7AM - November showers.A few moments ago, rain began to fall on the desert. We on the TiogaRV Team love the rain which may in a few months bring the flowers that will cover the desert floor with gold, yellow and blue.7:30 - Deep cycle battery info.When Mr. Sunny bought his deep cycle batteries in April, 2003, we on The Team knew very little about batteries. We bought six batteries. They are Exide's Stowaway model and are 6 volt deep cycle. Our batteries will be five years old soon, and have served well. They are giving signs of needing replacement.Our Exide Stowaway batteries were purchased from Sam's Club for $47.50 each. A very good price at that time. Now we are shopping for batteries again, and are in need of information to make our decision on what to buy.We have been told that the Trojan model T105 is the best 6 volt deep cycle battery available. A Trojan T105 battery costs around $100. Sam's Club now sells an Exide Champion model deep cycle battery and it sells for $62. We have not been able to get a price on an Exide Stowaway model.Doing research, we located an Exide factory distributor in Poway, California, about 66 miles from our Camp in Borrego Springs. We will be heading out for Poway this morning looking to collect valuable info in order to make comparisons of the best deep cycle battery for our Mr. Sunny.1PM - Where's the Exide Company?When we arrived in the City of Poway, we phoned Exide. Nobody answered the phone! We looked for Exide in the phone book. Couldn't find anything! Wow!We did find a company in the phone book named American Battery Company, located in the nearby City of Escondido, and decided to go visit them.2PM - American Battery Company.American Battery is a large distributor of industrial batteries. American sells Trojan batteries, but recommends batteries from Crown Battery Manufacturing Company.
Some technical stuff:
Crown's Model CR-225 is rated at a Reserve Capacity [RC] of 115 minutes @ 75 amps. Our present battery is the Exide Model E3600, and has an RC of 110 minutes @ 75 amps. In comparison, the Trojan T105 has RC of 115 minutes @ 75 amps, the same as the Crown.American Battery gave us a price of $92.95/each for the Crown CR-225. Sam's Club in San Diego sells an Exide Champion deep cycle battery for $62/each.Tomorrow we will go visit Sam's Club in order to determine the specification of their deep cycle battery. Wow! A lot of running around to buy Mr. Sunny's new batteries!6PM - Escondidido Nite Camp.We've made our Nite Camp in a quiet section of the City of Escondido. MsTioga's Camp is in back of a car dealer, and there are two other RVs camped on this street too.



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7AM - Mr. Datastorm not online again.For the past two days Mr. Datastorm has been able to be online in the evening. However, in the morning the satellite does not let us online! It is frustrating.This morning, Mr. Sunny tilted his panels and Little Mavicito went outside to take a pic of George and Tioga in the sunshine. Afterwards, we found out that the satellite was not operating right! Wow!We would have to move to a more northerly location and try again.
George and Tioga at our Nite Camp site. 9AM - American Legion Camp.We traveled down from the mountain of our Nite Camp. There is a beautiful range of mountains to the north. We came to an American Legion post with a sign which read, "RV Camping for Veterans." So, we pulled in to this campsite and Mr. Datastorm tried again to go online.This try Mr. Datastorm was able to find his satellite, but the signal was too weak to lock on. Man-O-Man! We are going north a little more and try again.10:30AM - Borrego Springs.We are in the small Town of Borrego Springs in a lot near a launderette. Mr. Datastorm went up and found his satellite, but had trouble locking on. Finally, after about 30 minutes of knocking on the satellite trying to get permission to go online, we finally made it! Lord!
Our plan is to remain in the desert until we are able to change over to SatMex5, a satellite that has a good footprint for where we are now. Tomorrow morning, we will be able to phone Motosat [our internet service provider] to request this change over.2PM - Circle Suds.The name of the launderette near our Camp is "Circle Suds." The 'circle' comes from the traffic circle of the nearby intersection. We did our laundry at Circle Suds, and it only cost $3.25 for a wash and dry.A lady customer who only spoke Spanish was doing her wash, and we had a nice conversation with her. First time using Spanish since we left Mexico last April.4:30PM - Borrego Springs Nite Camp.MsTioga and The Team did not feel that we should make our Nite Camp in what appears to be the center of town. So, we headed northeast and found a quiet place alongside a road. Actually, nearly everywhere out here is a quiet place.



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8AM - Mr. Datastorm is lost.This morning we wanted to go online and work on the "Yesterday/Tomorrow" project. When Mr. Datastorm put up his dish, he could not even find his own satellite! Wow!We decided to head northeast figuring that this direction would take us farther under the satellite footprint for Horizon One [our satellite].9AM - Sycamore Canyon.MsTioga was climbing into the mountains when we came to the Sycamore Canyon turnoff. A dirt road took us to a nice high view where we could see for a zillion miles.Mr. Datastorm went up, and could not find his satellite again. This is how it is when we are near the edge of our satellite footprint. Mr. Datastorm has a lot of experiences in this situation. Just to check himself, Mr. Datastorm went up to find SatMex5 [the satellite that we use when in Mexico] and had no problem locking on SatMex5.We made breakfast of pancakes, egg, bacon and sausage. Then continued on traveling northeast.
MsTioga and The Team in Sycamore Canyon. 11:30AM - The Town of Ramona.We came to Ramona, and filled up with propane and fresh water. Then we went grocery shopping. While we were in the grocery, Mr. Datastorm tried once more to find his satellite. This time Mr.Datastorm found Horizon One. However, the signal was too weak to lock on and be online.1PM - Camped in Santa Ysabel.We made a Day Camp in the Town of Santa Ysabel. There is a bakery here, and George wants to take a peek!Mr. Datastorm found his satellite here in Santa Ysabel, and we are online now. Man-O-Man!
For much of the morning, MsTioga has been traveling thru the area of the gigantic fire of a couple of weeks ago. This fire scorched a zillion miles. We saw burned out homes, cars and trucks. So many trees were destroyed, you would not believe!
3:30PM - Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.We have made our Nite Camp inside the Anza-Borrego Desert. It is a gorgeous day with blue sky and not one single cloud.Mr. Datastorm found his satellite and locked on with no trouble! 

George and Tioga in Anza-Borrego. Supper Tonite!Thanks to Mimi and John's wonderful care packages of food, we are eating a fabulous Thanksgiving Supper tonite. Turkey, potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes, special green beans, stuffing and pumpkin pie! Wow! We are soooooooo thankful! 



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