Last night as we were watching the last few minutes of the finale of the TV show "Scandal" when the TV went blank. I checked the "board" and saw that a red FAULT light was on. The batteries had run down so the "smart" electrical management system had turned off all power to save the batteries. The generator was running but was not charging the batteries as it should have been. I thought, "Oh, s**t. What's this going to cost me?" I logged on to an internet forum dedicated to my model of motorhome (Fleetwood Discovery), posted my problem, and within minutes I had received several replies that allowed me to correct the problem. Thankfully, it was only a tripped circuit-breaker on the inverter in one of the outside bays.
Now our side- and rear-view cameras are non-functioning. I’m not using the word “mal-function” as that
implies that there is some function, all be it “bad.” I
doubt that all 3 cameras went out at the exact same time so it must be the
monitor or the controller thing-a-ma-jig.
It’s not a fuse or circuit breaker because the monitor’s power indicator
light is still on. I’m going to miss
those rear views. The monitor’s default view
was from the center rear camera, mounted high of the back of the coach, providing a
view of your toad and the traffic behind it on the dash monitor.
When the turn signal is activated the view on the monitor is supposed to change to the corresponding side camera. I’m
going to miss the reassurance that our car is still following behind. The rear view was kind of a security blanket.
We left the Walmart parking lot this morning a little after
8:00 AM and made pretty good time. At one
point the traffic did come to a screeching (literally) halt but started right
back up again, slowly returning to highway cruising speed. I thought it odd that there was absolutely no
traffic on the westbound side of I-20.
Then we saw that work was being done on the steep embankment next to the
roadway. There were some large rocks (as
in boulders) being removed from the embankment (I assume to keep them from
falling on cars). Then all of a sudden we
saw the westbound traffic. Creeping along (as
in I could walk faster than they were moving) on the westbound side were 2 county police
cruisers blocking all three lanes and leading a solid mass of metal and plastic
that was almost 4 miles long (we checked it on the odometer)! I’m certainly glad we were on the eastbound
side!
Between Atlanta and the South Carolina state line we passed
an ultra-conservative political statement in motion. It was a red panel van whose sides, rear, and
front (above the windshield) were covered with homemade plywood billboards so
that it looked like a wooden box with wheels rolling along the highway. The only visible portion of the van was the
front end. The plywood was painted with
anti-abortion, pro-gun, and pro-Jesus signs and pictures. I wish I could have taken a picture but there
was too much traffic. I got the feeling
that this guy probably drives the thing around the country in support of his
right-wing politics.
We pulled into Carolina Landing, a Thousand Trails park on
the South Carolina side of Lake Hartwell, about 1:30 PM. We had completed the first leg of our trip,
staying ahead of the rain all the way. By the way, today is a state holiday in South Carolina. It's Confederate Memorial Day and since I believe that I am a reincarnated Confederate soldier I am a proud Rebel!!
It was 800 miles from Nacogdoches, TX to Fair Play, SC. That’s about 10% of the total distance that
will be driven on this trip. Now we can
rest for a few days while we try and sort and put up all of the “stuff”
that was literally tossed into the coach just before we left on Wednesday
afternoon.
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