Best Laid Plans – Back in Sacramento Area

So, what went wrong?  No, the cold did not get us, although it was around 17 degrees when we got up this morning.  No frozen pipes, all of that worked.  What we did not expect was for the electricity to go out on us!  At 4:00 a.m. I was laying in bed nearly asleep after getting up for the umpteenth time to check the water at the two sinks to be sure they still ran when all of the sudden I hear a couple of clicks coming from in the living area of the motorhome, and then another click near the breaker box which is under the bed on Marcia’s side.  I open my eyes and see darkness.  Which is not the norm because we leave the living area TV on all night with no sound just to give us light.  We also have two dim night lights, and they normally glow…but now just barely glimmered.

I figured that the lights had gone out all over town…I mean RV park.  So I got up, turned on a LED light running off the battery, along with turning on the propane heater of which the fan runs off battery too, and went back to bed.  But around 7:00 when it got light, I took the dogs out and talked to a neighbor…who said they did not have a problem.  So “WE” had a problem, not the park.  Oh My!

So we have a mystery…..  I had already tried the breakers at 4 am, but I tried again after seeing that the surge protector we use at the electrical box that we plug into outside had lights on.  Nope, not that.  Marcia suggested the GFI in the bathroom, but nope, not that either.  I tried the fan for the air conditioner, and it did not work either, so it is a full 120 volt black out.  I try to start the generator, which they don’t allow in the park but I just wanted to see if it would give us 120 electricity.  After two tries, it would not start.  I knew we needed gas, so I started the RV engine, and saw that we had 1/4 of a tank of gas…that is more than enough to run the generator too.  So I gave the generator a third try and got it going…but still no 120 electricity.  I kept the motorhome engine on with the heater going, and very soon we were warm and the propane heater was turned off.  The best decision, as hard as it was, was to head back to the valley where it was warm and there were many more resources where it could be fixed.

Thank goodness we have a warranty with Wholesale Warranties on the motorhome, a service which has been highly recommended by Howard and Linda at RV-Dreams.   The “fix” should not cost more than $100.  Tomorrow I plan to test the master breaker just to be sure that it isn’t that…then we will give them a call and see where we should progress from there to get things fixed under the warranty.

The ride home started out a bit solemn….but quickly we saw that we needed to get the camera out, and Marcia took about 80 pictures on the way home….and if you know Marcia, then you know that she took a lot of pictures of… 

    

    

TREES!

And as we got down in elevation, and with the sun to our backs, she was really able to pick some good Autumn tree shots, including this one above with the mist coming off the American River on the left side of the road.  Probably my favorite below, which she was able to take at one of the many turnouts we took to allow for cars to pass us.

Yep, it was a beautiful drive home…almost made us forget that we were going to miss Yosemite and Mono Lake.  But we will figure out our problem, and we will have other opportunities to see these other California sites, probably next year.  For now, we sit in the backyard of my sister, we have two extension cords running through a window, one for the TV and the computers, the other, with a 30 amp rating, running the heater.  A battery charger is keeping our house batteries charged, on a trickle charge.  About the only thing we won’t have until we fix our problem is the microwave/oven. 

Oh, and then there are the dogs….well, they were SO HAPPY to be back on the green grass, and getting all the treats that Arny and Sandy give them, that they are crashed out for the night…and it isn’t even 9 pm yet.

      

Question?  Do you think I will be able to get the camera back from Marcia?  She sure did a good job....perhaps we both need a Panasonic FZ60.