Figuring it out!

So we bought this RV off a guy who’s health was going down hill and it was too big for him now. Normally in this situation the previous owner (Russ) would be able to help familiarize the new owner with how things work etc. us being complete newbies to this and all. Unfortunately this was not the case, not for lack of trying on his part though. The old owner in the not too distant past had a stroke. So although I had questions he rarely could answer them. When we picked up the RV he had had a new power cord made up because someone had stolen the old one. It was a bit bizarre as the cord had two male ends on it which at first sight I thought “this could kill someone”. It could plug into a socket on the RV and then in a Park outlet. But no power inside! He and his friend could not figure it out, at the same time we tried to get the generator going and when we did, still no power. After a few days of driving and some feeling around I found that the cord had been cut off (this couldn’t be seen) and was never supposed to be plugged in that way. Russ saw a plug outlet and assumed that’s how it worked. This was not a huge issue because we don’t stay in full service parks anyway, but I still needed to figure out what was going on. I rewired it as it should be using the only tool I had, a Snap-On multi-tool. That was nice but it still didn’t give us power when we turned on the generator. So still no power and the manuals were of no use. I was searching high and low for elusive circuit breakers and switches that were not to be found. When we had internet the other night I googled my problems (google was of no help-they are just too entrenched!) but I did find a video that might help with the generator issues. Sure enough in the morning I plugged the cord that I had rewired into the outlet and volia we had power! It all makes sense now but when Russ and the guy at the RV service place had both sent me in the wrong direction and I didn’t want to damage the genset I wasn’t going to plug things in willy nilly. So just in time because that morning we drove from east of Bakersfield into Death Valley and I wanted to have the knowledge that I could get the air con working if it was really hot. Funnily enough we drove right in to 190 feet below see level and 110 degrees Fahrenheit without using the vehicle or rv air con. It was getting a bit sweaty but the Bigfoot’s superior insulation and fantastic fans (I’ll have to do a video tour) mean’t it didn’t get that hot. However, we really felt like a swim! Death Valley was the 5th National Park we entered after Redwood, Yosemite,Sequoia, and Kings Canyon, after having to get to the camp office at 6:30am to get on a cancellation list with no guarantee of a spot in Yosemite it was quite a relief to get into a near vacant National Park, The summer is the off-season so the choice was ours! Peak season in the popular parks have to be reserved 5-6 months in advance. We still really wanted a swim! so we visited the Ranch next door to where we had planned to get a spot and Jo was told it would be $10/person including Charlotte, so nearly $100NZ for a dip! But wait, they had RV parks. So as it turned out we were able to stay at the Ranch (home of the worlds lowest golf course 214 feet below sea level) and have access to their swimming pool (and showers) for $24 only $8 more than it would have cost us next door. We managed a swim at 8am as well, a spring fed pool at a cool 30+ degrees plus, nice!

So a great trip through death Valley, didn’t have to use our new found source of POWER, although we did use the air con on the way out, and spent the night in Las Vegas behind Ballys after my navigator took me for a tour through down the strip in a 30 foot RV and a little impromptu circuit around the Flamingo Valet entrance, which is hilarious in retrospect knowing that I didn’t clip any cars or people with our 11 foot overhang (another story on that). Off for a stroll down the strip now, I’ll quickly grab some breakfast. We’ll head to the Hoover dam later.