Gonzo th’ Dawg and I finally made our first outing with “Escaping Reality” spending 3 days at beautiful Cape Disappointment, not nearly enough time to do justice to the area. Since this was the “shake down” outing I opted for a partial site, one with water and power only just in case I needed to plug in.
“Escaping Reality” is everything I read everyone said it would be and more; a solid tow, lots of storage, comfortable, etc., etc., etc. The bathroom? Well I’ll just say, “There ain’t much room in there fer tunin’ ’round in there”, at least with the 17B.
Being a senile OleMan I thought I’d checked everything before leaving home I couldn’t understand why there was no hot water the first night, I’d heard the heater fire up but just cold water when I turned on the tap. Being tired and frustrated I decided to wait ‘till morning, and a fresh mind, to figure it out. The next morning as a last resort I opened the Owner’s Manual, (I actually had it with me), and realized I’d opened only the cold water bypass valve and not the hot water valve, it was sort of hidden and I hadn’t seen it.
Duh. Problem solved.
The 160W solar panel did its job; there was no need to plug in.
Though the trailer was shaded most of the day it still kept up with what little power requirements I had; use of the 1500W inverter for a coffee grinder, run the furnace in the evening until bed time, 1 overhead light on at night while watching DVD’s on a 12V TV, doing a little reading and, of course, charging the cell phone. As a final test the last evening there I let furnace run all night and left an exterior light on. In the morning the batteries were still at 90% charge. Can you see me smiling now?
This short trip showed me I should have opted for the exterior propane quick connect, except for coffee all my cooking was done outside.
Now it’s time to wash and restock “Escaping Reality” in preparation of the next adventure.