Day 17 - Wednesday, December 20 - A Great 1st Day in Harlingen

 Last nights low was 55, we had the bedroom windows open all night and didn't bother with any heat this morning. Today's high was a mostly sunny 78. At 9AM jeans and a long sleeve flannel shirt felt good when I walked over to the campground office. By 10:30AM I was sitting outside in shorts and a tee shirt.

Not all was sunshine and roses 😀, the Lord provided me with more perseverance/patience training last night. When I logged off after finishing my blog post, around 11PM, I realized that the our shore power had shut down again. I went out and tried turning the 50 amp breaker on and off, unplugging and plugging into the pedestal for the campsite next to us, etc. Nothing worked. I don't know when we actually lost power but the house batteries had already dropped to 75%. At this point the biggest problem was that I was to have to sleep without my CPAP. I probably could have just switched on the invertor and powered the CPAP with the house batteries. Also, I could have started the generator to charge the batteries for awhile before going to bed, but even though we don't have a neighbor in an adjacent campsite I figured others might also have windows open and not appreciate me running the generator at midnight. I checked that the refrigerator was running on propane and took a shower (there was plenty of hot water without have to switch the water heater to propane). As I was in the shower I had an epiphany (maybe God slapped my brain 😀). I could just use a 30 amp to 50 amp plug convertor and at least have 30 amps until the issue could be resolved. I dug around in the basement and dug out the plug convertor. I tried it on the pedestal for our campsite and still had no 120v inside the coach. I switched to the neighboring pedestal and hallelujah, we had 120v in the coach. It was 2AM when I finally crawled into bed, with my CPAP operational. 

A few minutes after 9 I told the lady at the campground office about the problem, the same one who brought her shovel down to help me did out the sewer connection. She said she would get approval and get an electrician out. Two guys showed up before 11AM. They took the box apart and knocked 2 double handfuls of sand out of it (they said some type of small ant drag the sand up into the boxes). They stripped out the 50 amp plug and breaker and the 30 amp plug and breaker and had everything working in about 30 minutes. I asked if they had been authorized to fix the pedestal for the campsite next to us and they said not. Apparently preventative maintenance, or even fixing things you know are broke but that aren't causing you an immediate problem, is not a concept the campground owners value.

While writing this Kathy is watching the Masked Singer. The TV & washer shut down. Other things seemed to work fine. A few minutes later they blipped on for 15 seconds and then off again. I went out, shut off the 50 amp breaker, wiggled the plus some, turned the breaker back on and all seems to be working OK. I watched the electricians install the new breaker and outlet. The guy seemed to careful to double check to make sure all connections were tight. He used new wires between the breaker and the outlet. 

I think I may bite the bullet tomorrow and buy a 50 amp power conditioner. I just had a thought. Its possible that I caused the problem this evening, but I don't think likely. When we were on the 30 amp plug last night I "turned down" the electrical management system to not draw more than 20 amps. I don't know whether limiting the draw is the "per leg" limit, or the total draw limit. If it is the "per leg" limit I suppose we could have exceeded that.

Just as the electricians were leaving a guy walked up and handed me a business card and asked it I wanted the coach washed and waxed. I said how much, he asked the length of the coach, I said 40', he said $280, I said when do you want to do it and he said now. His truck, and 2 other guys were parked across the road. I'm happy with the job they did. The "wax" was a quick wax, spray on and wipe off, but for the price I didn't expect a buffed paste wax job. It looks good.

The guy with  his back to us was the boss. I wonder if the young man in the USA shirt, with the hose, was his son. The 2 older guys were definitely a team. They worked fast and non-stop. The boss often gave instructions to the younger guy.

The finished product.

The team leaving after the job was done. Check out our clean windshield. Not a lot of overhead for these guys. A 10' step ladder, 75' of hose, some buckets, a bunch of microfiber cloths, soap and several bottles of spray wax.

On our way out for lunch I dropped some papers off at the office and noted this Class C out front. The awning looks similar to what we had on our travel trailer. I  wonder if there are corner posts to help support the weight of the walls. This sure gives him/her/them a lot more space. There was a small trailer still hooked to the unit and a larger motorcycle that had been unloaded.

We went to a Golden Corral for their early bird seniors lunch and then, hold your breath, we went to Walmart. Kathy actually went inside and bought a few groceries. She actually went through a Self-Checkout lane. WOW!!

So, where are the Dirschells? We are under the red icon.

We are 42 miles, 52 minutes, from the beach on South Padre Island and we are 22 miles and 28 minutes from the Mexico border crossing at Progresso, which is the one a lot of people at the campground use. I walked across the bridge at Progresso, and at least a half mile into the town, when we were here last year. There is a crossing at Los Indios, which is 17 miles and 22 minutes from the campground. I don't have a lot of interest in crossing into Mexico again, it was a zoo with all the old snowbirds last year, but I may ask about the Los Indios crossing.

Encore Lakewood in Harlingen. We are on Adler Street, just to the left and slightly above the icon.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and your as He has blessed me.