Wide awake in Gilbert, AZ

We made an appointment at an RV repair place to look at our generator again. Cindy smelled something burning the other day, and the constant issues we've had have given no confidence in it's reliability. One of my powerstrips gave out, and when I purchased a new one, I noticed the "protected" & "grounded" lights weren't lit... a bad sign indeed. We stayed in a small shopping center near the shop, which turned out to be a bad idea. We were jarred awake at 5:00am by a garbage truck, that pulled to within 6ft of the camper to get to a dumpster we hadn't noticed the night before. After finally getting back to sleep... at around 6:00am, a woodpecker that lived in a nearby cactus kept pecking on a metal light pole on either side of the camper. It sounded like a cell phone ringing a foot from my pillow! It was hilarious to Cindy, who simply giggled and returned to snoring away.

The technician at "Gene's" was very nice, and knowledgable. After we told him about the problems we've had for the last 6 months, he did a complete check of the rigs electrical system. He came back with a scary photograph, and an explanation... seems the junction box for the shore power/generator cable was wired backwards this whole time. He explained it this way: "Although everything in the camper would continue to work, this reverse wiring would confuse the voltage regulator on the generator, as well as prevent the breakers from tripping in the event of a surge or overload." In short, we could've fried the electronics in the camper, or worse, had a fire! We were surprised the first shop we took it to in San Antonio didn't catch that little snafoo... we'll definitely be sending an email to Northern-Lite, as thier quality team should've caught that. The entire time, they've been sending us to Cummins/Onan, since they only warranty the camper itself, not the appliances.

In other news, while we were in the area looking for a place to sleep overnight, we chose the Harkin movie complex nearby. A beautiful spot under a shade tree was our home for a day & night, while we waited to see the 12:01am opening of the Avengers. We waited in the theater with about 250 teenagers for 3hours before the movie started. (Thank goodness for my Kindle, and earplugs). The place was all aglow with hormones, cell phones, and lots of cries for attention, lol. (I was never that silly/stupid... i'm sure of it, lol.) The movie turned out to be well worth the wait, and at 2:40, while everyone else was scrambling to get home, we were already there. Breezy poked her head out the window, watching in amazement as a parade of cars with giggling girls drove by, waving at her with shouts of "Ohhhhhh, a kitty! Hiiiii Kitty!"

Thinking we'd catch up on our sleep the next morning... we were jostled awake once more at around 6:30am by a traffic helicopter hovering over us, it sounded as though the FBI were about to break our door down. The next wake-up call came from, of all things, a humming bird's high-pitched chirps on the branch outside my window. (At least I got some pictures of the pretty little thing.) I guess i'll get some sleep at Alamo Lake State park, on the way to Vegas... piece of mind is a great sedative!

May 4, 2012

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