Before I ventured far from my winter base, I spent four nights at Myrtle Beach State Park, setting things up and getting myself out of the winter condo. It turned out to be a good plan for a completely unexpected reason.
Things started out OK. My friend, René, a fellow Alto owner, came by with his wife, Micheline, to help me put my battery back in the Alto. I’m not ever thrilled to do electrical work, even something as basic as a battery hookup, so I appreciated the help. That part went well, and I pulled out of the storage spot and trekked a whole 5 minutes to Myrtle Beach State Park to continue with setup and putting stuff away. And that’s where things went a little off-plan.
The Truma Combi is the unit in my trailer that provides both space heating and water heating. It can run on propane or 120v electric power, meaning I can run it when I have hookups or when I am boondocking. As long as I have 12v power, it’s all good. Or so I thought. But when it got chilly overnight and I needed heat in the morning, I turned on the Truma and got absolutely nothing but dead silence. Not good at all. I tried troubleshooting the obvious things (power supply, breakers, mulitmeter on the battery) and it all checked out. Fortunately, I had a little space heater I’d kept from the below-freezing nights in New Mexico a few years ago, so I dug that out and kept the chill away.
Cue René to come over from his vacation rental (accompanied by the ever-patient Micheline) and we basically tore apart the Truma area to get to the main circuit board, cleaning and dusting along the way. (And when I say “we” it’s honestly René who did the heavy lifting here while I watched the master at work.)
After all of that, it still didn’t work. But I had the space heater and so we called it a day and hit up the closest seafood joint with a full bar and had a very nice evening. Margaritas, lobster, and lots of great conversation, so it ended our time together on a high note.
The upside of my stay was getting my my latest quilting project back from the long-arm quilter in Pennsylvania. Starla was able to ship it UPS to my friend Becky’s winter condo and we did the handoff in the parking garage Friday night because I couldn’t wait till our Saturday dinner to see it! I spent most of Saturday trimming the quilt to final size and making the binding strips, then sewing the one side of the binding to the quilt (my last use of the sewing machine for a while as its now in a storage unit till June). Quilting let me escape the puzzle that was the Truma situation, so thanks to Starla and Becky for making the package delivery happen before I got out of the area. (Getting packages on the road if they aren’t Amazon is a challenge in timing and logistics!)
I did wonder where the sunshine had gone, as my stay was mostly foggy and overcast, with a fair amount of rain off and on Saturday. But, live oaks were made for foggy-day photos so that’s exactly what I did.
Sunday morning, it was finally time to blow the Myrtle Beach clambake after 4.5 months of being here or in North Myrtle Beach. One last beach walk, where the jet coming in for a landing illustrated the one downside of this campground – it’s right next to the local airport, where plane flights are increasing by the month as more airlines come in.
I walked down to the pier, one of my favorite places to take photos and had some fun with the waves. After a long time in one place, I’m ready to open new doors, dive into new waters, and explore the country again.
There’s a bit of magic in everything, and some loss to even things out.
Lou Reed
Isn’t it odd that the reset button is in a spot that it can’t be pushed? Are you going to take it somewhere to get it fixed?
I LOVE your quilt! Such beautiful colors. And I love your pier/waves image too. I can’t wait to see where you go next!
Altos are built in Canada, right? Was it hard to buy it there and get it over the border?
Stay tuned for the next episode of Truma Combi!!!
I’ve had that before, makes me think there was a disconnect between the campground designer in the office versus the install contractor in the field.
The quilt is beautiful! I love it- but what happened with the truma? You will have to update the story soonish, cliffhangers are the worst
It pays to be an Altoiste 🙂
That quilt is gorgeous. And I’m glad I already know the end of the truma story. Happy travels!
It felt like time for a cliffhanger post 🙂
It was part of my failed attempt to get the dump water flowing, my outlet is low and that sewer connection is high!
Good luck with the Truma Combi issue. In the cover photo, was the black water able to leap tall buckets in a single bound? 🙂
But what about the Truma Combi???? Or should we call it a Trauma Combi? Hopefully there’s a Alto specialist somewhere near by. I think I love that picture under the pier as much as any you’ve taken. I can almost hear it.
Oh, my! It’s always something but not often with Altos. It only goes up from here!
Wait. A cliffhanger? Will it get fixed? Stay tuned for our next installment of adventures with Annie.
Oh, you knew it was Kaffe Fassett 🙂 I was obsessed with these flowers all winter long!
Gorgeous Kaffe Fassett quilt in just the right calming yet joyous colours. I hope you get the electric issues fixed and y this is the start to wonderful 2024 travels.