By 8:30 a.m., i was up waiting to call the service department. At 9:30 a.m. i have the person who installs converters on the phone. I begin by telling him which wires are in which wire nuts and i need to know where this one wire goes. He tells me and it still doesn't work. I am almost sick at this point.

He begins to narrow things down. Since the LP detector is working, the converter is working. At this point, i am beginning to feel better. Then he asks where we are and says he will be over in a while to fix it. At this point, i was feeling great!

Around 12:30 p.m., the local TV station pulls in front of our camper! They unload the tripod, camera and a reporter. Folks were scrambling to get inside their campers. They interviewed a few campers and were basically asking if they camped because of the high price of gas.

Around 1:00 p.m., the "RV repairman" shows up. He just missed a free commercial! He comes in and tests all the connections using a very simple tester. The tester was a pointed screwdriver with a light in the handle and a ground wire/clip. I am going to get one of these.

All the wiring close to the converter checked out ok. The galley switch was a potential problem and it checked out ok too, so he began testing other possibilities.

In our camper (and most others) there is a galley switch which prevents the lights from turning on when popped down. From the back of the converter, a pair of yellow wires go to this switch. When this switch is made up, the power gets sent back to the converter and then on the the lights, water pump, etc.

The wires for the overhead 12V lights go through the floor under one dinette seat, under the camper to the other dinette seat. From there, this pair of wires go up the wall to the first light in the ceiling. From the first light, this pair of wires go to the second overhead light. The problem was found under the second dinette seat. This area is used for storage and it appears while stowing our gear we pulled the ground wire out of its plug. He did not have another plug so we spliced the wires together and the lights worked. Note: I have fixed this problem. Click here

I learned quite a bit about 12V wiring and there doesn't appear to be a whole lot to the converter process.

A little later, the Park Ranger stopped by and told us a neighbor had complained about our dog barking when we were gone. For fear of offending some, i won't say much about this. We are pretty sure we know who it was. Bottom line, if you don't want to hear dogs barking stay at a campground that doesn't allow pets.

It began to rain (again) and the kids decided to stay all night with the grandparents. Pop had stopped by to jump the Blazer that still wouldn't start. We let it run for about 20 minutes (the Saudis love that) and the battery appears to have charged back up. Both problems have been solved... now if we can just do something about the weather!

For dinner, T and i had Fillet Mignons, baked beans and Texas toast. We enjoyed the "unexpected" evening by ourselves.