Death of a vision.....

You may wonder why I refer to Elaine as TLE (The Lovely Elaine).....there are many, many reasons, but let me illustrate my point with one example today.  For almost a year now I have had this long range plan to spend time on our way home from Spokane dry camping, and boondocking along US 395.  Last year at this time the temperatures were quite moderate.....in the 60's during the day, and 30's at night......that, as we now know, presaged a very dry, low snow winter in the Eastern Sierras.  I timed our arrival in the Mono Lake area to coincide with the time of year our friends (Paul and Nina) passed through last year, hoping for the same mild weather. 

Well, that was last year, and this is this year, which is much colder by 15-20 degrees during the day, and night.  It's one thing to be somewhere when it's quite cold when you're plugged in to 50 amp power, but quite another to be dry camping where it barely hits 43 degrees during the day, and gets into the 'teens' at night.....especially this time of year when the daylight portion of the day is shorter, and there are 10,000+ foot mountains which take away the sun 30-45 minutes earlier than say in the desert.  Your batteries, even with the help of 620 watts of solar panels, will discharge at a faster rate during the night in the cold temps.  On top of that you will need to run heaters at night, and during the day to keep your water bay from freezing, and heaters inside to keep from becoming a human popsicles.

In spite of the aforementioned forecast colder than last year temperatures I pressed on convinced somehow that we would be fine, and TLE, while gently suggesting we needed to head somewhere further south and west where it was warmer, went along with my plan cheerfully.  

As I wrote yesterday Friday was the day we would reach the Mono Lake area and, I hoped, boondock for a few days before heading to lower elevations, and I have written about our arrival there, our setup, etc......well, here is the rest of the story, and why TLE is TLE.......

When we went to bed Friday night the temperature in our bedroom was already down to 58 degrees and it was only 2130 hours (usually it is in the low 70's) that was with the heaters having been on since 1900.  I woke up about 0230 and the temperature inside our bedroom was down to 43 degrees.....I began to think about how cold it must be outside, and secondly how cold it must be getting in the water bay with no heater on, so I got up and turned on the middle gas heater which also heats the water bay.....I checked the outside temperature and it was down to 22 degrees, and it was not the coldest it would get.  After seeing that temperature I turned on the other two gas heaters to at least keep it from getting colder

Of course, by this time TLE was awake and also noticing how cold it was, but she said nothing.....she just got up and added an additional blanket to the one she had already added when we went to bed, and then snuggled closer to me.  I didn't really go back to sleep other than a few 20 minute cat naps, and finally got up about 0600 to find it was 18 degrees outside, and there was ice on the INSIDE of the windows......even with the heaters blasting away.

Once I had the coffee pot on the stove I opened the curtains by my computer and saw this most amazing view of Mono Lake, and then when I went outside to photograph that I saw the moon still high in the sky with Saturn, or whatever planet that is, above it....I think both pictures came out very well.......

 0630......temp 'up' to 19 degrees

.....by this time it was 0630 and the temp had risen to 19 degrees.......I checked the status of the batteries and they were down to 89%.....not too bad.....the sun was coming up, and soon the solar panels would begin to catch the sun's rays once again.....around 0730 when the batteries dropped down to 82% I decided to deploy the small Honda 1000 watt generator to stop the battery depletion, but then, to my surprise I discovered a problem I should have noticed when we were leaving Silver City the day before......

My 50 amp plug had apparently suffered some sort of short inside causing one of the 'legs' to heat up and melt the casing.....

.....and, as a result fatally damaged my portable Progressive Industries Smart Surge  protector 

......that resulted in catastrophic damage to my surge protector (Progressive Industries).  So, here I am needing to plug in to my Honda generator, but cannot because the plug is melted into oblivion.......how did I not notice that?  Well, now I'm into problem solving mode....I don't have a spare 50 amp male plug.....then it occurs to me that I actually do.....I can remove the male plug from the damaged surge protector and then connect it, temporarily, to the 50 amp cord that is hardwired into my coach electrical bay.......

The 50 amp male plug removed from the surge protector, and then connected to the cord from the coach

......to wire the salvaged 50 amp male plug to the 50 amp cord I needed TLE's help, which she gladly provided....she held both ends while I crimped the connectors and then wrapped everything in electrical tape.  

By this time the temps were into the high 20's outside, and while it took me a while to coax the Honda to life, it did finally start, and the power drain was abated...

As we climbed back into the coach I told TLE with great conviction that as soon as we could get the engine warmed up with the block heater we were going to move our home on wheels down to Bishop, CA where it is only 4,150' elevation (2,600' feet lower than Mono Lake) and the temps were more moderate.....plus we now needed to either purchase, or order a new 50 amp power cord for the coach as I discovered whilst making my temporary repair, that the insulation on all 4 wires was deteriorating, and the entire cord must be replaced at the earliest convenience.....it is, after all, 33 years old.  That deteriorating insulation is probably what caused the short.

All this time she had never suggested we abandon my boondocking plan, my vision, if you will, and head for warmer climes........she let me come to that conclusion on my own, while supporting, as best she could, my desires.  That my friends is one of the many reasons I call her 'The Lovely Elaine (TLE for short).

Around 0950 hours it was into the high 30's and I was able to fire up the large 7.5 kw generator and turn on the block heater......by 1120 I was able to fire up the DD 6V92, and we were on our way to Bishop some 63 miles distant.  We arrived at the Tri-County Fairgrounds, where we have stayed previously, around 1240, secured a spot for 3 days, and then went shopping for a new power cord and/or a new 50 amp male plug. We were able to find a new 50 amp male plug, but not the power cord, so I ordered that from Amazon Prime, and it should be delivered to us sometime Tuesday.

Once that was done we drove to the south side of Bishop to have a late lunch/early dinner at Mountain Rambler Brewery.....they have been open almost a year now, and Yelp gives them a solid 4.5 stars on 60+ reviews......we would agree 100%.  We were not disappointed!  I ordered one of their Porters, and the 'Simple Burger' with fries, and TLE ordered a pint of Alaskan Pumpkin (a guest brew), and a bratwurst sandwich with chips......a great way to end a somewhat stressful day.  The food and brews were exceptional!

We were back to the coach by 1530 with TLE relaxing and reading, and me watching NCAA football.......there were some great game played Saturday......my Trojans won 38-30, and UCLA won 41-0, plus there were a few upsets, which I always love to see!

Lesson learned........it is not wise to be too optimistic when it comes to weather.  I began to realize yesterday that we have spent the past 2 months where it is really too, too cold for our lifestyle......why do that when you have wheels on your home?

We will hang here in Bishop for a few days until our new power cord arrives, and I can get it installed, then head south and west to the coast where the weather is much more in line with our weather preferences, and dry camping.

Thanks for stopping by!