the first hiccup

We were told that living the RV life means becoming a jack of all trades because you never know what will need fixing, but rest assured something will need fixing! So we went to get JJ out of storage (I'll let Trent come back and tell you about how the RV got the name) and lo and behold, the coach batteries are deader'n a doorknob. We did everything right, turned off everything, stored it all properly, so it should have been fine. Seems that the coach batteries weren't maintained very well by the previous folks and there was NO water to be seen in the cells. So there was no coming back from that disaster, because the batteries wouldn't hold a charge at all after that. Thank goodness I started putting money in the RV maintenance last month, so we had enough in there to buy two new coach batteries. And they work wonderfully, I might add!

getting ready to pull the old batteries

Quite happy to have the new batteries in!

So we're planning on going out this weekend, so the boys (yes, the dogs, who did you think?) decided to get Daddy a father's day present a little early. So sweet of them. They got him a surge protector for the RV....awww.

Father's Day Gift

It was on our 'really need to get as soon as we can afford it' list, so I worked some wonders on the budget and they sent me to fetch it. Trent was right happy to get his gift, just what he wanted! So when he got home from the plant today, he set about getting it installed. The guy that I bought it from assured me that "even an electrician" could manage to get it done with little fuss. I'm not sure if Trent was happier because he got the surge protector or if he was getting the opportunity to show his prowess in the electrical field. I must say I was impressed as I watched him splice, dice and do all the stuff to make it work.

And in no time at all, he had the big monster of a cord cut into pieces and was attaching that big box in the middle. Of course I had to get pictures to remember the occasion!

happy man with electrical stuff

I got some action shots but there was too much plumber's crack to put those out there for the general viewing audience. But I did manage one of him pleased with his handy work...

All done!

no chance of frying ourselves now!

Such a small piece of equipment and yet so important. I did find out that I can deduct part of the cost on our taxes because it's to help set up my 'mobile office' that I'll be using while we're on the road. Nifty, yeah!?

Tomorrow when Trent gets off work, we'll be heading to Asheboro. We're meeting some friends from church at Zooland Family Campground for the weekend. So this will be the REAL first camping trip, instead of trying to figure out how to turn on lights and dump sewage, we'll be able to enjoy our time there.  I'll be working on the way there, so hopefully the wifi ranger is easy to set up tomorrow. This will be the trial run to see if there are any kinks to unkink. Until later folks!