about jason. #teamMSO #overland #conservation #appalachia

Read as Team MSO's producer, Jason, recounts his life, experiences and motivation -  

"It's all about adventure and making an impact; doing the things we love and taking it to the next level" - that's what drives me; how about you?

I've always been someone that loved creating, building and working to see the final product.  My earliest memories consists of pushing John Deere tractors around on the living room floor and working the carpet as if I was preparing it to be seeded for the growing season; I can thank my grandfather for those memories. He and my parents empowered me to enjoy life and pursue my passions.

Growing up in the Alleghany Mountains, Virginia, we made regular trips out to Nebraska to see our extended family and enjoy farm living.  As I grew older, sports and scouting began taking up most of my time; those trips out west were now few and far between.

Having earned my Eagle and graduating from high school, I was off to college.  I claimed my new home as a Mountaineer in Morgantown, WV; that's where I established a network of friends that have proved to be my biggest supporters in life.

During the summers, I'd pack up and head back out to the farm; I truly loved my extended family and I wanted to give back.  I had to do something in exchange for everything my grandfather had given me.

I continued this cycle until I landed my first job after college; however, I'd still find my self taking a week's vacation to travel back to the farm.

After working in the office environment for just 2.5 years, I packed up, quit, sold my house and moved my life out west; I was gonna be a farmer!  I had it all worked out and my pup, Barley Hop, and I were on a new adventure.

As farming season came to a close, I moved to Idaho groomed the Teton Mountains for a winter; some truly amazing experiences including meeting my wife.  From Idaho, I was now heading back to the South; Atlanta in fact, were my wife had grown up - we were ready to give this a shot!

And now, we're back in Virginia only 1.5 hrs from where I grew up pushing those tractors around on the living room floor.

We built our first home together just recently and we opted for something that no one in southwest Virginia had ever done; we were gonna build the most energy efficient home in the region.  We were already recycling, conserving and practicing limited sustainability practices but we wanted to "live" the part.  After exploring our options, we found our architect/builder and the rest is history; we've got southwest Virginia's first Passivhaus - more at passivepreservation.blogspot.com.

I'm living the dream; nested on top of a mountain with breathtaking views, but that's not enough; I'm an explorer, I've got a passion and I've got to do something about it.  Just like packing up and leaving my first job to be a farmer, I've got to make a shot at Mountain State Overland (MSO).

Sitting around a camp fire, brainstorming, share concepts and putting the pieces together is where it all began - now its time to take it to the next level!

solar install. @enphase @ironridge @perlightsolar @gbrvalleywv #diy #protect #appalachia

MSO is nearing completion on a 4.6 Kw solar PV installation at Jeremy's in-laws' home near Lewisburg, WV. This system was installed as an add-on to an existing 4.2 Kw system that was installed by a professional installer.

Enphase grid-tie micro-inverters were installed with the new system which will coincide with existing system offering detailed monitoring of energy production and notify the owner of any issues with the system; absolutely any issue - it's a very efficient and impressive system! 

The install consists of two arrays of 10 panels each; totaling (20) 230 watt panels.  Ground mounting, as applied with this install, is a very nice option; you don't have to worry about roof life and you can easily access the panels/inverters for repair or for general cleaning - a squeegee during a hard rain is a good way to clean these ground mount solar arrays.

The panels and inverters both carry a 25 year manufacturer warranty.  The panels are manufactured by Perlight and were bought during a recently significant drop in panel prices; purchased at about $0.68/watt.

 To put in perspective, these panels cost about $160 a piece and they retailed for about $550 per panel.  As for other costs the install required lumber and materials for building the mounts, Iron Ridge racking to secure panels to and the inverters.  The total cost for this system installed will likely end up being about $7,000-8,000; that's a quick return on investment (ROI).  Again, this is the cost if you did the work yourself and really sought out good deals on the components and panels; that's not a difficult task.

We're not electricians, in fact, our degrees range from General Studies and Bachelors Degrees to a Masters Psychology.  All you need is a computer and an internet connection; everything you need to know is out there!  To be honest, you'd be hard pressed to get a system of this size installed professionally for under $20,000; the cost savings are obvious.  

It should be noted that this total system, 8.8 Kw, is quite large.  This is a modern home with average insulation, large living spaces, an indoor current pool with an attached hot tub and an electric heat pump.

By comparison, an installed 2.1 Kw system on Jeremy's home provides over half of what he requires for a family of 4.  Ultimately, he'll add another 2.3 Kw to his existing system essentially generating more power than he needs.  Jeremy heats with a high efficiency wood stove (biomass) and a fairly large solar air heater; this cuts his energy demands dramatically. 

You can do this!

about jeremy. #teamMSO #overland #conservation #appalachia

And here's a little bit about Jeremy and why he's an MSO team member -

I, like my counterparts, have spent a large part of my life either thinking about or actually experiencing the mountains of Appalachia.

I grew up on a couple hundred acre farm in South Eastern WV and work was something that didn't run dry.  My two brothers and I definitely learned all about hard work and its requirement to live in that ecosystem some of us call "home;" but that surely wasn't all we did...

I spent a large part of my time interacting with the environment around me...sitting in the woods for hours on end waiting for things to return to life following my initial, yet minimal, disturbance.  I learned to move in a way that caused minimal disruption to the ecosystem...all so that i could have a much deeper immersion into that environment, and it worked.  I soon realized as a young child that there was nothing to fear and much to gain from these experiences.  After all, most of the memories I hold onto revolved around campfires, laying in a tent or fishing an ice cold stream.  These deeper immersions into wilderness and environment have a lasting impression on who you become.  All of this laid the foundation for who I have become as an adult and what I hold value in. 

In recent years, mainly since the birth of my two lovely daughters, I have begun to take the world a little more seriously.  The way we are doing things now will create more hardship for those that follow and I am not OK with that; I want to "walk the walk" so to speak.  I want my kids to know that I did everything I could do to try to make things better for their generation. 

Other than the multiple "do it yourself" solar energy projects I have completed I have always felt people need to see this stuff; people need to touch it and realize it isn't as high tech as it seems - it is something you can do with minimal experience.  I am not an electrician and have no training as an electrician, I just have a passion to reduce my impact on the world and to hopefully inspire others to do so as well. 

Mountain State Overland (MSO) is something I have thought about many times before. 

"How can I get this message across to people?  How can I rest assured knowing that they are making a conscious decisions about our environment?"

MSO is about doing the things I love with people I respect and admire all while teaching others something important along the way.  We will see some beautiful and inspiring things along this journey and perhaps some of the side effects of poor decisions; i.e. the uglier side.  We're all about improving the awareness of environmental concerns.  We aim to teach alternatives that are truly sustainable. My motivation is ready to be put to work and that is what I plan to do. 

 

On a lighter note, I enjoy long walks/runs on the beach, soul wrenching solo bicycle tours and hanging out at my little piece of homestead heaven along the banks of the Greenbrier River with my family. 

Here is a link to some of the projects I have completed. 

http://solarenergyinwv.blogspot.com/

And here is a link to the holy grail of do-it-yourself solar projects; special thanks to Gary Reysa for putting this site together.

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/PV/pv.htm#OurPV

Cheers,

Jeremy

about jamie. #teamMSO #overland #conservation #appalachia

A little about Jamie and his vision for Mountain State Overland -

Hi, I’m Jamie, a member of Team Mountain State Overland (MSO) and a West Virginian; born and raised.

I grew up in Raleigh County, near Beckley. When I was a kid, we had just 3 channels to watch on TV; not much variety, so we found other things to keep us busy. Apart from chasing each other with sticks, the occasional fight or driving my folks crazy we spent a lot of time outside.

We lived on the other side of my grandfather’s property; when I was 8, we moved to the other side of Beckley. While living on my grandparents property the trip from my house to my grandparents was not a long walk, but for a couple of kids, it seemed endless; we always found things along the way to keep us busy.

I remember that old hollow log that caught my eye, maybe even the big tree that grew sideways from the ground and turned its trunk toward the sky! After we moved off my grandparents property, I always looked forward to the summer.  I knew the summers would allow us to spend more time on that 40 acre farm of my parents.  But we quickly learned that beyond the farms boundaries were new and exciting adventures.

It's pretty obvious, I've always enjoyed the great outdoors; funny thing is, I've never stopped loving being outside. I love the excitement of a 100 or 1000 mile journey, or what lies around the next river bend, trail, or turn in the road; the unknonwn.

MSO is taking me back to my childhood; the world can be larger than life but anything is possible, just go beyond your boundaries. I preserve that excitement for everyone to experience, but the truth is, our forests, natural habitats and resources are dwindling.

If we're not responsible for taking care of this place we call home, then who is? The answer sadly might be, "nobody."

We're gonna take MSO to the road and educate.  Educate on renewable energy and preserving Appalachia for the next generation of explorers, outdoor enthusiast and overlanders.

So join us on our journey, not to go where others have not, but to go there a little differently. We'll make things a little more interesting and maybe we'll even learn a little more about ourselves along the way. Maybe when this is all said and done, we'll emerge wiser and more versed on the abundant opportunities available along the Appalachian Mountains.

beer and environment. @adventurevida #craft #beer #clean #water

Policy Analyst Karen Hobbs of the Natural Resource Defense Council has been on a mission to repeal Bush-era changes to the Clean Water Act for years. In an effort to protect the water that sustains their livelihood, 27 breweries across the nation have signed onto Hobbs’ brainchild, the Brewers for Clean Water Campaign because "cleaner water makes better beer."

Read more on Karen Hobbs efforts on Adventure Journal, "How Craft Beer Helps the Environment," http://www.adventure-journal.com/2013/10/how-craft-beer-helps-the-environment/