This
was Spring Break @ SWIC. Unfortunately
the Academy is still in session, it's week 9 of 10. So as it turns out Van & I are the only
faculty on campus. It is desolate.
We
have been taking turns coming in or leaving early, so that takes some of the
sting out of being here. Van decided we
should each take a full day at the end of the week. He took Thursday & I took Friday.
That
worked out because Friday after work Rita & I were going to go to the
Ameristar Casino in St. Charles, Mo for an awards program for a business group
that Rita belongs to, Business Network International (BNI). We reserved a room. We can spend the night & in the morning
go get CC.
Then
I found out that CC would be done Friday afternoon. If you remember we had to reserve Babler for
Friday & Saturday. Now we can leave
earlier. We decided to cancel the hotel room, get CC, set her up at Babler then
go to the function. Or not.....
We
had a nice Friday, slept in. Rita
scheduled me an hour massage. Then we
did some shopping, grabbed lunch & headed to 3 R RV in Union, MO.
She
was all ready & the bill wasn't too bad.
We didn't hook up Rita's car we just headed to the campsite. Arrived with no problems and backed her into
slot #23. Plenty long, paved and close
to level. I set out all the lights &
decorations and flags.
I
was pretty happy here so, no shocker, Rita went to the dinner for BNI & I
stayed at the campsite to "tend the fire".
I
took a walk, had a couple of cocktails, listened to music and chilled. I waited until Rita got home. She wasn’t very happy that all the wood was
gone, as well as the cocktails. So we went
to bed.
So
here is where this trip’s lesson came into play. The site we had was only 30 amp electric
hookup. Previously, we have always had
the max power sites 50 amp. When we took
delivery of our RV, the technician explained that when we only had 30 amp, CC
would know & work according. As in
using only two of the 3 heat pumps on the roof.
Well
not exactly. We hooked up, turned on the
electric hot water heater & the heat pumps.
I heard it fire up so figured all was good. Not really. CC must have tripped the circuit & we
didn't notice because she automatically reverts to battery power so everything
works, except the heat pumps. Around 3am
it got pretty chilly in bed.
I
couldn’t quite figure out why. So, in my
jammie's, I went outside in the cold. I turned
on the Aqua Hot system, that's the whole house heating system the uses diesel
fuel to work. That was one of the things tuned up at 3 R RV. Worked
perfect. Circuit held because I turned
off the heat pumps. CC warmed up
comfortably.
In
the morning I emailed Jimmie at 3 R RV.
I thought maybe they changed a setting on the system or something. Or
maybe the power supply from the park is messed up.
Meanwhile
for breakfast we decide to head into town.
We prowled around Wildwood, MO a little & found a nice diner. There are some pretty big houses there….
After
we got back to the campgrounds we decide to take a walk on one of the
trails. As we passed by the check-in
booth we talked to the attendant. When I
asked her about the power she suggested that maybe I was misinformed by the RV
dealer on what happens when using a 30 amp hook up.
So
after our walk I turned off the electric water heater and then fired up just one
of the heat pumps. And nothing blew. She
warmed up nicely. I’m going to have to
do some follow-up on managing power, but nothing we can’t figure out.
We
walked all over the campgrounds and discovered that they converted an entire
loop to 50 amp, so next time none of this will matter. But you know, “lessons learned.”
We
then spent a leisurely day around CC. Nice dinner and one more walk.
Sunday
we slept in, it stayed warm in CC all night, Yea! Had a great breakfast and then went on a real
long walk on the trails. We slowly
cleaned up, had lunch outside and left around 2pm. It’s always sad when we leave…..
