Redding, CA.

Am currently at the Redding Library, a relatively-new two story building in the city's Civic Center, which in turn is just to the south of South City Park. Finally got one problem with the camper solved late yesterday afternoon.

When I stopped for lunch at Weot on my way from Ft Bragg to Eureka/Arcata I turned on the light over the kitchen sink & sideboard. Nada! Since I later learned that all of the circuit breakers had been tripped, my guess is that there was a voltage spike which not only tripped all of the breakers but blew the fuse on the charging circuit for the house battery, which is underneath one of the dinette seats.

Thought I might have to buy a new house battery since it had been low the first night I used it at Jim's Tripp's estate near Castroville on F 19 Nov and again when I was staying with Steve & Arlene in Ft Bragg. Of course, at the latter place I had turned on the light in the bathroom while downtown shopping and then neglected to turn it off.

Since both Arlene & Steve are younger than I, they could hear the low-voltage alarm on the LP-gas detector, which sounds when the house battery drops to <= 8.5 volts, when they fetched some firewood from the front porch. However, I couldn't hear that alarm until I got to within 10 ft of the camper.(Guess I inherited the ears of Bob Sr, Loyal Sr, and Dave Wilcoxson Sr.)

The young fellow at the RV Service Center of Redding tested the battery under load and said it didn't act like one that was failing -- it just needed to be charged up. The battery is charged by the truck's alternator while I'm driving or when I'm connected up to 110 volts ac; but apparently in the latter case, it's a trickle-charge, which doesn't restore it to full power for a long time.

After the RV Service Center closed last night I returned to the Redding Library to look up an obituary for Clinton Earl "Doc" Fehliman, who not only taught at Santa Cruz High School for 30+ years but also headed the SCHS Alumni Association for an even greater number of years. He died here in Redding while living with a nephew. (Will post that obit to this blog shortly.)

Spent the night at the Sacramento River RV Resort in a large pull-through site with both 30 & 50 amp electrical hookups. Hwr, the 30 amp socket was damaged and I finally had to resort of my flashlights to fix yet another peanut-butter & jam sandwich on sourdough bread for dinner -- plus some other things. As I told the owner this morning when I tried to get my billing changed to a tent site, they need to fix the 30amp socket; but I doubt that they will since the large site is designed for Class A RVs (the ones which often look like and are as big as a bus) which generally connect to a 50amp socket.

In walking around the rig this morning this morning after compromising with the owner by paying for a back-in site rather than a pull-through site ($4-5 less), I discovered that the left rear tie-down was missing and the eye-bolt to which it was connected now looks like a hook. It could have happened last night while I was trying to find my way onto I-5 south and went through a dip (which was signed well in advance -- in fact, too far in advance since I was just starting to speed up when I hit it) with a large jolt. Didn't hear anything metallic falling shortly thereafter; so it's possible that it had already fallen off previously.

Object Lesson: Check rig daily in the morning.

When I leave Redding will head for either Orland & Black Buttes Reservoir to its west or Chico.