Get Us Out of the Cold!
January 28-30
When planning this trip, it was clear to us that we wanted to get south of the cold the first weekend. Since we’re only driving on the weekends, wherever we stop Sunday would be the place we stay all week.. and we didn’t need to trade Detroit cold for Indiana or Illinois cold. So, this weekend was the longest driving weekend we will have on this trip at about 975 miles total.
We don’t drive all that fast in the motorhome, for comfort driving this big ‘ol thing with a toad (tow vehicle) and for gas mileage sake as well. Driving all the way to Jackson in two days would be a bit much for us. That’s why we decided to do a little driving on Friday as well (after Mike was done working).
Friday we drove about 175 miles to Hoagland, IN. We crossed two state lines: Ohio and Indiana. A Harvest Host spot was our first stop, at an orchard/cidery/meadery called Ambrosia Orchard. It was a nice little place, not too exciting. Neither of us are big cider fans, but I had a flight and enjoyed trying them.
Unfortunately, we did have an issue overnight. The cause of the issue here: this place was colder than Detroit!
The temp got down to NEGATIVE FIVE that night. We have heat in the motorhome that runs off of propane, and we knew it would be very cold. We thought we should have been fine. even though we don’t get hookups at a Harvest Host stay. But, alas, the battery has to run the fan on the furnace (which is usually fine for a night without hookups). Negative five is so extreme, the furnace was running constantly, and our house battery went low. Ugh.
We woke two different times to our smoke/CO2 detector beeping to let us know the battery was low (the detector needs battery to run — even though it uses barely any — so apparently it warns you when your battery gets very low). So, we had to get up for a bit each time to run the RV and charge the battery up. You’re technically not supposed to run a generator at a Harvest Host, so we didn’t want to turn that on… being the rule followers that we are.
We had a less than restful night. And this was after poor Mike worked Friday, then drove 175 miles. We also were a bit cold because we turned the heat down as low as we could stand to try and stretch out the propane and battery power. Not sure why we thought staying here without hookups was a good idea, but we learned our lesson. ALWAYS have hookups in the cold.
The one good thing about that cold night: Patsy and Vlade both cuddled up between us all night. Patsy is usually only an occasional nighttime cuddler, and ONLY down by our legs. The crook of my knee is her favorite at night, if she deems me worthy of it that night. She’s very important and too good to be up by our faces (that’s how she explains it at least). Vlade is cuddly off and on, and not shy about being in your face, so it wasn’t too different for him. But to have both of them so up close all night; that was a treat!
Saturday’s drive was about 400 miles… a long drive for us in the motorhome. Here’s where you could find the kittens during the drive. Keeping warm on the couch and getting lots of rest. Patsy took over Vlade’s bed and he was a gentleman about it.
We stopped in Goreville, IL. For Saturday night we decided to change our Harvest Host reservation to a campground. It wasn’t going to be nearly as cold as Hoagland, with a low of a balmy 27 instead of subzero, but we just didn’t want to deal with it anyway. The hookups were a welcome relief and we slept very soundly that night! Although the kitties were far less cuddly… I guess they just use us for heat!
Sunday’s drive was also about 400 miles. This time we crossed FOUR state lines : Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi. And two of those are brand new states for us (Arkansas and Mississippi)!
Today’s drive had a hiccup though (why???)… the car would not open. We could not open it with the key fob or the manual key attached to the fob. We were still able to tow it behind us as it was still hooked up and in all the right positions (brake off, in neutral, etc.). But, we were worried about what was wrong and knew we had to back into our campsite tonight, so it had to be opened and unhooked.
Was the lock frozen? Seemed like this wasn’t it because you couldn’t even hear it trying to unlock. Was the key fob battery dead and the manual just not working for some reason? We decided to get a battery for it when we stopped for lunch and try this.
We stopped in Memphis and had lunch at Wiseacre Brewing. Their pizza was good, not great, but the space was really cool.
Next, we figured out how to open our key fob and got the battery out so we could buy a replacement. We were so hopeful that it would be this simple… got a battery at a nearby Walgreens… and, sadly, it didn’t solve the issue. The car STILL will not open. We cannot get into any of the doors, or even pop the hood to check/jump the battery — fun!
When you pull a toad with ability to lock the steering wheel, you leave the keys in the car, turned to the first position so it won’t lock up. We didn’t think about how driving two days in a row (Fri and Sat), not driving the car in between, and the extreme cold could drain the battery. We’ve just never run into the this issue, but we usually unhook and drive the car at least every other day. This time, we’re in such a hurry to get south, that we didn’t do any of that.
So, our next guess is that the car battery is just totally dead and that’s why it won’t unlock. We still aren’t totally convinced since the manual key won’t work either, but decide we need a locksmith next. I called a locksmith I found in Jackson (our destination) that said it was open 24/7 (it’s Sunday and we’re arriving after five). I told them we’d be there in a few hours and the issue we were having. We were able to have a guy meet us at a gas station to unlock the car for us, and he said he could jump it too if that was the issue.
Well, sure enough, it was the battery. He was also surprised the manual key didn’t work, but when he took the keys we had left in the car out, that manual key worked. So, we had a 50/50 chance of having locked into the car the one manual key that works to unlock the doors… and of course that’s the one we had used. Ha! He said the broken one is bent a little and that’s why it doesn’t work. Darn it.
She was so brave the first day we were driving and got up on the dash even! She’s never done this. It lasted like 15 seconds.
He gave the car a jump, we disconnected it from the RV, and I drove the car to the camp spot to allow it to charge. He offered to cut another key for us, but for $125 we decided against it. We’ll just make sure to lock the bad key inside from now on. And not leave the keys in overnight when we stop (we usually don’t, but sometimes forget when we don’t even unhook).
So, now we’re arriving at the campground in the dark. Something we prefer not to do. Oh well.
We’re staying at a state park right in the city of Jackson. Finding the campground was a little bit of a pain, as the map took us to the wrong entrance to the park. After a bit of driving around, we finally found camping signs to follow.
When we get there, I use the gate code to get the car through, and when Mike tries the same code it won’t let him. UGH. A call to the number on the kiosk got us fixed and we got in.
Our site is great, right on water. It’s a real campground, not an RV park, and we haven’t been at many of these so far with our travels in this motorhome. We love it so far, and imagine it’ll be even better in daylight tomorrow, especially since temps are supposed to be close to 70 degrees.
Sorry you had some rough sailing!But, you are learning all the time! Remember that there’s a finite number of things that can go wrong! You will be experts before you know it! Don’t know where you’re are right now. Hope y’all are staying warm! Be safe! Love ya!😎
We’re learning a lot all the time, that’s for sure! We’re in Jackson, MS for the week.
Sounds like good journey overall couple of hiccups but no step for players like you guys.