This is our first-day damage control story.
Wildfires
With our hotel stay extended and our RV not in the direct path of the fire we are set for one more day. I got reservations starting on the next day, December 9th at a different military campground in San Diego named Admiral Baker thirty miles from the fire. We went over to visit the RV to get it ready only to find the house battery dead. Our house battery was killed by our smoke detector. (and other items on a circuit that could not be turned off) Our battery was impossible to turn off — using the factory-installed switch. Much more information about this subject can be found in the RV Solar Series on this web site. You might not believe that a smoke detector could kill 180 pounds of battery but given enough time and other electrical draws in the RV — it happens all the time. We had a battery maintainer solar panel on the roof that was inadequate to keep up with the parasitic draw on the battery, you can say, it prolonged slow the death.
Dead Battery Damage control
Thankfully, we got the engine started, which charged the battery enough to start our generator, which in turn charged our battery, enough to overcome the problem. We then tried to put things away inside the RV with the slides still in.
Slides In
If you are not aware, depending on the RV model, it can be nearly impossible to live in an RV that has slides, with the slides in. Our RV is better than most. Room is restricted but there are only seven cabinets, that can’t be accessed with the slides in. Some RVs are far more restricted especially fifth-wheel trailers. We have what is called opposing slides in the living room, which means slides are opposite of each other, and when extended our living room is eight feet wide of floor space. Love it.
Our parking spot wasn’t wide enough to put the slides out. For hours we listened to the generator drone while it recharged the battery. We wanted to be ready when the winds died down to move to our first camping spot.
New Plan
We were fortunate enough to get a last-minute reservation in San Diego at Admiral Baker in Mission Valley. At least we wouldn’t be in a hotel room, come tomorrow. Our first move from storage lot to Admiral Baker was a quick twelve miles. Nothing compared to the 1800 miles on our trip to the solar eclipse, tomorrow we would be setting up camp as full-time RVers.
Link to our 2018 Route.
Link to our route San Diego to Las Vegas.
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