Short move to Palm Canyon Road

 This morning, Yuma and I were up early.  For some reason the traffic on I-10 bothered me and I only had a bedsheet and bedspread to keep me warm.  It got down in the forties.  Felt like a refrigerator in the bedroom.  About 4 o'clock I got up and grabbed a sleeping bag and as I was heading back to bed, I heard a strange whiring noise and when I found it, it was the heater.  It had just come on.  I guess it was set at 50.  I turned it up to 60 and between the big blanket and the heater, the cold problem was solved. 

Dolly had one of her young friends over last night.  Carrie and her husband, Doug grew up with our kids and they are just like family.

Carrie and Dolly

As I was drinking my coffee, I rearranged the large storage bay at the back of the motorhome.  I put the junk I'll never need in the back and placed things like the propane tank and grill to the front, because I use them at every stop.  After a few tries, I got things where I wanted them.

After breakfast, I started to load things into the Jeep.  Most common things like the table, chairs and solar panel are in the Jeep.  Before going too far, I wanted to get the slide in.  If I have a problem with it, then things come to a halt.  And sure enough, there was a slight whine and then nothing.  Now what!

To make a long story as short as I can, I had been so used to the solar panels keeping my house batteries topped off, I never thought about checking these.  When I did, both the batteries were at 10 amps.  In the the battery world that means I have two dead batteries.  First thought was they were old and needed to be replaced.  Unfortunately, they were less than two year old AGM batteries.

I called my very talented and knowledgable son, Jim and asked him what I should do:  buy new ones or try charging these two.  He said to charge them.  His suggestion was to use the 275 amp big boy lithium battery to get the slide in and then hook the two AGM batteries back up and see if the engine alternator would charge them going down the road.

That's what I did.  I was packed and on the road at 2 o'clock.  Unfortunately, we are only going 25 miles south on highway 95 to Palm Canyon Road. We were there before 3 o'clock and I checked the status of the batteries.  They are now at 12.4, well on their way to full charge.  Glad I didn't buy new batteries.

We walked around our campsite area and I took a few pictures.

  Tomorrow, I will show you why this is called Palm Canyon Road.  I have been here a number of times, but it is always fun to come back.

I tried solar panel on the batteries, but it was too late in the day.  Started the generator and it ran for about 10 minutes and died.  That's a problem for another day.  I started the engine to let it charge.  Little more gas than the generator, but you do what you gotta do.

It has been a very nice day.  This move was much more organized. I will keep getting better as I learn where things need to be placed for efficiency and comfort.  Time to start dinner and enjoy the beautiful evening.

Remember to set your clocks forward an hour if you are a state going to DST. 

 Thanks for stopping by.