Day 7, April 22, Some funny things happened on the road from Nashville

Talk about a learning day! Today we had a number of anxiety-inducing learning opportunities. From these we learned much more about our vehicle, how to diagnosis its issues, and how to overcome them. We were also reminded of the basic decency of many people, along the way.

"So what happened today?" you ask. We began the morning leaving the hotel with the intent to have breakfast at a location on the outskirts of Nashville. We accomplished that with a quick stop at a Cracker Barrel. No surprises there. However, I had a brand new Apple Watch that I could not get to work. I tried downloading smart watch apps to my Samsung Galaxy S20 phone. However, after three attempts at that, it finally occurred to me that there is no compatibility possible between an Apple Watch and an Android phone. All the apps in the world are not going to do this trick, because APPLE DOESN"T WANT IT TO HAPPEN!!!!

I said I would put the watch away until we returned home. However, having just surprising me yesterday evening with the new Apple Watch (to replace my very old Fitbit), my wife was not going to hear that. And so, after breakfast, we headed down the road a wee bit, to find a nearby AT&T store. It was in the Mt. Juliet Mall, along with dozens of other brand name stores. My wife dropped me off, while she went shopping for a few items.

I had a great conversation with a young woman, Kiera (Key-ehr-uh), while she helped pick out a new phone, an iPhone 12, and then handle the transfer of my number and essential items -- contacts, photos, and few other files -- to the new device. Kiera is a recent graduate of Alabama A&M, spent her growing up years between Buffalo, NY (grandparents) and Nashville. Recently, she is being recruited by Home Depot to work in on of their technology groups. She is considering it, since they would allow her to work remotely, after an initial orientation period. She definitely would NOT want the job, if it meant she had to move to Atlanta. She has family and friends in Atlanta. She believes they have changed to become more superficial since moving there, and she would not want to feel pressured to do the same. Eventually phone files transferred and I walked out of the store with a new iPhone -- I like iPhones better than Androids anyway, so it didn't hurt my feelings to make the change -- and now I have a working Apple Watch connected to my phone.

After the phone detour, we proceeded down the road, I-40 East, heading to our ultimate destination for the day, Jefferson City, TN, east of Knoxville and close to the George Washington-Thomas Jefferson National Park. While driving, we noticed that our radio panel lights were out and would not work. This led us to investigate other lights and functions on the vehicle and found that, other than the driving panel lights (speedometer, odometer, gasoline, etc.), nothing was working. We knew this was not a good sign, but decided to wait until we stopped for lunch, to see if we could assess and resolve the problem then.

Lunch was in Crossville, TN at a Cracker Barrel. (Yes, we realize now that we should have bought stock in the company, since seemingly we are becoming one of its most frequent visitors.). Next door to it was a business where the owner sells RV's and RV parts, along with a small selection of previously owned automobiles. We went next door to ask if someone might take a look and help us RV novices evaluate the issues. The wife and sons were there and very friendly, as was the owner, Kevin. Kevin immediately offered to take a look. He proclaimed that he did not know how to service RV's, but having owned and used them for several years, he might be able to assist us if the problem was relatively simple.

He did just that. He quickly discerned that we had run down the battery that supports the back of the RV functions. What we had not realized before then, is that we should run the generator from time to time, in order to keep that battery fully charged, particularly when we are not attached to "shore power" (the power provided by many RV campsites). Kevin asked his son to bring out a charging unit, he restarted the generator and suggested we leave the generator running while continuing to drive toward Knoxville. He would not take money for his assistance, but we were able to convince him to accept a small donation to his youngest son's candy drive. I made sure to give him a positive review on the web I felt the need to repay his generosity with some expression of thankfulness.

Outside of Knoxville we ran into rush hour traffic about 5:30. It took more than an hour to get through Knoxville's rush hour -- I swear it's worse than Atlanta's rush hour traffic. We eventually made it through and ultimately made our way to the Cherokee Dam campground in Jefferson City, TN. Below are some pictures from the drive across Tennessee and the set-up in Jefferson City.

Once set up at the campsite, we ran into another daunting, life effecting problem. Trying to run the air conditioner and use the microwave, we lost power. Patrise had started cooking the simple evening meal, but the heat inside the RV was unbearable. Thank God, the weather was cooler outside, so we could open all the doors and windows for temporary relief. However, we knew it was urgent to find the permanent solution. After trying everything we could -- switches, generator, batteries, etc., etc. -- we texted our RV owner Ken Smith. Ken called us shortly after receiving the text and talked me through a series of systems checks. The last one we worked through was to check the breakers. We had not been shown these in the orientation, so we were discovering them for the first time. A flip of the breaker switch and the problem was solved. Just in time to sit down for dinner.

After dinner, we played board games Pachisi and Chinese checkers, while keeping an eye on the score of the Atlanta Hawks-Miami Heat playoff game. (That game could have been another heart stressor, but I resolved to be rather Zen about the outcome: "Accept whatever outcome there may be, since you have no power to change the outcome, my son.")

Patrise read for awhile then went to sleep. I stayed up for a time, surfing the net and starting this blog, but did not get very far. Eventually, I gave up on the day and went to bed as well. We are truly enjoying this relaxing experience despite some of the "opportunities for growth" that we are encountering along the way.