If you said, "You left out the 'R'," you get a bonus point (1) for being a good proof-reader. If you asked, "Are you in a county park?" you get 10 bonus points. For those keeping track: casino, Love's RV Stop, fairgrounds, casino, and now in a county park. So far, not in a typical RV park this trip. County or City parks that have RV sites can be good: generally less expensive than a commercial RV park; and often a bit more "rustic." We have our own amenities with us, so all we're looking for these days is a place to plug in our electric.
"I thought you could do without a plug-in with your fancy-schmancy lithium batteries and solar," you ask. Back in the midwest, it is warm and humid. And parked under some trees for the shade, the solar panels aren't doing much. We could go a yet-to-be-determined amount of time on just the batteries, but in this brutal humidity, I have concerns about how long we could go without being plugged in. I have been told an overnight while running a/c should be doable... but I don't want to get a low battery alarm at 3:00am - I already have cats to wake me at that time.
That said, we are down in this park and plugged in...
And then the power at the pedestal went out. So, we may find out just how long we can go on just the batteries. I overheard a woman asking someone from the park about the power... he said, "It isn't just the park - the power company is reporting outages in the area."
Murphy and Stella are enjoying this different environment: there are birds that need to be watched...
And plenty of window vantage points in the RoadTrek.
Speaking of room: the Stowaway2 cargo carrier has room for our outdoor stuff... and, my Emerald X7 guitar...
I would never do that with a wood guitar - the heat and humidty would kill it. So far, my carbon fiber Emerald is doing just fine. And we all enjoy some music most evenings (yes, the cats enjoy being sung to).
The Stowaway in use...
It has been working out great this trip.
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A guy from the county came by just a few minutes ago: the power company told him the power will be back on "late tonight." He had no idea what constitutes "late," but getting power back at some point is hopeful. To conserve battery, we turned the a/c off. Drastic? Just being conservative.
There is one guy on the far side of the shower house (far enough that we don't hear this) running an inexpensive generator. I have no idea if there are rules here about generator use (that is the case in some parks, but if you are expecting to have electricity and it goes out, I'd say those rules are off. Most of the rigs here are smaller travel trailers, most of which don't come with a generator. I believe this guy may be the envy of his neighbors.
Our RoadTrek comes standard with an "under hood generator," which is essentially a powerful auxiliary alternator. It will charge our lithium batteries faster than being plugged in. If it comes down to that... just start the motor on the van and let that UHG do its job. Typically, it is generating juice any time we are driving. It will generate power for the batteries even when idling. That said, the rooftop a/c is a big draw and will pull most of the juice that would go for charging. For now, this is a good test.
It has definitely warmed up in the van without the a/c running, but the sun is down. We can run the exhaust fan to pull breeze through.
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