Day 22- Ventura, CA

Bet you didn't expect that for our location, did you?  Well, neither did we.  Our schedule didn't call for us to return home for several more days, but life is full of little surprises.  Our surprise came last night when it became apparent that the coach's electrical system was getting starved for power.  Don checked on some of the major components of the system, and found them all working properly.  He suspected that the power stand that we were plugged into had developed a problem, and that it couldn't be easily solved.  So, it was lights out all around, no TV, no lights, no nothing.  We all went to bed, hoping that we could find a way to work out the difficulty in the morning.  Don was up before five in the morning, reading the rig's manuals to see if he could find a clue to the problem.  As dawn approached, he decided to fire up the generator to see if it would take the load; normally, we wouldn't do that for fear of disturbing neighboring RVers, but our site was far enough away from others that we would not create a major sound problem.

The generator took off immediately, and powered up the rig with no problem.  This provided some clues to the failure of the site's power stand to keep us fed properly, not to mention giving us light and heat.  To make what could be a very long story short, a call to our friend Buddy Waller in Alabama, who is an Electrical Engineer and also a RVer, helped us pinpoint the problem, which was a device called a transfer switch, whose job is to determine whether the generator or the site power is selected to power the rig.  It appears that the switch viewed the generator power much more favorably that it did the site power, and acted accordingly.

Geri and Don decided that they didn't want to put up with this kind of nonsense for two or three more days, and opted to pull up stakes and head for home, where the transfer switch could be properly punished or replaced.  So, in the early afternoon, the coach was lurching up our driveway, and the unloading started.  I'm always happy to come home, but I'm also happy to be travelling; I'm just a happy guy!

This was a fun little trip, much shorter than most of our voyages, but we tended to stay longer in the places we visited than we normally do.  It was fun to get better acquainted with many of the places that we have breezed through in the past, all of them unique and interesting.  We met some very nice dogs and people, Geri and Don had their entertainment needs fulfilled, and we returned home safely.  What more can you ask for?  We've got a much longer voyage coming up in late June or early July; I'll let you know when we get underway.  In the meantime, stay well and treat your animals with kindness!  Bye-Bye!