Trailer Trauma

This was supposed to be a simple, relaxing weekend at the trailer in West Virginia. While we did eventually get to that, it was a little more work than we were anticipating.

I had a late, late night at work Thursday: I ultimately went to bed at 4am. The guys let me sleep in a while so we were on the road later than anticipated.

We were about 1/4 of the way to the trailer when we realized we hadn't packed the barbecue propane tank. It was refilled the prior day and spent the weekend lounging in our garage at home. *sigh* At least we remembered in time to call the co-trailer trash, Jerry & David, to ask them to bring their spare.

We arrived at the campground around 5pm. Traffic was heavy in bits and there was inclement weather over stretches, including dense fog. We quickly unloaded the minivan and unlocked the trailer but efforts to extend the slide-outs on each side failed: we pressed the magic buttons but the mechanical bits did not respond as they should.

This is a serious problem: with the slide-outs fully withdrawn into the trailer, the back sleeping area and storage space was entirely inaccessible. The dining space slide-out was severely impairing our access to the bathroom, vanity, pantry and kitchen space. Only the front bedroom was reasonably unimpaired.

The fuses and circuit breakers all seemed intact. Other systems --the TV, microwave, fridge and lights-- all worked perfectly. We suspected the 12V battery. Upon inspection, we found the electrolyte levels were practically zero and kent4str found a clause in the operations manual for the slide-outs & their extension mechanism that the primary source of failure was a dead or dying battery. Refilling the battery with distilled water didn't help. Since it was the original and therefore five years old, cuyahogarvr and kent4str headed into town to purchase a replacement while I put away the perishables and found hiding spots for our bags in case of rain.

90 minutes later, a replacement battery was installed and the slide-outs miraculously opened upon command. Yay!

Jerry & David arrived just before the battery did; they noted the slide-outs seemed sluggish previously but didn't think much of it at the time. I'd love to know what the internal battery sensors thought but it was inaccessible at the time because of --yup, you guessed it-- the slide-out.

The evening was uneventful after that. We even had a spectacular light show of the trailing edge of the Perseid meteor shower with crystal-clear skies.

The following morning, we headed back into town to refill one of the trailer propane tanks. The larger 30lb tanks of the trailer run the water heater, the furnace, the kitchen range & oven and, in case of an electrical failure, the refrigerator. We get them filled at the Southern States outlet in Moundsville, WV, but we knew they were closed before the prior day's battery adventure, otherwise we'd have tackled both issues.

One propane tank was still very full and with only the water heater to tap it, it would remain so for months. Still, having once run out of propane one very cold fall evening, we were in no hurry to repeat the experience. Getting the tank filled out our convenience now would give us more leisure time in the future.

We also combined the refill adventure with some additional supply shopping --a new pastry brush and a door latch for the trailer-- then rewarded ourselves with ice cream at Dairy Queen before returning to Roseland.

I'm happy to say the rest of the weekend was fully relaxing. I caught up on reading and some sleep (although I still feel as though I'm short-changed many hours of snoozing) and had lots of time to chat with Jerry & David.

Note to tdjohnsn and rlegters: Jerry & David cooked the cobs of fresh sweet corn per your olive oil & salt/pepper method. Delicious! Thank you!

The campground itself seems to be rolling along nicely with the new management. There were many comments about improvements in the dance music with the new DJ although I can't confirm this personally as I really don't have an ear for such things. There is new framing for a greenhouse along the south basement wall of the fellowship hall, outside the shower spaces: we're told the potted plants will live there during the winter months so more interior space is available for people.

We've also learned that the trailers will indeed be fully accessible 12 months per year with the obvious caveat that the water lines won't be operational December-March. I can't honestly say a West Virginia winter in a trailer has any interest --not to mention driving through the backwoods hills of West Virginia in show-- but it means we can probably extend our regular camping season to be March-November instead of April-October. We have no clue yet how this will affect our annual lease rates.

We're hosting a birthday bash at our trailer on Saturday, September 4, 6-8pm, in celebration of kent4str's 50th birthday. Drop in if you're in the area!

Trailer Trauma

This was supposed to be a simple, relaxing weekend at the trailer in West Virginia. While we did eventually get to that, it was a little more work than we were anticipating.

I had a late, late night at work Thursday: I ultimately went to bed at 4am. The guys let me sleep in a while so we were on the road later than anticipated.

We were about 1/4 of the way to the trailer when we realized we hadn't packed the barbecue propane tank. It was refilled the prior day and spent the weekend lounging in our garage at home. *sigh* At least we remembered in time to call the co-trailer trash, Jerry & David, to ask them to bring their spare.

We arrived at the campground around 5pm. Traffic was heavy in bits and there was inclement weather over stretches, including dense fog. We quickly unloaded the minivan and unlocked the trailer but efforts to extend the slide-outs on each side failed: we pressed the magic buttons but the mechanical bits did not respond as they should.

This is a serious problem: with the slide-outs fully withdrawn into the trailer, the back sleeping area and storage space was entirely inaccessible. The dining space slide-out was severely impairing our access to the bathroom, vanity, pantry and kitchen space. Only the front bedroom was reasonably unimpaired.

The fuses and circuit breakers all seemed intact. Other systems --the TV, microwave, fridge and lights-- all worked perfectly. We suspected the 12V battery. Upon inspection, we found the electrolyte levels were practically zero and kent4str found a clause in the operations manual for the slide-outs & their extension mechanism that the primary source of failure was a dead or dying battery. Refilling the battery with distilled water didn't help. Since it was the original and therefore five years old, cuyahogarvr and kent4str headed into town to purchase a replacement while I put away the perishables and found hiding spots for our bags in case of rain.

90 minutes later, a replacement battery was installed and the slide-outs miraculously opened upon command. Yay!

Jerry & David arrived just before the battery did; they noted the slide-outs seemed sluggish previously but didn't think much of it at the time. I'd love to know what the internal battery sensors thought but it was inaccessible at the time because of --yup, you guessed it-- the slide-out.

The evening was uneventful after that. We even had a spectacular light show of the trailing edge of the Perseid meteor shower with crystal-clear skies.

The following morning, we headed back into town to refill one of the trailer propane tanks. The larger 30lb tanks of the trailer run the water heater, the furnace, the kitchen range & oven and, in case of an electrical failure, the refrigerator. We get them filled at the Southern States outlet in Moundsville, WV, but we knew they were closed before the prior day's battery adventure, otherwise we'd have tackled both issues.

One propane tank was still very full and with only the water heater to tap it, it would remain so for months. Still, having once run out of propane one very cold fall evening, we were in no hurry to repeat the experience. Getting the tank filled out our convenience now would give us more leisure time in the future.

We also combined the refill adventure with some additional supply shopping --a new pastry brush and a door latch for the trailer-- then rewarded ourselves with ice cream at Dairy Queen before returning to Roseland.

I'm happy to say the rest of the weekend was fully relaxing. I caught up on reading and some sleep (although I still feel as though I'm short-changed many hours of snoozing) and had lots of time to chat with Jerry & David.

Note to tdjohnsn and rlegters: Jerry & David cooked the cobs of fresh sweet corn per your olive oil & salt/pepper method. Delicious! Thank you!

The campground itself seems to be rolling along nicely with the new management. There were many comments about improvements in the dance music with the new DJ although I can't confirm this personally as I really don't have an ear for such things. There is new framing for a greenhouse along the south basement wall of the fellowship hall, outside the shower spaces: we're told the potted plants will live there during the winter months so more interior space is available for people.

We've also learned that the trailers will indeed be fully accessible 12 months per year with the obvious caveat that the water lines won't be operational December-March. I can't honestly say a West Virginia winter in a trailer has any interest --not to mention driving through the backwoods hills of West Virginia in show-- but it means we can probably extend our regular camping season to be March-November instead of April-October. We have no clue yet how this will affect our annual lease rates.

We're hosting a birthday bash at our trailer on Saturday, September 4, 6-8pm, in celebration of kent4str's 50th birthday. Drop in if you're in the area!