Daily Archives: July 20, 2015
In the Tennessee Woods . . .
We only had an 80 mile trip today, so we weren’t in any real hurry. So about 9am we drove into town to have the breakfast buffet at the Shoney’s.
It was pretty good, much, much better than the breakfast we had at the Camp Verde Denny’s when we left the Verde Valley Thousand Trails a few weeks ago. The coffee actually tasted like it was made today, not last week, like the Denny’s.
Getting back to the rig, all we had to do was crank up the engine, start the genset, unhook shore power, and off we went. Our first stop was the Flying J out on the Interstate to top off the diesel with about 80 gallons.
Normally I wouldn’t worry about getting fuel this early, but I’m still not sure what the genset cut-off point is on the new diesel tank and fuel pickups. 98 degree days are not when you want your diesel level to get too low.
We had scouted out the 2 lane RV pumps yesterday, and knew that we had to use the left one, because as the signs warned, any rig over 32 feet would have a problem making the turn out of the lane.
Of course, when we pulled in there was a rig already there. We sat there for over 5 minutes before I happened to see the pump handle jump as it clicked off. But still no one appeared. Then Jan finally saw that the guy was in the front of the rig cleaning the windshield. And cleaning, and cleaning, and cleaning. Because it was almost 10 minutes before he came back to the pump and finished his credit card transaction.
About this time Jan sees the wife leave the rig and go inside. And after finishing up with the pump, the guy turned, looked at me, and then followed his wife inside also.
Finally after another 15 minutes or so, they both came out, got in, and drove off. So we sat there for almost 30 minutes while these idio . .. . I mean, RV’ers took their time. We were in and out in about 15 minutes. But even with our quick turn-around, I still didn’t have time for a rig wash. There was a Blue Beacon right next door that I had thought about trying out, but with our lost time, and the fact that there was several semi’s getting washed in front of us, I decided to skip it for now.
Going through Memphis, we did go around in a couple of circles due to a new interchange that existed in real life, but not in my GPS. But pretty soon we were in the clear and heading east.
We did end up taking a nice drive out through the countryside on narrow roads with no shoulders as we tried to reconcile my GPS’ instructions, the park’s directions on the website, and, once again, real life. But we finally pulled up to the guard shack about 2pm and got checked in.
And were promptly handed 11, yes, 11 pages of rules and regulations, with the first page defining in dense legalese terms such as ‘tent’, ‘guest’, and of course, ‘recreational vehicle’.
But then the last line says, “The most important objective of your membership is to HAVE FUN!”
Is this before or after I finish reading the book of rules?
I was happy to find out that they had 50 amp sites available, so we unhitched and drove into the park to find our site. But after I got parked, I discovered that their idea of a 50 amp site is a little different from mine.
There are two electrical boxes on the same post at the rear of the site. Ours says ‘50’ and the other one is for the site behind us. Opening the box I saw a single 50 amp receptacle, and a single 30 amp breaker.
Rut Roh! A 30 amp breaker does not a 50 amp site make.
While I was contemplating this, Jan came back and said that the ranger had come by and said that we would have to use both boxes to get 50 amps.
Huh! Now I can do this, but most RV’ers can’t, so what exactly was he talking about?
The major reason you need 50 amps is to be able to run both AC’s at the same time. Each AC pulls between 15 and 17 amps, and a little more when it’s starting up. So just 30 amps doesn’t cut it.
But a good while ago, I broke out the wiring to one of my AC’s so I can unplug it from the main coach power and plug it directly into another outlet. It might be a 20 amp outlet in the same box, or in this case, the box behind our site.
But later we found another problem with the 30amp breaker. When we pull more than about 25 amps, the breaker pops. Which means right now, I’m running both the fridge and the water heater on gas.
So I’m going to check back with the ranger tomorrow to see if we can get a ‘real’ 50 amp site.
But even with the problems, it’s still a nice site, with plenty of trees and shade, and it does have a satellite shot between the trees so Jan’s happy.
And I’ve got 3 bars of Verizon, so I’m happy.
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Thought for the Day:
Reality continues to ruin my life. – Calvin, Calvin and Hobbes
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