Yes, we now have shore power — 120VAC runs everything (electrical) in our fifth-wheel, save what operates on 12VDC, and the 50A feed powers the charger that keeps the 12V house batteries up. But we’re still in an RV, which means that we must attend to fresh-water and sewer matters.
The latter is (and will continue to be) an off-grid function. Once we get our well hooked up, however, the pump will depend on 220VAC power that we can’t generate ourselves. For now, waste-water tanks need to be dumped every four or five days and fresh water must be replenished from 55-gallon drums we fill at Deb’s cousin’s well.
Today’s forecast promised a 100% chance of rain and storms, with wet weather beginning shortly after dawn and continuing through the overnight hours. A seat-of-the-pants calculation told me that we were getting low on fresh water, and we last dumped tanks four days ago.
So the smart move, then, would be to take care of both before I’d have to do it during a downpour. Around 7am, with dark clouds gathering and thunder rumbling, that’s what I did.
Fortunately, these are a couple of tasks that can be handled at the same time — sort of. Each has to be done deliberately and without one distracting from the other. First I opened the water barrel, set up the hoses and switched on the transfer pump. Then I had time to open the black-tank valve and start that draining. When overflow splurched out of the fresh-water port, I shut off the pump, closed the black tank and opened the gray.
While that drained, I put away the pump and hoses. By the time I was done, the gray tank was empty and I closed that valve.
Finally, of course, I checked everything to make sure that it was buttoned up tight and right — and then I checked it twice more (at least). The price of inattention is way too high to do otherwise.
Most of you probably find this sort of thing wildly boring, and I get that. Some of you, though, are RVers yourselves and have an appreciation for the routine.
Still others grasp the underlying principles in play here.
Whatever. This is our Life. This is what we do.
Tonight will be bumpy. According to meteorologists, we’re at risk level three (out of five) for high wind, three for tornadoes and two for hail. Ordinarily when a system plows through here, we see ones and twos, so this is a little unusual.
An RV, like any other impermanent structure (like a mobile home, a slap-dash modular or a shed house), isn’t an ideal place to ride out severe weather. We’ve seen what a derecho did to our canopies. A direct hit from a tornado would be unsurvivable. Hail of any significant size can take out windows or a roof.
That said, this is the life we’ve chosen. We accept the risks accompanying that choice. We embrace them, in fact.
And while we’re not dismissive, we have enough experience weathering weather in an RV that we don’t panic every time there’s a warning. We may not even change our plans. There’s just no point to it.
We’ve heard hail pound the roof for hours. We’ve come through flash floods and we’ve been buffeted by winds as strong as 75mph. We know, for example, that when a big gust rocks our rig, the probability that it’ll tip over onto its side is infinitesimal.
Risk isn’t certainty. We don’t overreact. We can and do, within reason, manage our risks.
Maybe someday we’ll be wrong. Accepting that risk, it seems to me, is better than living in a constant state of caution.
Respect? Absolutely. Fear? Hell, no.
This evening we monitored radar and timed the dogs’ last business trip to beat the arrival of the heaviest weather. We got back inside the RV just as our favorite meteorologist, Ryan Hall Y’all, went live on YouTube — and dont’cha know, his opening radar image was of Ozarkansas.
The Mountain was smack-dab in the middle of the screen.
We’ll hang out here (like we have a choice) and see what happens. Based on what I know, I don’t foresee anything cataclysmic. (Translation: heavy rain and gusty winds, no tornadoes.) But if things go badly, we have the tools and the mindset to get through it.
Now if the weather gods would kindly refrain from aiming a bolt of lightning at our shiny new transformer, that’d be just great.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB
