Day 22 Tuesday May 21, 2024
It is the weekend for us so we headed to Sparta to The Gathering Place for a sweet and our Latte fix. As we were going out of the park there were some deer feeding on the grass beside the road we stopped and photographed them and they were not camera shy at all.
After enjoying our fix and catching up on some WiFi stuff we decided to ramble around on some backroads that we haven’t traveled in the area around Sparta NC and Independence VA.
We found a small park just outside Independence VA on Powerhouse RD that had a beautiful waterfall and some remnants of the old power station that was once here. The plant was powered by the water coming down Peach Bottom Falls.
We continued on down the road for several miles out into the hills past several farms until the road turned into gravel and began to get rather narrow so we turned around and went back to Independence VA to our favorite Mexican Restaurant in the area, Mi Casa Azteca. We have ate here numerous times and it is always good.
Then we returned to the campground. Lena did some laundry and I worked on this Blog.
It has been a most enjoyable late Spring Day.
Day 23 Wednesday May 22, 2024
We returned to River Roast Coffee in Jonesville this morning to see if their Lattes were as good as last week. Even with a different Barista they were just as good.
Since we are not from this area we don’t see anyone that we know when we are away from the campground. But this morning as we were enjoying our coffee and catching up on our WiFi someone spoke to us and when we looked up we almost didn’t recognize the person speaking to us. It took a second or too to recognize one of the rangers from the park that we work with. She was not in uniform and she looked so much different with her hair down below her shoulders and with shorts on. When on duty they are wearing their full uniform, green pants and shirt, bulletproof vest under their shirt, duty belt with handgun, handcuffs, radio, etc. If the female rangers have long hair it is usually up.
We have 3 female and one male rangers here at this park. There is currently one ranger and one Superintendent vacancy.
We wanted to get some more of the Baby Swiss cheese like we got in West Jefferson so we drove to Shiloh General Store in Hamptonville to see if they carried it. Just like when we went a couple weeks ago they were closed for some kind of Amish Community event.
So we decided to go back to Mt. Airy to the Mill Creek General Store. We noticed when we were there last week that they stocked it. We can’t get it anywhere around home and we really like it for snacks.
Then we went downtown to do some window shopping. It was about lunch time so we went to Snappy Lunch for one of their famous Pork Chop Sandwiches. One of our friends from Goldsboro does not like them so I sent him a photo of mine just to tease him.
The prices of their sandwiches, etc. are about half what a similar items is at a chain fast food place.
After a stop at Walmart for a few items it was back to the campground to rest up before going back to work tomorrow. Another day of really nice weather.
Day 24 Thursday May 23, 2024
Just routine stuff today. Good weather until about 2:30PM when a rain cloud came up and rained fairly hard for an hour or so then it cleared up and we ended with a nice day. Campground not as full as usual which seems to be a pattern this month.
Day 25 Friday May 24, 2024
We only have 50 reservations this morning which is less than we expected for a Friday on Memorial Day weekend. Normally most sites would be reserved or occupied but we do have several available.
The bears visited the trash dumpsters early this morning. The park bought new dumpsters last year that are more bear proof but they have figured out how to lift the heavy metal tops. The lids have two opening that has a hasp on them. The park has put carabiners on them so the bears can’t open but the campers can to deposit their trash. The rangers have been putting a ratchet strap completely around the tops and the bears have left them along for awhile so Tuesday when the trash truck emptied the dumpsters the rangers didn’t put the straps back on the dumpsters, I guess thinking the bears were tired of messing with the dumpsters. But they came back last night and got the lids open and got inside the dumpsters and strung trash. So the straps are back on the dumpsters.
Speaking of bears one of the rangers gave a talk this afternoon at the small amphitheater on bears. It was a good talk and the young campers really enjoyed it and asked a lot of good questions. So far we have not had any reports of bears around any campsites and sure hope we don’t. Part of the talk was about not leaving any trash with food scraps out or any food items. If the bears start going into the campground we will have to start reminding the campers to be bear aware with their trash and food items.
Day 26 Saturday May 25, 2024
Good weather prediction for today. Should be a fairly easy day, 22 reservations and not many leaving today so not many sites to prep. We did get a quick shower mid afternoon, just enough to wet everything down.
Day 27 Sunday May 26, 2024
Another beautiful day in the making. Just 20 reservations for tonight. Tomorrow is Memorial Day so most of the normal Sunday campers will be staying until tomorrow so there will be a mass exodus tomorrow. And rain is in the forecast.
We cleaned the few empty sites that needed it and had a nice relaxing day. Until about 7:20PM when a bad storm blew in with lots of pea size hail and rain. Then lightning struck very near us and took our power out. Also our water from the campground went out but we keep some in our fresh water holding tank for such times.
I ran our generator about 1.5 hours before bedtime to charge up our batteries so they will be okay until tomorrow morning to power the refrigerator, etc.
Day 28 Monday May 27, 2024
It was still raining when we got up but it soon stopped. Maintenace crew came to check our electrical issue. We have power coming to the pedestal but getting error lights on our surge suppressor. We removed it and plugged directly into the power pedestal and we have power. So I guess our surge suppressor is toast. It only cost about $400. 😈 We also have two of our three air conditioner/heat pumps not working. Not sure of the problem but it seems to be power related.
I still believe the 50AMP pedestal plug needs to be replaced. It feels loose when I plug into it and there was some arching marks on the pins of our power pedestal. Maintenance was notified but they are working on getting the water restored to the campground since there is no water in the campground since the lighting strike last night. Lots of RVs leaving this morning and are dumping their holding tanks and can’t flush them since the water is off.
I went back out after breakfast to check some of the sites that are being vacated this morning. Site 75 was left in a mess. I think it was the worst one we have ever cleaned. I just don’t understand some people. We knew it was probably going to have some things to pick up since there were several young kids in this site. But what was left in the firepit was done by the adults.
The maintenance guys have been working all day trying to fix the water problem. About 3:30 as we were preparing to put out the Tuesday reservation signs, since we are off Tuesday and Wednesday, we discovered water bubbling up from the edge of the highway between our host site and the contact station. We notified the rangers and they called maintenance. It appears the water line that runs under the street there was broken by the lightning that stuck the street last night. Jackie and one of the rangers were in the contact station last night when the lightning stuck. They said they saw it when it hit the street. But it didn’t explode the asphalt as I would have expected.
The maintenance guy thought he had isolated the leak to just the B and C loop and that A loop would have water and a working bathhouse. So the rangers asked us to go around B and C loop and tell everyone they could use the A loop bathhouse and fill up their RV holding tank if desired. And just as we were finished telling the last person we got a radio call that there was no water in the A loop after all. What a day.
I decided to see if the motorhome would crank, considering all the stuff going on since the storm. And no it will not crank, have several error messages on the instrument panel. I started checking fuses, etc., but didn’t find any blown ones. Sent a text to our friends with a very similar motorhome and he suggested some things to check but they didn’t fix anything either. So I gave up for today. Like I said what a day.
Day 29 Tuesday May 28, 2024
I called Tiffin Motorhomes to get some help with our problem. Matt had me check several things but none solved the problem. Then he asked me to find a certain cable in the dash for the Mobile Eye system and unplug it since that sometimes causes the problems we are having. Well it took me about 45 minutes to find it even using the photos he sent me of what it looked like. I had to remove the instrument panels in the dash before I found the cable. That did not solve the problem either.
So I called Tiffin again and got Rickey. He had me check some other things but none solved the problems so he transferred me to Chris an Electrical Engineer but I got his voicemail so I left a message. By the end of the day I had called back three times and all I get from Chris is his voicemail. NOT HAPPY.
But maintenance did get the water break fixed mid afternoon so at least we have running water now. They had to dig up part of the street to fix the leak. Apparently the lightning followed the underground power line to our power pedestal and the water line crossed just under the power line and that is where the waterline was broke open.
Day 30 Wednesday May 29, 2024
I called Tiffin again at 8AM (they start at 7AM Central time) and again Matt transferred me to Chris and I got his voicemail. But he did call me in a few minutes finally.
For almost 2 hours he told me what plugs to disconnect and run tests on. I unplugged more cables/wires than I knew the motorhome even had. I must have gone from the front of the bus to the back 30 times checking what he told me to check. Sure glad it wasn’t raining. He was reading wiring diagrams I guess and knew which plug to have me test. He finally narrowed it down to one component called a Mux board. It takes electrical signals via wires and sends the signal to different items in the motorhome. We left one cable on that board unplugged and then the motorhome cranked. That was a good sound to this tired old man.
Chris said sometimes lightning destroys several components so I guess we were lucky. We were not looking forward to having to have it towed somewhere for repairs. Plus our slides were extended and the support jacks were down. That would have created another issue getting them stored for travel.
Because of the bad Mux board we will not have any lights on the rear of the motorhome or on the Jeep if we hook it up to the motorhome going home. So Lena will have to follow closely behind me for safety reasons going home.
We still have one other issue but it will not keep us from getting home. I can address that when we get home.
I ordered the replacement part from Tiffin Motorhome it was only $952.68. 😤
The Park Superintendent (Jeff) that is overseeing this park until the new one is hired came by this afternoon with Ranger Hicks (she is the Ranger we work for) to express his regret about the lightning damage that was done to our motorhome. We told them we had just found the problem and that we would be able to travel home next Tuesday. They were relieved.
We talked for awhile and Jeff thanked us for all the work we do in the campground. That is twice that he has stopped and talked to us and thanked us for our work. We don’t get paid so a thank you is nice to hear. I wish he would take the Superintendent job here but he says he is happy at the park where he works which is Rendezvous Mountain, 30 miles or so from here. It is a smaller park, no campground and less staff to manage so less stress.
We did get some great news this afternoon. The company that makes our surge suppressor (Hughes Autoformer) that was damaged by the lightning is shipping us a new unit at no charge. We have to return the damaged one in the box from the new unit and they are paying for shipping both ways. We originally bought one in 2019 and in 2021 they shipped us a new one when, I believe it was damaged by bad power in a campground. Now they are sending us another new one. That is some great customer support.
Day 31 Thursday May 30, 2024
Back to work today but it should be a fairly easy day and we are ready for one.
After doing our morning routine, eating breakfast, cleaning a few sites I called Tiffin service center about our other issue. The issue is when we try to use certain appliances the electrical system thinks it is drawing too much power and does what is called “shedding”.
In other words it shut the power off to that appliance. So we can’t use the dishwasher, clothes washer or clothes dryer and two of our air conditioners/heat pumps. They are all on the same power leg coming into the motorhome. And we can get by without these appliances. If the problem was with the appliances on the other power leg we wouldn’t have any hot water or be able to use the cooktop.
When everything is working properly and too many appliances are being used at the same time the electrical system is designed to turn off (shed) some of the appliances in priority order until the usage is below the threshold. Normally we never have a need for the system to shed because we don’t turn everything on at the same time.
I did some research last night and was fairly sure I knew what the problem was. The tech at Tiffin confirmed what I thought and told me what I needed to repair it. He gave me a contact at the company that makes the part. I called the contact and he also confirmed what I suspected. He knew what part I needed and had it in stock and it should be delivered to our house Monday and the part I ordered yesterday from Tiffin should be delivered to our house Friday.
We will be home Tuesday and then I can install the new parts. Both items cost $1,294.15 with shipping. That is a lot but with a lightning strike that close to us it could have been so much worse. So we are very thankful it didn’t do any more damage that we are aware of and no one got hurt.
After thinking through all the events since the lightning strike if we didn’t have a cell signal so we could use our cellphones we would not been able to find the problem so we would have been in a real “pickle”. The cell signal here in the campground is very weak or no cell signal in most of the campground. The nearest cell tower is not close and we are surrounded by mountains and hills. But we are able to get a WiFi signal from the contact station across the street so I was able to make a cellphone call over WiFi.
