John Lee On: Solar Panels

That's one purported reason for buying solar. And like most purported reasons, this week/beer/shrimp purported reason is romantic and functional and justifiable and utilitarian and purposeful and blah blah blah. This week/beer/shrimp purported reason is many things, but it's anything but actual.

In actual practice, I think the more likely reasons for getting solar are:

(1) solar is yet another showy toy or piece of "essential gear" to have;

(2) solar is trendy--it shows you're Mr. Green Team;

(3) solar shows you're Mr. Overland and separates you from those lame day trippers;

(4) the solar might actually be required to power all of the electronic stuff that you should have left at home anyway.

It's not a coincidence that these solar panels show. They're very large. They dovetail perfectly with the rooftop tents and the awnings. People come up with all of the justifications they want for buying stuff like this, but the actual reasons are quite different.

For example:



Did this guy buy some fresh shrimp from the Prescott locals? Was he transporting some high speed low drag medicine that had to be kept at an exact temperature? Was this some multi-week expedition and he wanted to conserve battery power? Hardly. He put that solar out there because he thought it looked cool.