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Sound Advice from Small Children

It is certainly a soothing sound, perfect for beginning and ending a sunrise-to-sunset day of converting a cargo trailer into a travel trailer. The sound is the Animas River through Farmington NM, where it  converges with the San Juan and La Plata rivers, also down from Colorado. 

A fellow was taking his German Shepherd for a swim along the recreational trail as it follows the Animas river.  He predicted that the river would swell up with melt-water in a couple days because of the warm weather up in Colorado. It turned out that he was right.

These rivers through Farmington NM seem popular with ducks and geese. Where else can they find consistent water and food? I like listening to the waterfowl, as well as to the water flow. Maybe it is time to break out Thoreau's "Walden" in order to re-read the chapter on sounds. Then again, there is nothing surprising about the sounds of birds, so how will it really impact the listener?

Other sounds have been having a big impact, sounds that Thoreau probably never mentioned. Next door to the RV park (where I'm working on the cargo trailer conversion) is a small school/day care facility for little children. During the afternoon I can hear them playing in the playground. It is such a pleasant and soothing sound which I've become fond of.

Pleasant? Why should it be pleasant? Squealing children, especially those little girls with their high-pitched shrieks. The sing-song taunts of the playground. None of that is pleasant in the grocery store. I don't even particularly like kiddies. Context is everything, apparently.

But I remember how serious play is for children; how thoroughly engrossed they get in it. And the same thing is happening to me. Despite being 50 years older than those children, we still share this fundamental trait of our animal species. This has a bigger impact on me than a loon or goose being rhapsodized over, by Thoreau.

The four batteries sit right over the axle, and underneath the bed. I got quite lucky at finding a strong plastic box that holds all four perfectly.

Comments

Hoping those are closed-cell AGM batteries. :)

The trailer looks great so far.
John V said…
My opinion about children is the same as the late, great George Carlin's well documented opinion.
Randy said…
When I finished constructing my stealth trailer, I discovered I had not planned weight distribution--left to right- carefully enough and had to shift some stuff to get a good balance. Didn't notice if you have dual axels and wheels. I had only singles and it made a difference to get a decent left/right balance. Front/back is important too but I'm sure you've considered that. One thing I did right was to store things low so as to preserve a sense of spaciousness at head level. Cabinets up there, I think, evoke a crowded feeling.
Teri said…
Just curious about the width of your bed platform. Many think mine is too narrow, but I am very comfortable on it. I made it the same width as the Amtrak berths that I used to sleep on, 26".
Batteries inside your trailer , WOW - that is against the tnttt holly grail, their mantra is to ride on the tongue where you will be safe from hydrogen gas that will explode your trailer when you light the stove. Also their advantage is they will be shaken while driving, boiled in the sun, frozen in the cold & be easy to steal. Also they recommend AMG - twice the cost of flooded batteries & 1/2 of the recharge cycles 300 vs 800 cycles. Your as RECKLESS - as OverTheTopCargoTrailer - with 800 amp hours over the axels. You may wanna put a wood frame around the batteries so they don't slide when you jamb on the brakes or bounce around on the back roads.
I agree with your aversion to putting batteries on the tongue and to the cost/performance of AGM batteries. Maybe I will trot out my near-horror story about putting batteries on the tongue before this conversion is all over.
Good point about putting some kind of "stop" in front of the batteries to keep them in place. I will bolt down a 2 X 4 to the floor, or something.
As long as you have some ventilation you mostly need to be very careful if or when you equalize the flooded batteries, then I have everything wide open for that 1-4 hours it may require. Install the 2x4" all around the batteries & use something to strap then down also, on a rough road or pothole there is still quite of a bounce. Also keep your other solar equip away from the batteries