A battery replacing we will go.

On this trip we had daytime temps in the low 70s and night time temps in the 50s which meant I wanted to use the furnace at night. The first night the furnace lasted till about 4 a.m. and then we got air blowing but no ignition. We tested the furnace with the generator on and it blew hot and strong. The blower on the furnace had gotten weak which we attributed to low voltage. We suspected our house batteries.

We though it would be simple to replace our batteries with the same set up. We have two 12 V batteries in parallel. They are dated 2006 and 2007 and rated for 950 CCA.  However in researching replacement batteries all the info on-line says our setup is terrible and will die within a year. They were put in by the previous owner. We had used them successfully ourselves for 5 years and they are 8 years old at least. We never worried about the furnace, the lights or anything while boondocking. They seemed remarkably strong.

They were Energizer E31C. They were sealed and basically maintenance free. We checked the water level yearly but never had to add any. We can't find them any more. However they are apparently starter batteries and not deep cycle 12V or golf cart deep cycle 6V which everything says is preferable and you will get 4-7  years usage. Of course you can see my confusion because we did get 8 years and we primarily boondock which apparently you shouldn't be able to do.

To further complicate things, while taking them out it was found that the cutoff switch we installed last year had a loose connection which could have accounted for the lower voltage at the furnace. We tightened it, tested the furnace and all seemed ok, although the blower seemed a little weaker than it was when we bought the RV. So the batteries were dismounted and taken to an auto parts store for testing. The 2007 one was producing 350 CCA and the 2006 one was 650 CCA. So they probably should be replaced.

So after much discussion between the two of us on the apparent internet preference for two 6V deep cycle in series vs two 12V deep cycle in parallel vs. our current set up of two 12V starter batteries in parallel we are leaning toward the two 12V deep cycle in parallel.

The problem we saw with the two 6V deep cycle golf cart batteries is that although they provide the longest amount of current if one starts to go bad you are stuck with not being able to run anything.

Our current set up is a proven winner. We know it works with how we camp and how we charge.

However maybe a good compromise is the two 12V that are supposed to be deep cycle. We talked to camping world and they have AMG sealed batteries from Exide that we will look at tomorrow.
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Wow! Those AGM batteries are expensive. They also had Exide 31 MDC for around $140, 900 Marine Cranking hours, 205 Reserve, 115 @20 A.H. 1 yr warranty. So this became our battery to beat.

We decided on the Walmart EverStart Maxx Group Size 29 Marine Battery 29DC (Deep Cycle) for $99.99. 61.7 lbs, Reserve Capacity 210 and 114 A.H. 2 year warranty.

The warranty is what did it for us over the O'Reilly SuperStart Marine 31DCM, 1 yr warranty , Reserve Capacity 210, 20 hr Am/ rating 105 A.H. We also looked at Costco (no big batteries available and specs. hard to find), Sams Club (most interesting one was not sold in CO), Batteries Plus SLI31MDC (hard to find warranty info & specs. $120), Sears Diehard $112 and Advanced Auto Parts.

Digging around for specs. and trying to compare the products was challenging. Walmart also did not have the specs. in the product description, you had to go to the Q&A. They also have two 29DC products. One with a one year warranty and the MAXX version with the 2 year warranty.

Walking in Medicine Bow National Forest

I can't say what I did was hiking. It could more aptly be described as ambling or walking in a meandering manner. The problem is that I don't do well with altitude and we were at 8200 ft and that was too much for me. Last time we were there I was very tired also but I had attributed it to the prep for the trip. No excuses like that this time and I could tell with the slight headache that it was altitude related.

Pups exploring trail near our campsite.

Many old jeep trails had been blocked off with fences but gave good areas to walk from the camp sites.

Many had water just below.

Rocks in the distance.

Old jeep trail.

More water.

I'm glad the rock did not fall on Sunshine. Interesting rock formations and balanced rocks were everywhere. (Shhh, don't tell the boy scouts.)

Walking along the dirt road lead to a beautiful valley. There was a parking lot for people to go hiking.

This was as far as we got. Didn't get to see the campsites beyond this.

Pretty rocks near the entrance.

Just two and three more sites beyond the one we selected were two that I thought were pretty spectacular and well spaced from others (as were most of them). Our fellow boondockers were considerate. The first night we had some loud music and yelling at the site next to us but they were so far away you could only hear them slightly when outdoors and not at all in the RV. They went to bed before 10 p.m. as when we went out for the dogs last bathroom break all was quiet. The second night we had no rowdy campers so were very thankful. You always take your chances in the national forest.

Boondocking in Medicine Bow National Forest

For Labor Day we headed out to Vedauwoo Campground with no reservations. I thought about whether I should be worried about getting a spot since it was Labor Day weekend and quickly dismissed the idea as ridiculous. We've always gotten a spot somewhere, even on busy holiday weekends.

We arrived at Vedauwoo and found four sites empty. One was at the edge, which is what we like for being able to walk the dogs. But it wasn't level. We first tried 4 boards and that wasn't quite enough so then we tried 6 boards but they slid out. 5 boards also slid out. I hated to think it but I figured we would have to take one of the other 3 sites, 2 of which required no leveling. However, my husband had spotted boondocking sites on our last visit while he was hiking so we set out to find them.

Turns out they are ridiculously easy to find, very close, plentiful, roomy and very level. We passed many empty sites and finally settled on one. The dirt road was a little washboard so we didn't go as far as we probably should have in the hunt.

The dirt road.

Our selected site.

One of three fire ring areas on the site.

The dogs enjoy sniffing for critters.

We spent the first 20 min. picking up trash, bottles, glass etc. on the site. Hopefully anyone who uses this blog to find sites will do the same so we leave the national forest cleaner than we found it.