Haven't had one of those in a while: being in 3 different states in one day. Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa... the heartland of America.
The rural countryside...
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The saga of the power being out: power came back around 10:30 last night. Joan thought we might hear a cheer from the campers in the park to let us know... nope, a street light was the tell-tale. I think a good portion of those camping here packed up and went home (seems these county parks get mostly local folks). I had given up on the power returning, and started the motor around 10:00 pm to juice up the lithium batteries - we already had it nice and cool in the van. 13.1 volts is as low as it got, which put us at 40% battery remaining. In about 20 minutes of running the motor (and under hood generator), we were back up to 99% (with the a/c running). But, before starting the motor, we were sweating - literally and figuratively; we had turned off the a/c to conserve battery power. To this point, we have not truly tested the limits of the lithium system.
With power back on, we plugged in all our devices (laptop, iPads, phones, watches, AirPods, etc). Minimalism is not our thing - this van and those in it require power. That said, it isn't quite like the brochures that show these vans in the most beautiful remote settings, with the occupants sitting outside with a cup of coffee, on their laptops, and maybe a faithful dog by their side. Enjoying a sunset. Maybe it's a sunrise?
The brochures don't show the daily ritual of moving cushions from the beds to the front cab and back. You need the cushions for using the space as your lounge; and then the cushions have to go somewhere so you can sleep on the beds. Likewise, the brochures don't show cat toys, cat beds, and cat cushions filling any available space.
The folks on my RoadTrek group chuckled at the photo of our van parked next to the big coach a couple nights ago... they were feeling sorry for those people in the big coach (and, yes, there are some former big coach owners in the group besides us) because of having to deal with all that extra "stuff." A couple extra feet to make room for a permanent dinette would be nice. And a walk-in shower. And a nice J-lounge couch. A washer/dryer. A full-width wardrobe. Huge underneath storage. And then you are back to 40+ feet, and limited on where you can park. Or maneuver. Compromises.
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We should be to my brother-in-law's house in a couple hours.
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