Day 5-7: Boondocking with Jira and Confluence

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Day 5

When boondocking it’s easy to run out of water.  How many times you wash your hands in a day?  Simple things like this deplete the supply quickly.  Our 46 gallon fresh water tank won’t last forever, no matter how much we conserve.  We got lucky though;  there was an on site water hose we could use sparingly.  We filled our 5 gallon portable container, used a pump that attaches to a drill, and slowly pumped the water through a hose and into the travel trailer.  A few rounds of filling the tank really made a difference.

I always research our location before we arrive and knew cell service would be a challenge.  The previous post took 2 hours to actually publish.  It was quick to write, but each time I’d save or upload a photo, the connection would die and I’d have to get it back and then recover the content from the cache.  Luckily I officially took off work this week for the experience and the Convergence.   Had this been a normal working week however, we would have needed to move to a different location.

Pagosa Springs, CO

With the morning chores done we took off with our boondocking buddies on a 60 mile, dirt road, scenic tour.  We also floated in a tube down the San Juan River.  Pagosa Springs didn’t get the normal level of snow melt so the river was low.  It was still fun though.

Day 6

We killed our battery.   I can’t be sure if the battery was already close to end of life, if we killed it during our tests, or if it happened during the Convergence.  We bought a hydrometer, which measures liquid density in the 6 battery cells.  They measured “dead”, “really dead”, and “give up now”.  The generator will recharge it, but will only hold a charge for a few hours before we need to charge it again.  I’ll be buying a new battery soon and will try to figure out where we went wrong.

Rising Water from Tropical Storm Colin (2006)

I’m starting to compile my list of items for the final post:  the Confluence retrospective.  After major events, we always review what we did well and what we need to work on for the future.  For example, when we evacuated for a surprise flash flood in Florida, we compiled a retro and reworked our emergency plan.  When we evacuated for a Tornado in Texas, we used our improved plan and made small adjustments then too.  Documenting our mistakes and making improvements makes us more prepared for next time.

This day we attended a pot luck brunch, played miniature golf, and watched “We’re the Millers” (an RV themed movie) together under the stars.  A Convergence attendee provided popcorn for the movie.  They must have figured out how to power their microwave.

Day 7

We survived!  We learned a lot about batteries, solar, and met lots of great fellow full-time travelers.  The Convenience was a lot like Atlassian Summit:  you have something in common with everyone and are instant friends.

Normally I complete the first half of my Confluence move day checklist the day before, but we were having so much fun, we saved it all for the travel day.  (Not smart.)  Everything was completed, but some tasks were done out of the preferred order, and I made two stupid mistakes.

• I hit myself in the face with the drill and almost broke my prized Atlassian sunglasses!  I was raising the stabilizer jacks with the drill, like I’ve done 300 times before.  Only today, something looked odd and as I bent over to take a closer look the still moving drill smacked me in the face.
• I also cut my leg (for the second time in two weeks) on the corner of the screen door.  I’ll need to file that down or cover it with foam.  Or, I could just be more careful and do the “day before” work on the actual day before.

We packed up, said our goodbyes, and hit the road for our next camping destination in New Mexico.  At the next location, we’ll have full hookups (power, water, and sewer) for a whole week before we move on to the next adventure.  I hope you’ve enjoyed following the journey we planned in Jira.  The Confluence retrospective will be available soon.

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