Rusty’s RV Ranch…again

Corinne RVing 2 Comments

When we last left you, we were high-tailing it out of Galveston aiming for the Phoenix area. We executed a 5:00 a.m. start in the hopes of avoiding Houston rush hour. Let me just say I think Houston’s rush hour must start at 5:00 a.m. Regardless, we got through Houston and the early start enabled us to put in a long day. 12 hours and 678 miles later, we were in Van Horn, Texas, within spitting distance of New Mexico.

Did someone say “New Mexico?” Jim and I both thought, “Rusty’s RV Ranch!” One of our favorite places on earth.

I have written about Rusty’s before. The mountains, the star gazing, the wonderful hot tub. If you want a recap, read https://rv.cjsquare.com/2017/03/highway-i-10-tucson-to-texas/ and https://rv.cjsquare.com/2016/08/caves-and-rocks/.

Rusty’s RV Ranch. Where we belong.

This time we knew that some new-to-fulltime-RVing friends of ours from back home, Dan and Amy, were at Rusty’s. It was time to surprise them!

And surprise them we did! We had not seen them since last July, so we got to catch up on all their full-time RVer stories and hear how they were doing in their new life.

Red steak, red wine, good time

Engage Geek Mode

The most unique thing about staying at Rusty’s RV Ranch this time was a guy named Mike. Mike is a full-time RVer, a Linux genius, a Tesla fanatic, and an amateur astronomer. Dan made his acquaintance first, and Jim and I used that introduction to meet him too.

Dave P….this section is for you.

What makes Mike unique is he building his own remote controlled observatory on some land he has rented from Rusty.

See that little red barn out there? That’s Mike’s observatory.
When you walk up to the observatory (under construction), you first see some solar panels. I wonder what he uses to store the power? That door in the peak? It has an actuator to open it.
Back to how does Mike store his solar power? I did say Mike was a Tesla fanatic. Well, here you go. He uses batteries from a wrecked Tesla to power his observatory. Currently his laptop is sitting on top of the telescope mount. Obviously, the telescope isn’t there yet.
The roof of this observatory will slide to the left on these rails. Jim happily spent an afternoon helping Mike install a chain system to move the roof.

Honestly, you wouldn’t believe what this guy has in that shed. Network wiring, a weather station, a security system, etc. etc. etc. It was a geek’s heaven! I asked him where he got all the components for his Rube Goldberg observatory. The answer? “Amazon.” Of course! I didn’t feel comfortable taking a picture of Mike, it felt like it would be an invasion of privacy. But just wow. We need to visit again to see what else he has accomplished. My simple pictures and even simpler text don’t do Mike or his observatory justice.

Disengage Geek Mode

Our last night at Rusty’s we attended the weekly Friday potluck. Wow…lots of astronomers and snow birds! A good time was had by all.
This is Rusty’s as view from the observatory. it’s not fancy, but scores on high for the scenery. Yup, we’ll be back….again.

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