Day 2 of our unexpected delay brought some good news. While the alternator is fried, the shop can build a new cable and get us on the road (fingers and toes crossed) tomorrow. In the meantime, we’re staying at a lovely hotel enjoying a king-sized bed, a truly hot shower, and regular electricity.
Many blame Mercury in retrograde for our mishap. Liz and I blame ourselves. Today, we both finally understand why power management of our house battery is so important. And why we were crazy not to immediately find shore power once our system started failing. The liquid propane detector beeping because it has low power is not just annoying–it’s the canary in the coal mine. Get more power to that battery, quick!, or your battery will reach the point of no return.
I had already come to the conclusion that boondocking, living without additional power sources, was difficult. But I couldn’t articulate exactly why until now. Yes, it’s weird to wear a headlamp and use camping lanterns inside a vehicle equipped with LEDs. Sure, it’s a little funny to wash your face with water from a water bottle since the rig’s water pump won’t work. It really would be nice if the generator would start to power up the battery, but I guess we can do without it. What the fuck were we thinking!?!
Thank goodness we learned this lesson in Seattle, where we know the area, still have our second car (which is very Rubi friendly), have plenty of hotels, and know how to deal with the rainy weather. Let’s hope and pray we never get into this situation again!