Well on the morning of March 1, there was a big problem. I woke up at around 4am and was freezing despite my flannel pajamas and my two blankets. I looked down the hall to make sure that the heater lamps were on. I knew they weren't because they normally have a small red light to indicate they are working. It was pitch black. After fumbling for a tiny LED light, I read the temperature gauge which read 45 degrees. I knew then that we had lost power in the entire bus and it was only going to get colder if I didn't figure it out.
Before Michael had left, we were casually talking about what we would do if we lost power to the bus during a cold night. Miraculously, I remembered what Michael said. (It usually takes me twice and usually after a near-disastrous incident to remember) The first thing we would do is turn on the cars - and that's what I did immediately thinking the kids and I would head to a hotel soon after. I called Michael who walked me through all the breakers in our electrical room and underneath the bus in the main service panels. All breakers were in the "on" position and had not been tripped due to a power surge. So what was going on?!?!
Michael had installed a monitor that also shuts down our electric system should a large surge occur either within our system or from the campground's input service. Michael directed me to check what the monitor said. After an hour in the cold and in the heated car reading the manuals and the monitor screen, we figured out no surge had occured, but one of the panels had lost power completely. How it lost power was a mystery until Michael told me to disconnect some 50 amp plugs.
One of the yellow plugs had a burn mark on it but I thought it was because of a chemical that was nearby. I sent Michael the picture above and asked if the scorch had been there before. Michael had an "a-ha!" moment and realized this was the culprit.
Across the country, Michael couldn't fix the problem, but he wanted to get us heat ASAP. I had thought we would just jump in the heated car and get a hotel, but Michael remembered all the extension cords we have to help us power 3 heaters and a heat lamp. By 6am, the heaters were going, but the temperature was only in the 50s.
Michael had jerry-rigged this connection during the summer. Who knew it would come in handy in the winter!
Throughout the day, the temperatures rose to a comfortable 70. We survived for the next 3 days and ate a bunch of food that surprisingly stayed fresh in our refrigerator. We did lose some sauces and some milk, but overall the kids didn't feel as if anything was amiss. Oh, except for the TV. Max did miss his Cartoon Network very much.
We wore lots more clothes and became more attuned the daylight. Once 6pm hit, we would light candles and prepare for an early retirement to bed. Mentally, I was a bit of a mess. I became anxious and didn't even want to go to the gym to exercise (which would have been a great break in the monotony of staying in the bus). When we had gone to the storage to get more extension cords, I rushed back to the bus because I was fearful another electric fire would spark.
Michael returned on Tuesday night and when he reached the car at the airport, I felt my whole body sigh with relief.
The next day, Michael fidgeted around with the wires under the bus and fixed the electrical system so that we would be less likely to repeat the incident. He pried apart the plugs in which the fire had occurred and this is what he found:
Thank the gods that this fire didn't spread to the rest of the bus! We came out pretty lucky in that the only thing we experienced was discomfort for three days. Our luxury was short-lived however because another "adventure" waited for us around the corner.
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