And Then There Were NOT Lights

When we got ready to pull out of the park at Fort Sam Houston we were doing our safety checks which includes checking to make sure that the lights on the tow dolly are working.  Well that morning they weren’t working and it was foggy and we were suppose to be leaving for Corpus Christi.  This is not a good situation.  We checked all fuses and connections and couldn’t find the problem.  Michael finally convinced me that we couldn’t stay at Fort Sam Houston as there wasn’t a spot in the park and we had a paid reservation in Corpus Christi.

So with a really sick feeling in the pit of my stomach we headed out of the park without lights on the trailer.  Funny the police that followed us didn’t stop us, so off we headed into San Antonio traffic.  We made it to Corpus Christi without incident.  We knew we had to fix this problem before we leave Corpus Christi.

This was a true mystery.  The plug on the rig had continuity and all the fuses were working.  There wasn’t any continuity on the plug on the trailer.  However, when we applied 12 volts to the lights directly they came on.  Hmmmmmm…Michael is looking down any available hole on the trailer and checks all the wire.  Finally Michael saw a boat plug inside the tongue of the trailer that wasn’t connected to anything.  I could feel around and was able to pull one end out, but the other end was inside too far and I couldn’t get my fingers in the hole.

Through some ingenious, but dangerous elevation of the dolly I was able to lay under it and with some sponge forceps able to reach deep into the tongue and found the other end.  We connected the plug and voila we had lights!!!

The plug is now taped with rescue tape so that hopefully we won’t have that problem again.  Just another job well done.

A Look Around the Park

I thought that cruisers were getting older, but let me tell you RV’ers take the cake!

Yes…I have graying hair and I am not a spring chicken, but I can still get around under my own power. May-be not as fast, but under my own power.

Currently we are located at the Fort Sam Houston Travel Camp in San Antonio, Texas. As I was walking to the laundry room I noticed that I was the only one walking to the laundry. Almost everyone else was driving to the laundry. We are talking a few hundred yards. Let me put it in perspective…I walk three times as far at the marina to go to the laundry! This is way simpler than when we are at anchor. But that as they say is another story.

So here I am speed walking with a weeks worth of laundry trying to get there before the SUVers. Then I really start to look around there are rolling walkers with baskets outside of 4 RV’s. There are 2 hover rounds and in one of them the man in the hover round is walking his dog. The poor Chihuahua is running to keep from being drug to death.

This concerns me because most of these people are behind the wheels of 40 foot diesel pusher RV’s. Not only that they are pulling a car or truck or a covered toy hauler trailer that is the same length! These same people can’t walk or drive their cars without having their mouths hanging open all the time. A sure sign of age in my book. The open mouth syndrome. I know it will happen to me in the not too distant future. SO stop laughing.

So back to that 40 foot diesel pusher. Yes, these same people who can’t walk to the laundry or just walk are driving these rigs on the highway at speeds over 60mph. If you are not scared you should be. These rigs are the same as a Greyhound bus. If you drive a Greyhound bus you must have a commercial driver’s license (CDL). I believe that if you are going to drive an RV you should have a CDL! And after some of the dumb-shit things that we have done on the water with our boat and the things that we have seen being done by other boaters may-be it is time for cruisers to have Captain’s licenses.

I can hear it now. “We are out here because we want to get away from rules.” Who does she think she is thinking we need Capt’s licenses and CDL’s. Safety people safety. I will admit to this…at least on the water out in the open ocean most of the time you are only going to endanger the people on your boat. On the highway you endanger everyone on that highway with you.

Flying by the seat of you pants can work. Heck I have done it. But just think about this. The person sitting in the hover round pulling their dog will put that in the salon of a 40 foot, 25,000 pound/ (15 Tons) RV and will be driving with you at 70 to 75 mph on the Interstate. There is an illusion of safety because all they have to do is push the accelerator and the brake.

All I know is that I hate pulling into the gas station. They aren’t made for the RV. I look for Truck stops. They have TURNING ROOM!

Be sure to wave as I pull around you and cut you off.