Xsplorin

One week in the RV. Tonight in the Ft. Welikit campground. A private tent, trailer and RV campground filled with pine trees off Sylvan Lake road just outside Custer, WY. A small herd of deer graze each evening in a field next to the play fort built for camping children.

We’re still getting acclimated to this motorhome life. Last night was miserable. For some as yet undetermined reason the RV furnace didn’t come back on after 8:30 or so. We added the bedspread and the red Spencer tartan wool blanket to our normal sheet and blanket. We both slept in clothes and M in a sock hat. Still at 4:00AM she was up reading operation manuals for the furnace. I joined her because it was truly cold in here: 51º on the floor and 55º on the counter and table. To we who shiver in the high-sixties, that was cold.

Stuffed a pillow from the couch in the fan opening over our bed. I’m sure it helped, but who could tell? Like proving a negative. 

Intermittent hot water. There is no light on the water heater switch, just a red panel, No On or Off markings. We’ve tried it both ways and sometimes had hot water, sometimes not. We wonder if the wiring is screwed up and we needed to have the water pump on for the water heater to function. When people don’t have information they start to use coincidence as evidence. As Maureen lay shivering last night she could hear the water pump buzzing. It did not add to the night’s pleasure. In her predawn reading she learned the water pump should not be run while connected to “city” water as we are. So, don’t know yet, but eight(?) hours of running the pump on a dry well may have melted it. We’ll see tomorrow when we plan to dry camp. That may be drier than planned.

The manual offered no advice. We had plenty of LP. Before giving up we turned the furnace off, and adjusted the thermostat down to 65 or so. Then we turned the RV furnace back on and took the thermostat back up to seventy-five degrees. It came back on!!! Like a computer. Everything needs to have it’s power taken away for a while before it will function properly. (Hmmm, wonder if that would work with Congress?)

In the morning Maureen took a shower in the RV. Before we left home, to conserve hot water from our six gallon tank, I’d installed a shower head with a switch. When it seemed warm she wet her hair and shut off the water. With a good lather she turned it back on and it quickly went cool to cold. She did take a shower. It was just more invigorating than most.

Learning from M, I went to the clean, heated, individual bathrooms near the office. Took a warm shower, shaved and dressed in comfort.

Later, I went to the exterior wall of the RV and lifted the cover on the water heater to reveal the valves, wires, etc. There, on the far left side, nestled under some tubing was a little rocker switch with two options, Off and On. It was set for Off. I changed it to On. Soon we had hot water. (Who says I’m not a technician?) Real, steaming, hurts your hands, hot water. Great for dishes. Now, I just don’t understand how we had hot water ever before. Maybe from the overheated water pump? (Just kiddin’ . . . I think.)