What a night. We had not run the furnace while we were driving, so it was going to take some time to get the camper warmed up once we got parked at the Walmart. We got the generator started and it ran for about 30 minutes, then quit...out Al went to check the propane. One tank almost empty and one pretty much full. So that wasn't the problem.
We knew the furnace would run on 12 volt, but didn't want to drain the batteries on the truck, so we tried the generator again...same thing...about 40 minutes this time. It was almost 2am, so we got bundled up and tried to get some sleep.
During the night, Al would get up and run the generator, which would allow us to use the fireplace and charge the batteries so the furnace could take the chill off...it was down in the low 20's and there was snow on the ground, after all. By 6:30am, we decided there would be no more quality sleep, so we closed up the camper, grabbed a quick breakfast at Burger King and started for home.
The roads were not as bad as we had anticipated...to start with, at least...and we made it to Minot just after 11am. Marilyn needed to pick up a few last minute items at Walmart, but in North Dakota, they don't open until noon on Sundays, so we waited. This gave Al a chance to go into the camper and grab a nap while Marilyn stayed in the pickup to upload yesterday's blog.
After shopping was looked after, we headed out, stopping in Carpio to pick up some parcels that had been stored for us. This was a bit of a task, since there was only a short alleyway right off the highway with no exit. We made a couple of rounds looking for the best place to pull in so we could get out easily...a task to do with the camper on behind. We finally just pulled in, got our packages, then Marilyn guided Al back out into the highway so we could get turned around.
We did some rearranging of packages at Kenmare, got our receipts in order, then took off to see what the border held in store for us. Roger and Ken were about 2 hours ahead of us and they reported no problem with their crossing...but we would be hitting the shift change. We didn't have to stop on the USA side and were glad to see it was one of the regulars on the Canadian side, so he looked at our papers and sent us on our way. We also handed in our work visas...now it is official...our harvest season is done.
We stopped in Carlyle for fuel...the fog was really thick and it was trying to snow and mist, which we knew would make the highways "interesting". And it did. It was slow going until we were about 30 miles from Yorkton, then the highway seemed to dry off a bit...but there was more snow on the side of the road than what we had seen further south.
Oh, if the fall unpacking could go so fast...
2 comments:
Your generator was suffering from cold climate syndrome. After it had run a bit in the cold, propane boil off dropped, starving it for fuel. It may have been better, had both tanks been absolutely full, but not likely successful long term in that climate.
Thanks a lot Larry! I was hoping it was something simple like that. Looks like I need to use my sewing machines to make some jackets for those tanks =D
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