Here is the problem, I needed a permanent pier to install into the observatory. I didn't plan well enough and thought there might be one available... I should have asked (my mistake). I could always set up my tripod mount for it, but there is always the risk of it getting bumped into and everything getting out of alignment. Not a good thing if you are 1000 miles away.

Well in my normal procrastinating fashion I rushed off to all the websites I know that sells piers. No one had one in stock. And most were 4-6 weeks lead time. I needed this in less than a week. Did I mention procrastinating? So my only other option was to build something. And while I am pretty handy on making things, this was out of my skill level and did not have the tools available anyway. So luckily I know some very talented fabricators and they were able to help me out and in a very short time frame.

Rough pieces laid out to check fit:

Rough pieces laid out to check fit.

Josh Eustice doing some trim/leveling work to the pipe. The store I got the steel from doesn't do a very straight cut:

Josh Eustice doing some trim/leveling work.

Its all welded together:

All welded together

And here is the completed pier after I painted it with some Rust-Oleum Farm Equipment Enamel (still wet):

Nice and painted!

This should be nice and dry by the time I leave Monday morning. It will have a nice new home in Marathon, TX at the Marathon Sky Park located at the  Marathon Motel and RV Park.   If you ever want to get out and see some amazing dark skies please check this place out. Some friends and I made our first trip out there a year ago and fell in love with it. This is going to be my third trip and definitely won't be my last. They are great about having mini star parties with their telescopes and making viewing the night sky fun.

If you are interested in having one of these piers made for yourself or if you might need anything else fabricated, check these guys out:

Josh Eustice:

https://www.instagram.com/u531355/

Justin Hixson:
https://www.instagram.com/atfmotorsports/

The hike in is very easy until you get to the falls. Then things get a little rougher as the trail is washed out and very slippery in places. But we managed to make it down to the water. Again the levels were up really high so we were mostly limited to shooting from the edge. Wasn't too happy with the main falls images I got, but lower down the creek I managed to get a nice shot of some cascades. Nearly fell several times getting to this but worth it LOL.

Conasauga Creek

On the way back we decided to shoot some macro. There were quite a few little critters to play with. Even saw a baby turtle and a snake. Though no photos of them. There were more jumping spiders than I have ever seen in one place and most did not want to cooperate of course. But found this little guy and it was curious enough to stick around for some shots.

Overall a great trip and even passed a lot of horses and wagons out for some riding on the dirt roads. Made for some interesting stuff on the drive back.

I will admit I am very spoiled by having a microwave. I thought that I would be fine without one and I know I could handle it if I tried hard enough. But being able to boil water really quick and not have to break out my stove is so nice. And eating cold leftovers suck... I am usually too lazy to break out the stove and propane connections just for a quick reheat (and then of course more dishes to clean)!!

I decided I needed a really small microwave since space is not a luxury I have in such a small van. Looking at all my local stores I realized that a 700W microwave was the smallest one I could find. Problem is, a 700W microwave actually pulls a lot more than 700 Watts. In fact most pull in excess of 1000 Watts which means I needed to get a pretty big inverter. Again space is limited so I decided I wanted to stick to a pretty small inverter. I found a nice 1000W pure sine inverter that had great reviews and fit in the area I wanted to put it. But it was not powerful enough to handle the 700W microwaves. Luckily I was able to find a 600W one on Amazon that again had great reviews. This particular model had a 950W input requirement. Since the inverter I wanted to use was capable of handling 1000W continuous and 2000W peak I figured it would work well. Turns out they work very well together. At least so far. I have tested it several times and will post back on here if I have any issues in the future.

Now this being a much smaller unit and quite a bit under powered compared to most microwaves I knew that cooking/heating times would take a lot longer. I did a quick test and on high power it will bring one cup of water to boiling in about three and a half minutes. Perfectly fine for me especially since this is free energy for me anyway... thank goodness for solar panels!! Another big plus for this microwave is that it does not have a built in clock. This means that it is not drawing any power when it is not being used. And since I plan to unplug it every time I drive away I don't have to worry about a 12:00 flashing clock every time I plug it up!

Below are some links to the inverter and the microwave I purchased.

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https://amzn.to/2kuPwsZ

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Thank you!