Author: Rae

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Good Ole I-95

I’m at a Starbucks in Stafford, VA, about 30 miles south of Washington D.C.

It was cold in St Clair overnight, but nothing like it was in Saratoga. I left the furnace on super low and it only kicked on once, at 4AM. I was very comfortable and slept like the proverbial log.

When I got up at 7AM, the morning sun had already warmed the rig five degrees and was melting the rime of frost off my vehicles. I went for a walk and discovered I did not need my winter coat. The air was a little chilly, but the sun was very warm, promising a lovely day.

I took it easy pulling out of St Clair, gently easing up the big hill and navigating my way around the construction at the top. I drove steadily, but paused at each rest area. I breathed a sigh of relief when I hit Maryland since PA roads are just like Quebec roads: in crap condition and under construction. 🙂

With the Maryland state line came the crossing of the Mason-Dixon line just moments after. And, like magic, autumn fell back several weeks, with the trees having brightly coloured leaves again.

Lunch was had at the West Virginia welcome center and shortly thereafter, I exited the state safely and made it to Virginia! By this point, I had to drop a layer as the weather was positively balmy!

The last part of the day was difficult as I was on secondary roads and battling increasing traffic. It was really hard to manage the high speed limits, frequent traffic light, and idiots who would dart in front of my rig as I was trying to slow down, cutting my stopping distance to a barely sufficient length.

Stafford is a little farther north than I would have liked to be tonight, but my ETA onto I-95 was about 3:00, not leaving me much time to find an alternative overnighting spot if the first one didn’t pan out. I called the Walmart here and the ones in Fredericksburg and no one would give me the okay over the phone. They all said, “Pull in and come and ask in person.” So I decided to start with this one and then move on to the ones in Fredericksburg if I wasn’t given permission. Thankfully, I was.

It’ll be a short drive to my friend’s place tomorrow. I should arrive in early afternoon.

I am officially declaring that my batteries need a funeral service, hence why I am at a crazy overcrowded Starbucks desperately trying to get as much charge out of my computer and iPad as possible.

With everything off, I’m getting the same voltage across the board, about 13, at the batteries themselves, the big fuse and shunt, the inverter, the battery monitor, and the solar monitor. Inside, the voltage is a couple of points off in the battery bay, but still above 13.

As soon as I turn anything on, voltage drops to 10.5 volts. I can’t even turn on an inverter, not my new big 1,000W model, not my newer 300W one either. The fridge runs, but barely, occasionally giving me the ‘low voltage’ error message. My battery monitor agrees that my batteries are at a full charge, but that voltage is 10.5. I have a hard time believing the issue is my wiring as I am overgauged at every step of my electrical setup.

Moreover, I’ve been having to add water like crazy to my batteries the last few months. Yesterday, I thought that would help and when I added it, the water sizzled! I’ve never heard that before! I really do think that the last year or so of the rig being plugged in almost constantly boiled my batteries dry. Needless to say, my new bank is going to get a watering system!

Lack of computer charging power not withstanding, it’s been another great day on the road!

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Steady As She Goes into St Clair, PA

What a great day on the road!!! I love my new rig!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have found NO disadvantages with my new setup so far, except my truck having worse fuel consumption than did my car.

I now have:

-a slightly less fussy towing system (yes, a review is forthcoming)
-improved braking power (I actually don’t notice any difference, but I like the idea that my heavy toad is slowing down on its own)
-a steadier rig that drives straighter and truer
-an improved turning radius
-not an iota of loss in my RV’s engine power or gas consumption! Miranda has no idea the truck is back there!

This trip feels almost like a do over for me. My rig is not only in great physical shape, but has many improvements. Self-employment has offered me more mobility. I feel as giddy as I did when I left Quebec in 2008, as though all the past failures and setbacks never happened, except that I get to keep all that knowledge and experience.

One of the things I’m working on is managing my stressors, the biggest one of which is getting fuel. I would get so worked up over finding the ‘right’ gas station that I would drive till the gas gauge needle was deep in the red and I absolutely had to use the next service station. Now, I’m making an effort to stop before the critical point so that I can exit, look for a good option, and move on if I don’t find one.

I was just about in the red when I hit Hazleton this afternoon. The first exit had tons of fueling stations, so I got off, picked the best looking one, and realised only after I was committed that getting out might require a slightly tighter turn than I could make with a toad. I looked at the turning space and experience told me that the turn would be super tight, but doable. Well, my new tow bar allows for slightly tighter turns than did my old one and the truck just swung around as smooth as can be!

This wasn’t a great fueling stop, however, because I ended up having to go through very steep-hilly and under-constructiony Hazleton to get back onto I-81S. But with only 30KM to go, I was feeling very good and glad to be landing just before dark.

With 6KM to go, traffic ground to a halt in a construction zone and it took half an hour to drive the last 6KM to the exit, with another 6KM to go down a steep, twisty road in growing darkness. Was I glad to arrive feeling very zen into that construction zone and to know that the steep and twisty grade was ahead of me! I pulled into the Walmart at bang on 5’oclock. By the time I came out of the store with permission to park, some fresh ravioli (I put homemade red sauce in the fridge to thaw today), mozzarella, cheesecake, and crudités to tide me over till dinner, it was pitch dark out.

The weather is noticeably better than yesterday. I was comfortable walking across the parking lot in my fleece hoody while at this time yesterday, the hoody, winter coat, tuque, and gloves were unable to ward off the chill. It’ll be cold overnight, but nothing like yesterday.

Mmm! I think my casserole is ready!

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Saratoga Springs To (Almost) New Jersey

I’m at the last rest area before the New York Thruway ends in New Jersey and I will be shooting west towards Hazleton, PA. My ETA is early for a Walmart, so I’m taking a long charging/lunch break here.

I forgot that I didn’t tow in the spring (LOL) so I was a bit taken aback that my Thruway toll was $20.80!

It was beyond bitter cold in Saratoga last night, dipping to at least -10C. There was a rime of frost over my vehicles this morning. Even if my batteries were behaving properly, I could never have kept the rig at a comfortable temperature all night. I instead did the long johns + tons of blankets + two CAT heaters method of getting through the night. I read till about 10:30PM then slept soundly till six (an excellent night for me). I switched the electric blanket on for a bit (it draws 3A), then waited for day break to turn the furnace on to warm the rig enough to make getting underway a non-excruciating event.

I don’t like to have breakfast right away at any time, so it made sense to just dress and go, then stop for breakfast at a rest area. I left the door to the cab from the house closed so that I could get heat while driving.

There was a lot of traffic between Saratoga and the Thruway, then barely any. If there aren’t been so much construction, it would have been a thoroughly forgettable and easy drive. My destination for today is the Walmart in St Clair PA. Tomorrow, I’ll aim for a Walmart in Fredericksburg. And Sunday, I should make it to Hampton Roads by early afternoon.

I know that RV specialists are going to scoff at what I’m going to say next and give me 50 billion reasons why what I’m saying breaks the law of physics or something, but having a toad makes the whole rig steadier. When I was driving around without the toad, my rear end swayed something fierce and the RV felt like it was bouncing up and down the highway. Now that I have a toad again, the driving feels much smoother and I’m not getting blown as easily into the shoulder when being passed by a big rig.

I stopped at another rest area to check the state of my batteries. The solar charger was registering a full charge at 13 volts and change. The battery monitor agreed that I had 13 volts and change but said that I was at only 77% capacity. The inverter turned on (not connected to anything), told me it was reading 13 volts and change, screeched, and turned itself off, just like the old one did when it was trying to handle too big a load (I was drawing on a couple of amps from the fridge). I turned on the RV engine and all three monitors reflected 14 volts and change, confirming for me that there is nothing wrong with the connection between the house batteries and the mechanism that allows me to charge while driving.

So it looks like everything is working as it should except for the most crucial part of my system, the batteries. They are more than four years old, have been subjected to extremes in temperature, and have low amp hours. My experiment is complete. New batteries are in order.

The wifi on the Thruway isn’t working today; I tried to get on with my iPad at every one. I’m now on my computer using my cellular connection. There was a man sitting next to me here and he asked me how the frell I managed to get online and that he had tried at every rest area so that he could sign up for work tomorrow. It was a bit more of a sob story than that, but nothing I haven’t heard out of the US in the last few years. I turned on wifi sharing and asked for his phone. It refused to connect to my network, but my iPod had no trouble. So I kept his phone and handed him the iPod. He spent all of five minutes doing what he needed, handed me back the iPod, and said in a choked voice, “I made the deadline to sign up for work tomorrow! Thank you! God bless! Happy holidays!”

I can’t tell you the number of times before I got internet on the road that I wished a random stranger would share their connection with me. I was so happy to be able to do this today for him. Macs rock!

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Uneventful Drive Down I-87 To Saratoga Springs

It was a perfect day for a drive, clear with few cars on the road. Except when she was stuck behind some impossibly slow rigs or was climbing a grade, Miranda effortlessly matched the speed limit. I could only feel the truck behind me when I slowed down or was climbing a hill. I need to measure my new rig, but, truly, it doesn’t feel any longer or more unwieldy than my old one! My gas consumpition was normal for a day going up and down grades!

Just ahead of the last area before Saratoga Springs, a long column of white cars appeared in my view screen. They roared past me and I saw that they were US Border Patrol vehicles. They merged in between myself and another rig plated in Quebec that was closely followed another Quebec-plated rig. The two Quebec vehicles pulled into the rest area and the border patrol vehicles followed suit. There were no lights or anything, but it was the darnedest thing to see as they appeared to be on a mission.

One exit before the raceway, I was running on a quarter tank of fuel when I noticed a sign saying ‘truck stop.’ I figured that I’d be able to find a gas station where I could get in easily with my toad, and I did.

At the raceway, I tucked myself into the far end of the parking lot, much like I did last time. There are a lot more cars here this time, however.

I called Verizon to reactivate my phone to get internet and then realised that I’d need wifi to get online, like I did in the spring. My GPS told me where was a McDonald’s fairly close by, but was useless at providing a neighbourhood map that would set me off in the right direction on foot. I set off in a couple of directions, easily covering the distance to the restaurant, and each time my GPS told me I was going the wrong way.

Even though I’d truly had enough toad excitement for one day, I unhooked the truck and drove around a bit until I found the McDonald’s, which was ludicrously close by. It almost wasn’t worth it to have unhooked except that I would have come home in the dark.

There, I downloaded the Lion version of the VZAccess Manager and then tried to connect. No dice. I called Verizon back and when I finally got to a live person, he informed me that the first guy I spoke to forgot to authorize use of my cell phone as a modem. I hung up with him, restarted my phone, and tried the internet again. It worked!

I drove home in the growing darkness and then spent a very frustrating 15 minutes or so trying to hook my truck up. It’ll go much more smoothly as I gain experience with the tow bar… and hook up while not completely exhausted.

The disappointing news of the day is that my battery bank is not working properly. I haven’t even tried my new inverter setup yet because my batteries are so low.

I unhooked from shore power on Monday and had a full charge on Tuesday morning, but haven’t had one since then. I really should have plugged back in. What happened is that I thought the propane was on, but it wasn’t, and the furnace kicked on for hours, completely draining the battery before I caught the mistake. It’s been pretty overcast since, I spent all of yesterday in a garage, and I didn’t drive enough today to get a full charge. At this point, I can’t tell if my problem is just that I need a charge or if I screwed up somewhere in my wiring and actually have a problem.

My battery monitor says that I’m at about 80% charge with a voltage in the high elevens, (which goes to show that voltage tells you nothing about the state of your batteries), and that I could run at my current amp draw for about 24 hours. Unfortunately, my current amp draw is just the fridge. As soon as I turn on the furnace, my fridge goes haywire. Forget running the water pump or even an LED light. It’s getting chilly, so I predict I’ll be going to bed early with the electric blanket. I’m not even going to bother to have my batteries load tested. As soon as I can get a deal on a good pair of Trojans with more amp hours, I’ll be switching. I should not be shivering my first night back on the road.

Tomorrow will be the hardest day of the drive south as I’ll be heading onto the New York Thruway. After that, it should be fairly smooth sailing. I do need to find a place to overnight between St Clair PA and Hampton Roads as I want to arrive at my destination in daylight. ETA at this point is Sunday afternoon.

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Nothing But Respect For US Customs

My mother had time to make crêpes this morning, which felt like a proper send off and left me optimistic that I would get to Saratoga Springs tonight. I pulled out at about 9:00 and was waiting in line at customs by 9:55. It took about 10 minutes to get to the booth.

I got the same kind of customs agent as I did in 2011, one for whom even the most straightforward story would not make sense. “It doesn’t sound like you work.” “Driving through the US to get home makes no sense.” “Spending time with a friend over the holidays makes no sense.” “You see that green arrow that says secondary inspection? Go there, park, and go inside. Your documents will be waiting.”

My initial reaction was disbelief that I would have to go through what I went through in 2011 once again.

Then I realised that they had pulled over all the RVs and that the folks ahead of me had five yippy dogs. This meant customs wouldn’t go into their rig and they would get an extra grilling. If I stayed the course, kept my story as simple as possible, and emphasized that I had plenty of money of money for a few months in the US and that I was heading home, I suspected that I would get through in record time.

I was right. I had to expand on my story a couple of times, adding more details, until the agent literally threw up her hands, sighed, and said, “You’ve been asked these questions before; right?” Mm-hmm. “Never been denied entry?” Nope. She shook her head, handed me a slip of paper marked ‘cleared’ and said, “Just go.” I was out in less than five minutes.

I was getting back into the RV when another agent came up to me and asked me where I was going. I said I’d been cleared and he replied, “Not by me.” I wish text could convey tone because this guy was in a great mood and just going through the motions. I felt so comfortable that I actually replied, “Oh, you must be the fruit guy!” instead of, “Oh, you must mean the agricultural inspection!” He burst out laughing.

He asked if I had pets and I replied my cats. He then asked me to come inside with him to watch out for them. Every other inspection, I’ve had to wait well away from the rig.

Bitha and Nee’s papers are not up to date. Because of their age, vaccines are not recommended. I’ve never been asked for their paperwork and decided to take a chance. Well, the subject came up for the first time. He said, as he poked around the kitchen, “I’ve never heard of anyone being asked for papers for their cats. Are yours pretty old?” I replied that they were and he said the same thing the vet told me, that vaccinating older cats is bad for them! Then he said that anyone who would expect me to have them vaccinated to get across the border would be a ‘jerk.’

He finally opened my fridge and gasped. “Your relish jar exploded,” he informed me sadly. What is it with me and condiments?!

He cleared me for agriculture and then that’s when everything went to hell in the proverbial handbasket. You were expecting the other shoe to drop, weren’t you?

I’d had to unhook to park because there was so little room to park everyone. I was given the option not to, but I wanted to be as cooperative as possible. I don’t know if I was flustered and missed a step or what, but I could not get the e-brake back off the truck to move it into position to tow. It was cold and the agriculture agent guessed that it had seized up because of the weather. He got in and did something and got the e-brake working smoothly again. Then, he and another agent asked me to get my tow setup manual and helped me hook back up properly. I’m telling you, you haven’t lived until you’ve tried to hook up your tow bar for the first time while being assisted by US Customs Agents!

More later. I can’t get online with my cell phone without access to wifi first, so I’m at the McDonald’s doing that. I’ll write about my trip to Saratoga later.