Let me tell ya folks, nothing but fun and games and high livin’ down in the South Texas Pucker Brush aboard the Princess Palace. 6:10am on a Sunday morning and it is 86 degrees outside and the single AC unit has run most of the night. The weather forecast for the next 7 days is all too familiar for August – Clear, no chance of rain, highs 100+ every day.
An illegal gulps down some cold water outside the Princess Palace
This single AC dealio is playing hell with us. Even though it is a 15k btu unit it is still barely adequate for these heat extremes. We routinely see 90+ inside in the shank of the afternoon. I have said repeatedly that TWO AC units are an absolute minimum if you are going to come down this way for a bit. I had full intention of making the 750 mile round trip to the South Dallas storage Saturday. The big ass Suburban is loaded to the ceiling with goods going north. I intended to pick up the 13k btu portable AC unit up there along with a few other items and head back south PDQ. It didn’t exactly work out that way…….
We had a set to with a truckload of 15 illegals who crashed on the next ranch to the northwest Friday about noon. This is a first for us here east of Cotulla. In 11 months here we have not seen a single illegal anywhere in the vicinity. I guess it was a little different for the local Border Patrol boys as well as they put on a full court press. We had LaSalle County Sheriffs, multiple Border Patrol trucks, a BP airplane and a BP helicopter workin’ the Ranch. The managed to capture nine of the 15 before they called it a day. Me and Miss K knew the rest of them would wander out our way eventually. Not even an hour after the BP left, the first one emerged out of the mesquite. He walked up, crossed his wrists in front of him and said “La Migra” — he had enough. I set him down with a bottle of cold water as Miss K called Border Patrol. 2 more were seen walking out toward the rig about dusk and BP caught them a bit later crossing the county road. 12 out of 15 ain’t bad; The BP usually doesn’t catch near that many out of a group.
White/silver InfraStop
After that late evening I just didn’t have the energy to trek off north toward Dallas. I wrote earlier about Nick at Insulationstop.com wanting to send me some of their InfraStop Product. He was as good as his word and sent several rolls right along. He sent me some silver InfraStop 24″ X 25′ Double Bubble Reflective Foil Insulation and some white InfraStop 48″ X 25′ White Double Bubble Reflective Foil Insulation which really got my attention. The InfraStop Double Bubble White is white on one side and reflective silver on the other. Nick said the R value for the white is only slightly less than the double sided silver. Let me tell ya though– it is MUCH LESS OBVIOUS when installed with the white side facing the inside of the Palace. Miss K and I got right after it. We put it halfway down the big picture window on the Palace that faces the setting sun. We put it on the window on the door and we lined the back wall of the western cabinets with it. We put it on both bedroom windows AND on the western interior walls. It transformed the bedroom into a luscious dark and cool sleep cave let me tell ya…. and it don’t look half bad. Not the Hilton by any means but out here in the Gate Guard Desert function trumps appearance every time. I am not going to lean a trampoline up against the side of my travel trailer like the gate guard dude on Highway 97 east of Cotulla but I damned sure will do what I can to make it more livable inside this metal tube.
We didn’t stop with the inside of the Palace either. We fashioned a silver on silver windshield screen for Miss Kathy’s PACO car and I lined the inside of the big rear quarter windows on each side of the big ass Suburban. I don’t want people peeking in the back window for a look at my goods anyway. Here is what Nick’s website has to say about the InfraStop Product:
Our Radiant Barrier Bubble Foil Insulation is approved by the Reflective Insulation Manufacturer’s Association. It’s also made in the United States. Installing a radiant barrier is the only way to effectively block the transfer of radiant heat. Used as a standalone product in some applications or in conjunction with other types of insulation these reflective bubble foil insulation products are extremely effective. We supply a wide variety of foil insulation products to complete any project. Our White / Double Bubble / Foil Square Edge Insulation product consists of a double layer of polyethylene bubbles sandwiched between a highly reflective aluminum surfaces and a white poly surface. The product specific design is for residential and commercial buildings to reduce the amount of radiant heat transfer. All products in this class are Class 1 / Class A Fire Rated in compliance with the ASTM E84 fire test standard. In addition to increasing thermal resistance, all of our bubble core products are approved vapor barriers. Radiant Barriers are useful anywhere insulation is useful. To understand why they are effective insulators you must understand the two modes of heat transfer and how they work. Heat travels in your home by a mixture of conduction, convection, and radiation. Fiberglass, cellulose, rock wool, and spray foam are all designed to stop the flow of convective and conductive heat. Although each of these insulation types is important and effective, they are not designed and therefore poor at stopping the flow of radiant heat. The two best insulating materials on earth to block radiant heat is gold followed by aluminum. This is why reflective foil insulation and radiant barrier technology exist and are now commonplace in today’s insulation system.
Miss K installing the InfraStop Double Bubble White—so simple Tuco the Dog could almost do it if she had thumbs.
If you remember my original blog post when Nick first contacted me you will recall he wanted to pay to advertise his product. That is how most blogs do it– you foist your advertising on the loyal minions who read you every day and put the dollars in your pocket. Not here. I told Mr. Nick straight up that if he wanted to send me a few rolls I would check it out. If it was good or if it was bad; I would write about it and he needed to be prepared to live with it either way. Give the dude credit – he believes in his product and sent me some samples straight away. That was almost a month ago and he has not once bothered me with an email that asked when I was going to get around to writing that review.
So this is how I see it. Inside the Princess Palace the InfraStop Reflective Foil Insulation has made a huge difference –easily 5-10 degrees cooler inside. It is reflecting the heat OUT and keeping the cold IN. It will help keep the heat in when we head into the winter months as well. Now I know there are other reflective insulation / radiant barriers out there for you to buy. Make no mistake — a reflective radiant barrier is 100% necessary if you are going to gate guard in South Texas. Every window that you do not need to look out of needs to be covered on the inside with the reflective insulation. It is just that important. I gave my business to Mr. Nick because he believed in his Made in the USA product, he was a man of his word and he was not afraid to let the chips fall where they would. I appreciate a gambling man; sometimes you just gotta put it on the line.
In the way of a disclaimer, the InfraStop Reflective Foil Insulation Nick sent me was a freebie. Some of the links above go directly to his website where you can order the product-with free shipping even. The other links go to Mr. Nick’s store on Amazon. If you click those, he still gets the business and I make a few centavos off the sale. That was our agreement -he did his part and now I have discharged my part of the agreement. I am glad it ended on a positive note.
End Note: Maybe Someday by Calvin Russell from Le Voyageur. Old guys can rock it and Calvin Russell was one of the best that I just bet you have never heard of. Think Dave Alvin with MORE grit. Calvin rocked till he dropped. Give him a posthumous listen.
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