White Mountain peak, viewed this time from the east. Thunderstorms rolling in over this desert mean the first snowfall on the peak, and it’s still summer for another week.

In the last few posts I have described my experiences away from the solar work for White Mountain Research Center, all based on my Labor Day weekend at Echo Lake Camp and the riding to get there and back. In this post I’m describing the changes that accompany my return to the mountain.

This was my last week of employment. The jobs are done, the PV systems are in place and operational (with one key exception – more about that later), the budget has been spent and my services are no longer needed. That’s a good thing – at root, this was a job, after all, however much freedom it afforded for travel and play. Yesterday was Friday, the end of a pay period and my last day of work. I packed up everything, loaded the Jeep, headed down from Barcroft (the highest station) to Crooked Creek (the most civilized station), hooked up the trailer, loaded the Beemer, and slowly and carefully made my way down 6,000′ feet to the Valley.

I had returned on Wednesday afternoon, following the day crossing Yosemite and back up into the Whites. Thursday at Barcroft I worked on the existing (2007-era Outback quad-stack) system, rewiring and tying in a dozen of the (UniSolar 165W stick-on thin-film laminate) PV modules that had previously been disconnected for one reason or another. I worked with Steven, one of the two lead cooks and the respected longtimer of the rotating Barcroft crew of four. He had asked to work together, in order to learn some of the principles of solar and wiring from me through this work. I had seen that for $30 in breakers and repurposing some existing hardware we could add about 2 kW of PV array to the system there.

But other than tying loose ends of manuals and placards, that was the last of my work days. After handling a few dangling emails and contacts today – access to fast internet, cellular service and a desk and chair can sometimes become a rare treasure – I headed out of Bishop to slowly return to New Mexico and home.

The key exception I mentioned is that while the Summit Laboratory system is fully operational, the Observatory system lacks a PV array to keep the batteries charged. it’s running the new, superfast internet radios, but will slowly drain the batteries until the array is added. That’s on Jeremiah’s list, not mine, as he had his own grid-tied solar installation business about 3-5 years ago. He can use my wiring layout at Summit as a model, and there’s a backup generator hookup that I added in the meantime. It’ll work out.

Returning now is coming from a gut sense, that I want to feel a home base again, take time to be with those I love, return to my men’s circle, see my wife again as we explore the mystery that is the future of our 25-year partnership as parents, visit all of our children after a season away, and take care of the needs of some of my legacy Positive Energy off grid clients.

This had been a real period of indecision, as in mid-October there will be a must-attend event in my life, and it’ll happen in the Emerald Triangle region of far northwestern coastal California up in the giant Sequioa redwoods, the first (annual?) Solar Pioneers Party. In returning to New Mexico now I’m committing to a round trip journey on Amtrak in a few weeks.