Buttpains

Buttpain Number 1
RV and marine batteries are the deep cycle type, engineered to provide low levels of juice over an extended period.  Vehicle batteries are different: they provide the big jolt needed to start a car engine.  Trish says RV batteries last about 3 years.  And that's exactly how long ours lasted.  Our old batteries went teats up the 2nd week out.  Luckily, there was a Costco on our route so we got 2 new batteries at a good price.  Changing out the batteries is not a big deal but a buttpain nonetheless.

Buttpain Number 2
We didn't have power hookups for the first part of our trip so we charged things up (computers, cell phones, etc) with the generator every 2-3 days.  Also, the Tacoma has an AC outlet near the back of the bed so we can use that to charge things while driving.  I use a cordless driver to lower and raise the 4 stabilizer jacks on the EDGE.  That battery has to be charged also, so I carry the charger along when we travel.  There's an electrical engineer amongst the blog followers and I'll bet he knows where this is going.  Right, MJK? 

I plugged the cordless driver charger into the Tacoma AC outlet, inserted the driver battery and boogied on down the road - and killed the battery charger deader than a doornail.  Where did that saying come from?  Are doornails deader than, say, shingle nails?  What's a doornail, anyway?  Next time I'm in ACE hardware, I'm going to ask, "Where's your doornails?  Are they dead?"

Sears in Fort Bragg had a replacement charger.  I bought one, took it out of the box and notice this little tag on the cord, near the plug.  Tag says, "Do not plug into a converter.  The charger will be damaged."  No shit?  Sometimes it pays ($45 in this case) to read the warnings and cautions; I assume the old charger had the same warning.

Buttpain Number 3
We put new tires on the EDGE just before we left LHC in late June.  Upon arriving in Bandon, I discovered one of the new tires had a nail in it - a doornail, no doubt.  The nail was in the sidewall, not the tread area, so the tire was toast.  We hoped to replace the tire with one of the same brand but they didn't have one in Bandon; called Costco, where we bought the tires, no go: they don't ship tires.  We called around, found one at the Tire Factory in Coos Bay, so we drove up there yesterday to get it mounted.  Upon arrival, we discovered they'd lied or screwed up, new tire was brand X.  We had them mount it anyway, dicked around long enough.

Buttpain Number 4
Actually this pain was a little higher, anatomically speaking.  Whilst cleaning the RV floor, Trish's back went out.  There she was, flat as a pancake, just inside the door, afraid and/or unable to move without assistance.  It was lucky that Carina was here: she's a licensed massage therapist.  Carina worked on Trish for about 1/2 hour, got her scraped up off the floor.  Then, Carina put up a canopy, put her massage table inside and labored on Trish for another 90 minutes.

Now, it's 4 days later and Trish is much better but still walking v-e-r-y slowly.  Been there, done that, don't envy her a darn bit.