Did you ever "camp" in the backyard when you were a kid? I did it frequently, out there with my 2-man pup tent. When you're 8 or 9 years old, taking a "road trip" on your own isn't an option. I guess I liked the change of the status quo. The backyard was different, but somewhat safe. And the bathroom was just inside. ;-)
It may have been what led to my on-going desire for a change of the status quo - I get itchy feet after being in any one place for a while. That's why motorcycle touring, traveling with our own plane, and RVing have been an integral part of our lives.
I'm excited about the possibilities with the Roadtrek. Whether it is day-tripping or out and about for a few days. It has some interesting capabilites for a different style of traveling: the words "off grid" get tossed about, but most RVs are not fully functional if they aren't connected to shore power (electricity). When we went to the Grand Canyon, we plugged in each night at the RV park, but we were fully functional on our day-trips with the electrical system onboard (lithium batteries, solar and under the hood generator/high output aux alternator, and the 3,000 watt inverter. We can run any appliance in the van without being plugged in.
What this means is we are not dependent on being in an RV park every night. We should be able to stay comfortably in places without hookups. I say "should" because we haven't tested those capabilities other than during our day-trips.
Last night, I "camped" in our driveway. That isn't the ideal sleeping situation because the driveway runs uphill. Joan said, "Sleep the other direction." Our beds are set up to have our heads towards the back of the van... no reason we can't reverse that. Joan was keep on this "test" for herself, but she encouraged me to do it. I just wanted to see how the lithium batteries (600 amp hours) would handle it.
I took a few things with me and went out to spend the night. Unplugged. It was a cool evening, after some rain came through. I wouldn't need air conditioning, but I did set the heat to run as needed. I ran some lights, watched some TV. Used the bathroom as needed. It was a good test to see what the batteries would do with this use... the batteries were 13.5v when I started the night... 13.4v when I got up this morning, and the heat did turn on several times during the night. For those not familiar with a large lithium bank, 13.5v is not completely full; that would be well over what a traditional lead acid battery bank would read at full. Lithiums are different and there is a learning curve.
It wasn't a great night's sleep due to the slope of the driveway.
The Firefly display runs all the stuff in the van: lights, a/c, heat, water heater, and keeps track of the charge on the lithium batteries. It displays in voltage, but here is a chart to determine percentage of charge...
The electric capability of the van is a big deal (to us). Proving to ourselves that we can handle being off the power grid, the limiting factor becomes water: both having fresh water to drink, cook, and wash with, and dealing with the gray and black. Based on our typical water usage, I figure we are good for about 3 days without having a city water connection or a sewer dump.
--------
Didja "fall back" with your clocks today? We didn't. Arizona doesn't mess around with Daylight Saving Time. A lot of people think we moved here to be close to Steph and Dan and for all the "big city" amenities. Yeah, sure... but it was mostly for not having to mess with all the clocks in the house and the vehicles twice a year. ;-) Yeah, I'm kidding. But, when I reset the clock on Joan's Xmax, I have to get the owners manual out to figure out what process of pressing buttons and for what amount of time to get to the clock adjustment. Look at all the time we save twice a year! Unless, of course, we travel to a different time zone... like this summer when we were in 4 different time zones during our time out in the motorhome. :-)
