The Boondocking Challenge Continues: Maine Rv’ing is not for the Faint of Heart; May 19, Day 22

When we last left you, fearless reader, we had a restored battery and water.  However, the battery drained (I’ll spare the details) around midnight, with our refrigerator ceaselessly beeping.  Peter turned it off as well as our inverter.  At least it was quiet.  But the next morning, we awoke to cold (mid 40’s) rain and it was equally cold and dark in the camper.  I’d say we had the most expensive tent on the planet—solid walls, floor and ceiling and a comfortable bed, but that’s it!  

I guess the battery couldn’t hold the charge so we packed up, hitched up and were ready to go until the jack died…not enough battery power!  We were stuck until we thought of the only solution available:  our truck’s pro-power generator that we’d hooked up to the trailer the other day hoping to run Starlink.  Turns out after a few minutes, we had generated enough juice to retract the jack.  Pure luck. And we were on our way back to a civilized campground with power, water and sewer hook-up.

It was a cold, rainy, blustery day, hardly past 50 degrees, so we stayed mostly inside once we got settled. Then, the problem was that we couldn’t find a way to level the spot despite our chocks, etc.  Around 6 pm we tried one more adjustment which included re-hitching and moving the trailer back a little, also because our sewer hoses wouldn’t reach…ugh…another lesson.  Still no luck with leveling so we’ll either ask the campground to move us or help us level.  In the meantime, part of readjusting with all the meddling with the power was figuring out how to re-activate the refrigerator and starlink.  It just felt like one obstacle after another. Eventually I figured it all out and everything’s working.

In the meantime, we met an older guy who offered to help us in whatever way we needed as well as a lovely couple one spot down who are here until October.  They have spent the summer/fall here for the last six years and are now planning to move here permanently.  They love it here.  Tomorrow, we’ll find out everything there is to know about Bar Harbor.  They recommended a restaurant where we treated ourselves to a Maine meal:  fish and chips for Peter and Maine scallops for me.  It was so nice to have someone else cook and clean up!  I’m tired.  Maybe tomorrow I’ll feel more triumphant at all we learned and accomplished but I’m too tired for that.  Peter and I did acknowledge that our relationship actually survived today and we teamed up quite well despite it all.  Maybe the rain will let up tomorrow.  Can’t wait to jump into a warm bed and know the power will be on tomorrow!

6 responses to “The Boondocking Challenge Continues: Maine Rv’ing is not for the Faint of Heart; May 19, Day 22”

  1. Glad to catch up on all your latest news, but sorry to hear of your challenges. Really glad you’ve mostly had creature comforts to help you get through them! And super glad you’ve still clearly been able to make the most of your time in such a beautiful place. Wishing you sunny skies … xoxo e

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks, Cuz. I knew you’d relate and appreciate all the boondocking you and Michael do.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. A couple of hopefully helpful thoughts: 1) We have had our supposedly full freshwater tank get low quickly, too. Turns out that it wasn’t really full. Even though the water came pouring out when we were filling it, there was, in fact, an airlock and we needed to stop filling, let the air come out naturally and then keep filling at a lower rate of speed until it was really, truly full. 2) You may have already discovered this, but your refrigerator likely has a setting that allows you to run it on electric or propane. Most give a third option of automatically switching between the two, using electric if available, but propane if it’s not. Boondocking requires propane. We run on propane when driving, too, since the electric to the fridge while driving isn’t an option. I’ve been reading lately that we should turn our propane off to the trailer while we’re driving for safety reasons, but we’ve been doing this for 12 years and have never done that. Of course, we’ve never had our wheel fall off in 12 years prior to a few weeks ago! xoxo

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Awesome observations. Yes our fridge has all kinds of buttons we haven’t researched including a sliver of a moon suggesting nighttime shutdown? We will explore. Same with water. Thanks.

        And yes, we were told to shut off propane when driving and do that…add to checklist 😎

        Liked by 1 person

  2. Terri and Peter – you’re not the first [nor will be the last] visitors to be challenged by Maine’s rough exterior. But also charmed by her sweetness and beauty.

    KarunDas

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Well said. We’re running into a lot of Maine lovers! I’m not sure I could deal with this climate on a regular (or even irregular) basis. It’s just not comfortable being outside in a way I’m used to—but I’m going to try!

      Liked by 1 person

Leave a reply to Terri Moss Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.