You’d think that in a travel trailer we’d be pretty self-sufficient if the power in our RV park went out. Well, you’d be right, but it wasn’t without some nail biting on our part.

The story is a visit to Sequim for an author appearance with Ruger. An unexpected “mountain wave” windstorm blew up and over the Olympic Mountains, and right down onto the Sequim and Port Angeles areas.

We only knew the power had gone out because the satellite TV receiver died. Everything else in the trailer is 12v, even the TV itself. The lights didn’t even blink. I tapped and banged on the receiver until it finally dawned on me why it didn’t work. So then, the worrying began. How long would our two 12v deep cycle batteries run the fan on the furnace? The furnace itself is propane, and we had plenty of that. But if the fan dies, the furnace dies.

We got through the experience just fine, and learned a good lesson about battery life in our RV. (It was fine. 24 hours with no power and only down 25%.)

The best part was that Ruger and I still did the appearance and demonstration. Our host received numerous calls from people planning to attend. “Is it still on?” Well of course. Probably 70 percent of our real searches are in the dark anyway, so no problem. And I suspect the event gave attendees a chance to get out of their own darkened homes for a little fun.

We’d love to visit your group, school, church or community event. Shoot me an e-mail at robert (at) calloutpress (dot) com and we’ll get something set up.

Stay Found!

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