Stop #48: The name of this town should have given me pause. I should have taken it as a sign that maybe something bad was going to happen here. This thought actually did cross my mind. Of course I shook my head and said, “Don’t be silly, Katie. I’m sure it’s great!!” Ha! Well, I also broke that silly little rule of mine of not arriving after dark again, and once again it proved to be a terrible idea.
I got to the campsite without any issue. However, upon opening the camper door and going to flip on the light, there wasn’t any power. Wonderful. Not that big of a deal, just showed that the batteries in the camper were no longer holding a charge AND the solar panels weren’t working to charge them while I drive. Ugghh… So I stepped inside the very dark camper and turned to my left to see what appeared to be a post-robbery (or hurricane…haha…get it?) scene.
I was pretty sure that the camper hadn’t been robbed because it had been attached to my moving vehicle for the entire day. So what the hell happened??? Upon closer inspection, it appeared that the cabinet above the sink spontaneously jumped off the 8 bolts that were drilled into the side of the airstream, and two of the drawers had broken their latches that hold them in, AND a cabinet had flung open and dumped its contents (just for good measure). Upon this realization, I turned on my heal and decided I needed a walk and a phone call to Dad…oh and at least a half a bottle of wine before I was ready to deal with this. I also needed food. Anyone who knows me knows that my blood sugar can get into the “critical” zone and I pretty much can’t even hold a conversation, never mind deal with any sort of life situations. I was past the critical zone at this point. Luna and went to get food…and wine. I feel like I should draw out some decision maps for people about blood sugar levels and decision making. Someone should remind me to do that.
After I plugged the camper in and could see the extent of the damage, it was clear that I was going to have to cut the wires that were connected to the under cabinet light which was hard wired into the guts of the airstream. There was no other way to detach the cabinet from the wall and it wasn’t going back up.
This was not something that I was willing or wanted to do that evening. Dad and I set up a FaceTime meeting for first thing the next morning. In the meantime, I cleaned up the rest of the mess and duct taped all the cabinets closed. BIG thanks to Shannon for the duct tape AND the electrical tape!!! Such a savior!!
The next morning, Dad walked me through cutting and taping the wires. I think it was a pretty successful first electrical lesson. A lesson I could have done without, but a lesson nonetheless.
I have had enough of Hurricane Mills, TN. Off we go!
Lesson of the Day: Electrical work is super scary. I definitely shut my eyes and just cut. (Yes, I had turned off the power first…but still…have you seen my luck???)
L&K Take America 