the happiest days of my life. At the time I was a member of the Engineering Department faculty at the University of New Orleans. Scheduled to give a test that evening, Jenny’s mother’s water broke and I hurriedly asked good friend, Joey Dykes, to proctor the test. We rushed to the hospital, and Jenny was born later that evening. Happy birthday, Jenny.

I played in a golf scramble midday with a group from church, with more good shops than bad. Our team tied for first, but lost in the draw after the matches. Kay had a “cut and color” in the late afternoon, and I continued working on the 200-watt briefcase solar system.

Upper chest and lower throat tightening continued Sunday night and into the early morning Monday. I called the cardiology office, and they were able to see me at 10:30AM. Upon arrival, they checked blood pressure and did and EKG. Dr. Tauth reviewed it, listened to my heart, and advised that he could not detect a problem at that time, but ordered a chemical stress test for Wednesday, October 14. He wrote a prescription for time release nitroglycerin. As a result of the morning visit, I canceled the golf game in the afternoon. 

Our toad (vehicle we tow behind the motorhome) had been serving as the repository for items to be taken back to the RV such as lawn chairs, tables, bed linens, auxiliary brake, etc. It had become so full that time had come to drive the items to the storage garage. I added a garden rake, and Kay and I took the items to the RV storage facility. I backed the motorhome out of the garage, and while Kay unloaded the car, I worked smoothing the 6-inch ruts in the soft gravel serving as the garage floor. My heart must be okay since there were no issues while raking.

I played golf Thursday afternoon at Coronado, walking all 18 holes. Oscar, the name of the remote controlled, robotic smart golf cart I use makes it pretty easy to walk. And Coronado is a short executive golf course, though quite challenging.

I really want, and need, to take more photographs, but seem to have all sorts of excuses. I am anxiously awaiting birds migrating into or through our area. I did get a bit of a photo fix on Friday as Dan Olson and I patiently worked on his computers to find lost edits of photos from his and Pat’s trip to China last fall. The edits were lost when migrating the photos from an external hard drive to a MacBook Pro, and then to an iMac with external drive. Gratefully, we were able to find all the edits, and he made some amazing photos on the trip.

Work on a new project, a portable 200-watt briefcase solar system (BCS), will initiate soon. This is to be a slow, deliberate process, something somewhat unfamiliar to me as I usually charge ahead, flying by the seat of my pants! The BCS will facilitate boondocking and/or primitive camping, where I must have electricity (either AC or DC) to run the CPAP. Of course, if in the motorhome, the generator could run all night, but it is loud. And, the battery bank must be recharged daily if not using the generator but rather using the battery bank and inverter.. And, anyway, I wanted a project to work on. Great friend, Wayne Bodenhamer, has been working with solar for many years, and he and I would talk solar for hours at a time. Thus, with the boredomness of Covid-19, a great opportunity to build a solar system emerged. I probably went about this the wrong way, but below are the items purchased towards completing the system.

• 2-HQST 100 watt Monocrystalline Solar Panels 
• Epever MPPt 20A 12V Solar Charge Controller 
• 30-foot 10AWG Solar Extension Cable 
• Solar Panel Adapter Cable to DC 5.5\mm x 2.1mm 
• Y Branch Parallel Adapter Cable Wire Plug Tool Kit for solar panel 
• 25-feet red and 25-feet black 109 AWG wire 
• Anderson power pole connectors
• Ratcheting Crimper for Anderson-type power pole connectors 
• 20 Amp resettable fuse circuit breaker
• Self-sick square rubber bumper pads
• 3-inch long stainless steel hinges
• Stainless steel sheet metal screws

There are a couple of other items needed, including a stand(s) for the solar panel(s) (I will use scrap PVC pipe) and a couple of lugs to attach to the cable from the charge controller to the battery bank. 

Over the course of the weekend, I planned the briefcase setup of the BCS, and after much deliberation decided to used masonite with a foam foundation for the charge controller module. Thus, most of the weekend was spent gluing into the bottom of the briefcase the foam foundation using scrap foam from various package delivery containers, and developing a pattern and cutting the masonite to fit inside the briefcase on top of the foam foundation.

On Saturday morning, a slight tightening of my upper chest and throat occurred, and resembled the same symptoms I had before the mild heart attack in July 2014. However, similar symptoms occurred in November 2014 when I was diagnosed with reflux. Symptoms continued Sunday; Kay and I kept a careful watch and I opted not to go to the ER.

Kay was totally “booked” with social activities this morning. She participated in a Naomi Circle meeting at Christ of the Hills United Methodist Church for most of the morning, and then joined the neighborhood ladies for lunch and catching up on the latest news.

I drove west of Hot Springs Village to investigate possible off-grid camping sites on the shoreline of Lake Ouachita, driving through Mountain Pine, AR, boyhood home of “Bobby Bones”, America’s most popular CW deejay. Using the search function in Campendium, I drove to Cedar Fourche Campground, a US Army Corps of Engineers facility.  I was looking for both dispersed and primitive camping sites. According to boondockerswelcome.com, Dispersed Camping is camping in an RV, a tent, or without any form of shelter, for free, outside of an established campground, on public land (owned by some level of government), without hookups, or access to other amenities. Primitive camping is usually via tent or natural shelter, including “under the stars” that is absent water, electricity, or other man made amenities (sometimes a picnic table and/or fire pit is nearby). While driving around Cedar Fourche, I noted a few birds, wildflowers, and a butterflies and stopped to make photos of a camouflaged Great Blue Heron, blooming Guara wildflower, and a Fiery Skipper.

Note: I highly recommend Campendium for you campers out there. Campendium.com is an app I heard about watching a Getaway Couple VLOG episode on You Tube. Here’s what an article in a recent Smithsonian Magazine said, “Campendium provides listings of free overnight RV parking and tent camping sites from Maine to the Mojave Desert. While these aren’t on private lands, some—such as trailside in Moab, Utah, or along the sands at the Mouth of the Rio Grande River in Texas—feel equally as exclusive.”

In a June 3, 2020, article, Condé Nast Traveler said,  “Campendium is a useful tool for sorting campgrounds throughout the country by location, price, variety of hookups, and even cell reception (the latter is for members only), with loads of reviews from other users.”

Wednesday evening, we enjoyed happy hour with other Paddle Wheelers in the parking lot of the Coronado Fitness Center.

Happy birthday to our daughter, Karyn (actually, Kay’s daughter, my bonus daughter).

I procrastinated signing up for Monday golf, and with great weather, the courses are heavily scheduled. Thus, tee times are difficult, if not impossible, to obtain a few hours before one wants to play. So, no golf today. I had also procrastinated about repairing both the powder room and guest bathrooms as the flush valve on both were in disrepair. Half-hearted adjustments lasted only a few hours or days? Wishing nothing scheduled, I undertook that project. After cutting off the water and disconnecting the fill valve on the guest bathroom commode, I unbolted the tank and removed the flush valve. (I would have done this sooner, but bought the wrong size flush valves from Lowe’s.) the new flush valve was installed, the tank bolted onto the bowl, water connected to fill valve and then turned on. It flushed so nicely! However, there was a slight leak, and after tightening the tank bolts several times, all was well. The same fix was performed on the powder room commode. As is most often the case, this project took much less time than expected. I should have done it sooner.

Dan Olson and I traveled to Middle Fork Barrens Natural Area to photograph the season’s last butterflies and wildflowers. We were surprised to enjoy a bit of luck as there were more butterflies than expected. Also, there were a few remaining wildflowers in bloom (I need to work on wildflower photography).

Dan Olson and I drove to McClellan Beaver Dam Trail early mid-morning on Saturday to make photographs of any incoming migrant birds. Not long after getting equipment set up and beginning the walk, several people show up from the Animal Welfare League to walk dogs. A lot of noise and movement does not make for good birding, so we left there and drove to Cooper Preserve on the east side of Hot Springs Village. There, we found several neat plants and blooms along the trail, but lighting was so poor that I failed to get many good photographs. As the sun rose higher, we moved into the open area and noted several butterflies nectaring on what few blooms were present.

As an early birthday present, Kay and I offered to keep Ridge and Aker overnight to give Mom Karyn a break. Kay met them in Benton, and brought them to our house. They are so at home here—warms the cockles of our hearts. Ridge grabbed the iPad and began playing games while Aker and I played with unicorns and horses. It’s not to bad getting on the floor to play with her, but getting up is a real chore! Sunday morning, Kay met Karyn again at Benton to return the kids as Ridge had an early soccer game. We enjoyed a quiet afternoon (really quiet after having the two grandkids) and played bridge with the Morrises Sunday evening.