Sunday, January 5, 2014

Electrical 101 !!

I'm off to the rally, only I didn't even get to the end of the driveway!!  Don't you just hate it when you're all ready to go and something bad happens???  I'm already nervous enough ... I just don't need any more problems, but I guess that's how life goes sometimes.

I started to hook up the jeep yesterday morning, and as I unfolded the hitch, it felt like it was hung up for a second.  Little did I know what had just happened.  With everything in place, the last connection was the light plugs.  When I reached down to double check the motorhome end, I came up with a handful of wires NOT attached to the plug.  OH NO!!!!  Panic set in quickly ... think Nancy, is this something you can fix??  NO WAY JOSE!!!  Can you drive without the turn signals on the jeep??  Of COURSE!!!

Well, that wasn't exactly how it went ... I grabbed my phone to call two people.  My personal mechanic/engineer Dan in Tucson, and the Westerfields, who I hoped were in Fresno, along my route.   Dan gave me Electrical Training 101 and the schematic over the phone, while Barbara and Tom said they were sure they could help me figure it out ... to meet them at a rest stop along the way.  Thank goodness they were also wonderful enough to volunteer to pick up the barbecue tri-tip in Clovis, so I wouldn't be driving in traffic with no lights on the jeep ... which it turned out would have been a disaster due to road construction!!

Dan's suggestion to hook up one wire at a time was the best ever.  Course it all depends on which way you are looking at the plug, versus the back of the RV.  It didn't work.  Hey, maybe we should hook up the ground wire too ... AND IT WORKED ... the wrong turn signal.  After a few tries, we got everything wired up and working correctly.  If you ever need your plug rewired, I'm NOT your gal!!!  Call Dan or Tom!!

After a great buffet lunch with the Westerfield's cousins at Rodel's in Bakersfield ... another new place for me to stop with a humungous parking lot for the RV crowd ... we headed out to our first destination, beautiful downtown Boron.  We are again at my favorite place, the Arabian Oasis, along with 7-8 other Golden Spike members and at least 50 other fifth wheel and camper rigs.  We were grateful they held our spots.  Dinner was the usual Domingo's with oversize portions of tasty Mexican food.

At 31 degrees, it's pretty chilly this morning as we get ready to head out to Indio.  See you in warmer weather!!


No comments:

Post a Comment