Michael Janke

That would be Oklahoma, for those of you who are not familiar with the Rogers and Hammerstein musical.

There’s nothing down here to slow the wind from the south (yesterday, 30+mph) or the north (today, 30+mph), or any other direction for that matter. I tried eating out on a picnic table last evening. Tough to grill and eat a burger when your cheese slices keep going airborne. We’re not used to winds like this.

There is a wildlife refuge near where we are camped in north-central Oklahoma – Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge – with a decent sized salt flat and surrounding wetlands.

Definitely worth a stop, depending on time of year. Bird migrations would be interesting.

We’re heading west – target is someplace in Northwest New Mexico. There are a few bucket-list items in that general area. Wind should be tolerable, temps will be chilly – good for camping.

Nerd stuff

The homemade tank gauge setup is getting its first trial run. The good news is that it’s mostly working. I’m getting valid data from the tank sensors, displaying it on the camper’s monitor screen and in my IoT app. But because of variability in the data at the junction between sensor pads that see a full depth liquid and those that see part liquid and part air, I’m not sure how to reliably turn the reading into a simple ‘percent full’. I’m trying to filter and massage the readings into something rational. Even as is, it’s still vastly better than the simplistic OEM idiot-light gauges that came with the camper.

I also ran into a problem with the mechanism I designed to hold and power the various microcontrollers. I built a backbone of sorts, with power management, 12V and 5V power rails, & sockets for a 5V power supply and a few microcontrollers; then stuffed it into a plastic box. The idea was to eliminate the need to provide 12V & 5V power and mechanical bits separately for each controller/circuit board.

It worked for about a thousand miles, after which the boards jiggled their way out of the sockets. It’s a converted cargo van, not a Cadillac – as I’m reminded every time I’m on a rough road.

I’ll have to come up with a mechanical fastening system to keep the boards in place, or perhaps a completely different setup. Or maybe only visit States with smooth roads.