Friday December 16- It's moving day. We are leaving the Keys 2 weeks early. We were suppose to go back to Long Key but because of our first visit with the rats we gave up those weeks and found a different spot. We had most of our stuff packed up so we got on the road early, by 9 a.m. We are heading north to LaBelle. We are staying at a RV park called Whisper Creek. We actually visited this park our first year on the road. We were staying at a Corp park close by...Ortona South. Our travel north wasn't bad just a few stupid people while we were leaving the Keys. The 2 lane highway makes a lot of people dangerous. They would pass in a turn lane or merge lane. We made it safe to our destination. Jeff checked us in and somebody showed us to our site #417. It has a brand new pad. A guy even helped Jeff back her in. The entry wasn't very wide. I was very happy for the help, it made things a lot easier. We plugged in like usual and turned on the a.c. It is very warm and we wanted to get things cooled off. It was about 2 o'clock and we hadn't had lunch. I was sitting eating and Jeff went to reheat leftovers. I look up and see smoke pouring out of our dish receiver. I yell at Jeff and he comes, unplugs it and puts it outside. In the meantime I hear some pops....never good. Jeff goes out and turns the power off. Now what? Here is the post Jeff made to the Carriage and RV-Dreams forums.
We had a power event a couple of weeks ago after moving from the Keys to an Rv park. When we arrived at Whisper Creek Resort we plugged in and set up like we always do. We use a TRC 50 amp surgeguard and it went through its tests before delivering power to the rig. I went in and turned on air,fridge and went back out to set the satellite dish. When I came back in all seemed normal until I got an error message on the dish receiver I had never seen before. I didn't think too much about it and reset the receiver and it started its setup program. While I was waiting for it to setup I started the microwave to warm up some lunch and that's when the dish receiver started smoking ,microwave popped and power flashed. I unplugged the receiver and took it outside and killed the power to the coach. I called the park person to let them know what happened and they sent out a maintenance guy. We checked the power at the pedestal and all seemed right there but I still wasn't sure it was not the parks power so we called an RV repair shop and they came out about four hours later to check the problem. At first they said it was the park pedestal but changed their minds after consulting with an electrician. We ended up calling Florida Power and Light and they sent out a tech and he could not find any problems on their end. He did say that he hated those surge protectors and had seen them cause problems before. Also the park maintenance guy said he had seen the same thing happen a couple months ago with the same surge protector. After much deliberation I decided to go ahead and plug back in w/o the surge protection and check the damage. We lost our Dish receiver, DVD Stereo, DVD recorder, MIcro/Convection Oven and our GFI circuit. We have been running for the last 2 weeks with no other issues. I contacted the Surge Protector Tech and asked him if the surge protector could cause this and he did say it was possible. We are supposed to be mailing it back to them so they can bench test it for error codes. I also talked to the other couple who had a similar incident and they lost a lot more equipment but returned their TRC to Camping World for an exchange without finding the cause of their power incident. If anyone knows anything about this subject please comment. I thought we were protected from power events like this with our surge guard only to find out this MAY be the cause. Now I still don't know this for sure, but if the park itself had the surge shouldn't the surge protection stop the power flow? I have replaced most of the equipment but still need to know why this happened.
Saturday December 17- We didn't really know were to start. Jeff started taking out the ruined equipment outside. We couldn't watch our big tv because it was run through the stereo. We were happy that it worked. We also tried to make phone calls but every one's gone for the weekend. We made lists of what was toasted, trying to get organized. The good news is the people here are super friendly. Lots stopped by to welcome us. It was a busy day. It ended with a Christmas golf cart parade through the park. Couldn't believe how many participated.
Sunday December 18- Trying to figure out our plan of attack. We started our day with a walk around the park. We left the park and headed to Fort Meyer. Then we went to Waffle House to cheer us up...it was the best breakfast ever! Then we went to Camping World to replace our dish receiver. Jeff also picked up a hard drive to record with. On our way home we stopped at WalMart..long time no see. Also filled up the truck.
Monday December 19- Today we are going to try to make phone calls. If only it was that easy. First called the insurance company and she said an adjuster would call within one business day. When we called the company about the surge protector they transferred us and there was no answer. Jeff left a message. Then Jeff got the satellite receiver hooked up. Again we were happy the the satellite worked. We had to try it with the receiver to see if it was damaged...nope. yeah! Then Jeff got busy cleaning the outside of the rig. It's been a long time since it's had a bath.
Tuesday December 20- Today we had to head back to Fort Meyers again. Back to Camping World to fill up our propane tank...they don't fill here on Sundays. Next stop Lowes, Jeff has been researching microwave/convection ovens and they have one here he liked. We had to watch or time because I have a Doctor appointment with an ENT. We wanted to be on time. Well the oven was on sale so we purchased it. In the truck to go only 8 miles and it took us 40 minutes. We made it just a few minutes late for our arrival time. On the long drive over I look up the doctor to maybe call them and I see all these bad reviews. Great that's what I needed to see. Jeff and I both had low expectations going in. We both were pleasantly surprised. I filled out all the paper work and was called back to a room. We waited there for a while but not to long. The doctor seemed to ask the right questions and had a good idea what it was. He sent me to another room to do some testing of my hearing and pressure. They did another test to see if I had a kind of vertigo....nope. They diagnosed me with menieres disease. I never heard of it but Jeff had. I am to watch my sodium intake and take a diuretic. He said a lot of times this is enough to control it. I hope it works. I have been feeling better but my right ear is never going to be the same. My hearing in each ear is really different. I think I can live with that but those side effects of dizziness and vertigo....that's hard to take.
We have spent our time here enjoying the park. It's super nice here. Our site is located in The Glens. We don't have many trees and there is some road noise out here. On the bright side our site is really big, and since we re here early in the season it's very empty. It has been really warm so I have taken advantage of the pool. It's super nice. They have part of it covered. It's well taken care of and the water is warm. They also have so many activities to enjoy. If you can't find something to do here it's your own fault. Did I say how friendly everyone is....they are. In the older section here there are lots of big oak trees with spanish moss on them. They also had a Christmas Eve service that we attended. It was a candle lighting service and very nice. It helped to put us in the spirit. Both of us have kind of lost that will all that's going on.
Christmas morning came and the dogs liked there present. Soffee not so much, she usually loves her squeaky toy. This year we figured out she can't hear. She wouldn't even play with it. Belle on the other hand loved hers and after chewing hers up she demolished the other toy too. We also heard from the kids. We got to watch the grand kids open there gifts. We fixed us a great Christmas dinner, everything turned out great and tasted so good. I even spent some time at the pool today. Merry Christmas everyone!!
Monday December 26- Another Monday so we started calling back those we haven't heard from. We are trying to get an estimate for the insurance. This is turning out to be quite a task. Nobody answers there phone. They don't return calls so good either. I thought I would work on the blog because we have free wifi here. Then when I tried to download my photos off the phone it wouldn't work. I did an update to my phone and now it won't download my pics. I'm being overrun with problems......
Tuesday December 27- Jeff wanted to install our new oven today. We watched videos and read all the instructions. The only thing is the oven is kind of heavy. It weighs about 70 lbs. Well we took the old one down which came out easy. We checked to make sure everything lined up right and then we tried to install. We just had one little problem, hitting the bar that holds the bottom up. After doing something a bit different we got it right up. It fits in there just right. Looks good too.
We were so excited on our job well done we decided to go out for supper. Jeff found a place in town that had good reviews. So into LaBelle we went. We went to Honest John's Log Cabin. It was a real neat place and the food was great. Our service was friendly too. We both got the roasted chicken. They gave you a free bowl of chicken rice soup that was good. After finishing our supper they gave us free ice cream also. Who ever heard of such a thing. It was a good pick for sure.
Wednesday December 28- It's a big day...Our Soffee is 15 today...she has some side effects of her age. She can't hear, and I'm not sure she can see so well either. We still love her. Happy Birthday Soffee!
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