It was steady going into Charlotte this afternoon. I was due for fuel so I started looking for some about 30, 45 minutes before I reached the city. I got off at an exit that promised about a half dozen gas stations, but they were all RV unfriendly, so I circled through town and got back on the interstate.

A sign for a Pilot travel stop was a welcome sight and I was quite surprised to find a dinky little gas station with most definitely no room for RVs. Oh, but there was a truck entrance thataway. I went into that entrance and all the pumps were marked diesel only. Oh. I tried to swing around and encountered… a dead end. Where I was blocking about five truck fueling lanes.

Many of these drivers had seen me come in and had plenty of time to tell me to stop and get around. Or a couple could have backed up to let me get through their lanes the wrong way. Nobody did. Thankfully, I was in a straight line so I could unhook… to the tune of a dozen of truckers honking their horns. What a bunch of assholes! I managed to get unhooked, got the truck out of the way, backed the motorhome out of there, and found a spot where I could hook up again. Needless to say, Pilot did not get my business. Painted arrows on the ground are all that would have been needed.

Thanks to this delay, I hit Charlotte at the start of rush hour with a stalled vehicle in the fast lane. So it was stop and go through most of the city. Not difficult, just slow.

I saw a sign for a Love’s fueling station just before my exit and decide to try them. Fuel in North Carolina had been about $3.35 and I fueled in South Carolina for $3.05!!! So maybe the Pilot fiasco wasn’t so bad after all.

I’m now parked at the Walmart in Rock Hill, SC… where I have no power. At the batteries, I am registering 12.6V, so they are charging fine, but there is a drop to a mere 9.5V between them and the fuse/shunt. Everything’s tight, the cables are short and #1 gauge. In short, it should all be working fine. I am seriously sick of this s***.  Anyway, the fridge is running and that’s all I need for tonight. It supposed to get cold again, but I’ve had cold furnaceless nights and mornings before and I will survive. I’m just irked that I’ve spent thousands of dollars to not be in this situation again and am. A professional electrical person will be in order before I leave New Orleans. And if I’m going to pay that kind of money, then I am going to seriously consider having the stupid battery bank relocated to a place where I can actually get at it without twisting myself into a pretzel.

Yes, I’m cranky. 🙂