Daily Archives: August 17, 2017
Not A Happy Camper . . .
or RV’er either, for that matter.
But at least we’re home.
We left Lowell and Brandi’s this morning after Jan’s 12 day stay and my 11 day one. heading back over to Big Wheel Diesel & Wrecker in Hammond, LA to pick up our RV and get back on the road.
With two of us we were able to take the Katy HOV lanes right into Houston until everything came to a sudden stop around the I-45 exits.
As best I can figure all of the folks in the left two lanes wanted to be in the right two lanes, and all of the folks in the right two lanes wanted to be in the left two lanes. Now you would think that all these folks could have gotten together and worked this out ahead of time. But no, they were going to fight it out right there on the spot.
Which left those of us who just wanted to go straight up the middle pretty much casualties of the scuffle.
But finally getting though, we made a gas/breakfast/bathroom stop at the Buc-ee’s in Katy before getting back on I-10 east,
We stopped at the Pilot/Flying J in Breaux Bridge for lunch at Arby’s and met another RV’ing couple who were there with an 80’s vintage Airstream they’re rehabilitating.
Finally getting into Hammond about 4:30, our first stop was a nearby Chase bank to take out $1900 in cash to paid the tab. They told me on the phone that they charge a 3% surcharge for credit/debit cards, this on top of the 10% sale tax. I’m already giving these people enough of our money without throwing another $57 at them.
Arriving at Big Wheel, I gave them a lot of money and then waited for them to bring the RV around so I could hitch up the truck and we could get on the way.
Turns out that you can have plenty of propane to keep your fridge running for two weeks, but only if some idiot doesn’t hit the coach battery disconnect and turn off all 12 volts to the coach, including the fridge.
A lot of people don’t realize that when your fridge is on propane, it also needs 12 volts for the electrical part of things. Obviously no one at Big Wheel did.
When I got in the rig it was 100° so I tried to turn on the ceiling fans to start cooling down the rig while I got the generator running to get the AC’s going. But the fans wouldn’t work, and the generator wouldn’t start, wouldn’t even crank. Turning to look at my voltmeter I had no 12 volts in the coach, even with the engine running.
My first thought was that they had disconnected the coach batteries while they working on the coach, but when I asked they had just used the battery disconnect switch by the door. For some reason I didn’t even think of the switch. Hot and tired, I guess.
It was only after everyone was gone, (they close at 5pm) that I thought to check the fridge. Yep, totally defrosted, with the thermometer showing 82 degrees inside.
Damn!
But at least in seems like nothing has rotted inside.
Pulling out of the Big Wheel lot about 5:15 we were quickly back on I-10 west, heading for Breaux Bridge and Poche’s RV Park, about 95 miles away. The coach ran great, with no overheating, and no problems with the power steering. So it looks like at least that problem has been fixed.
We pulled into Poche’s about 7pm, and pretty much just plugged in power and water, and collapsed.
It has been a very long, hot day.
Tomorrow we’ve got a 270 mile run to the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails where we’ll be for nine days. We’ll probably just sleep the first two.
Thought for the Day:
I think I’m hot and tired.
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