We got up at 7 today. I went out to see if the batteries in the big trailer were charged. They weren't. When testing the slideout I noticed that the crimped connector on one of the power cables had come off. I crimped it back on, but still nothing worked.
The batteries came from NAPA, so I had Ellen call Woodburn. They said the closest store with them was McMinnville. Mistake 1: I should have had her call more stores in Woodburn.
Mistake 2: Because the other two slideouts had gone in yesterday, I'd hooked up the truck. Now I had to unhook it.
Mistake 3: I asked Ellen to program the GPS to take us to McMinnville. She said both the GPS and Google said to go through St. Paul rather than take the ferry. I believed her. The route took us to Newburg and then on 18 through Lafayette to McMinnville. It added at least half an hour to the trip over just going on the ferry.
The McMinnville NAPA had the batteries - $150 a piece. I made sure we went home via the ferry.
When we got home I installed the batteries. The power cable connector came off again, so I used the large vice grips to really attach it. When everything was connected the slideout went in just fine. Just for grins I tried the "smart" battery charger on the new batteries. It declared them "failed'. That thing is almost worthless.
I reconnected the trickle chargers on the car and Ranger. Then I recovered the Audi. I hooked up the trailer, disconnected power and water, and got us ready for the road. We left about 11:10, which was miraculous considering how long we'd spent getting the batteries and the problems with the cable.
The trip to Richland was uneventful. I was making really good time until Ellen had to stop because of her asshole. I still managed to average 57 MPH from the Dalles to Baker City. I did better on the stretch before the Dalles. We got in about 6:15.
Setting up the trailer was a bit of a pain. I couldn't get the truck to slide out from under the hitch. It took some jockeying and time. The new level indicator works great though. It tells how many blocks to use side to side and also does front to back.
I didn't notice that the ride was particularly rough, but the stuff in the trailer was really bounced around. The anchor for the strap that holds down the back cabinet broke. Stuff in the medicine cabinet was in disarray, as were the contents of the overhead cabinets and the refrigerator.
When we moved into the trailer yesterday we discovered that a cat had pissed on the comforter. That meant Devin had to sleep downstairs so he didn't think that the bed was a cat box. When we set up Ellen took it and the cover to the laundry. Apparently the owners came by and chewed her out for doing the comforter. It's a wet mass on the sofa right now. I guess we'll take it to Dan and Patsy's tomorrow to dry it.
One piece of good news. The Bronco II is completed and ready to pick up tomorrow.
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