Day: September 8, 2008

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Electricity Learning Curve

I’m about 100km east of Thunder Bay and treating myself to a night on full hookups with access to wi-fi and a laundromat. Ah, civilization.

I’ve been boondocking since I left Ottawa on Thursday morning and, let me tell you, that has been full of brutal lessons that left me feeling quite disheartened on Saturday evening, but which were learned well enough to allow for a 180 degree mood shift by the following evening.

The most important of these lessons is: MIRANDA’S BATTERY SENSORS CAN’T BE TRUSTED. The sensors claimed right up to Saturday evening (and beyond) that the battery was operating at full operating capacity. When I finally realised that this wasn’t the case, the battery had reached such a low level that I couldn’t even get the generator going. Saturday evening, I had no lights worth mentioning, no hot water, no refrigerator, nothing. It was very cold and damp in the rig and I was miserable. I went to bed really early, got on the road even earlier the next day, go the battery topped up with the driving, and spent the evening boondocking with the generator running, giving me lights, hot water, a refrigerator, HEAT, and the ability to watch a movie. Lesson learned. If you’re not driving that day, run the generator at least an hour.

The second lesson in electricity is that my inverter is my best friend (even though I called it horrible names on Saturday, poor thing!). It lets me know when battery power is too low to run it. If that’s the case, the generator gets run ASAP.

The third lesson in electricity is that I really hate running the generator. It’s very noisy. But it’s not a gas guzzler and it means I get all the comforts of home. I’ll get used to it.

Saturday night, as I laid there in my bunk, snug and warm thanks to flannel PJs and a feather duvet, I listened to a song on my iPod which really put things into perspective for me. It’s called ‘Painting Pictures of Egypt’ and this is the bit that stuck out:

The place I was wasn’t perfect, but I had found a way to live
And it wasn’t milk or honey, but then neither is this.

Yeah, I’d rather be in a well-insulated bus with a million solar panels and a satellite dish for getting online, but, at least, I’m not working 8 to 4 at a desk and going home to the ghetto. This isn’t a vacation or a dream. It’s reality. And reality isn’t perfect. But it sure can be great.

The next post will show that I still had my sense of humour come Sunday!

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Just a Wave

I can’t do justice to the last few days in the few minutes I have left online, so I won’t try at this time. Pictures and stories will follow! Some of the highlights of the past few days:

  • going 300ft underground into a gold mine;
  • experiencing my first nights (note the plural) at Walmart;
  • discovering just how bad are Miranda’s sensors;
  • dealing with the POs idiocy when it comes to RV plumbing;
  • and a full recount of just how I inadvertently perfectly recreated a certain scene in the Robin Williams movie ‘RV’.

For those wanting to follow me on a map, I left Val D’Or yesterday morning and overnighted in Kapuskasing, Ontario. I am presently in Long Lac and heading for Nipigon, several hours away hence why I can’t take greater advantage of this great connection! Northern Ontario, for those who don’t know it, is 90 billion kilometres long, so I have at least another two days left in this land of black spruce, granite cliffs, and clear lakes. I just wish the weather was better so I could enjoy it more.

All is well… and I still have my sense of humour.

More will come from further down the road! 🙂