Ch.26
The Road
Warrior
I had taken the owner’s manual out of the glove
box and it looked like a telephone book printed in three languages. Part one
was bout the operation or driving the Road Warrior, Part 2 dealt with the
warranty , and Part 3 had to deal with the maintenance of the Road Warrior and special
towing guidelines. Also included was a DVD which could be popped into any of
the three TV’s on board the Warrior. One beside me in the driver’s seat doubled
as a rear view viewer allowing me to back the road warrior minus the Ford Escape
towed behind, into tight places assuring I wouldn’t hit anything or run over anyone.
You can’t afford lawsuits when you own one of these. In fact on board cameras monitor
the road ahead and behind you and record the data for 48 hours then dumps all
the info, only if you allow it to. An onboard computer tracks engine functions
such as oil pressure, water temperature, air conditioning system operation, and
whether any of the fire or noxious gas level monitors are in the range, that
action needs to be taken. If so an alert and a flashing light similar to an
aircraft cockpit comes on and alerts you to the specific problem and solution.
The dash surrounded you and it also
resembled the cockpit of an airliner as it had all the bells, whistles, and
switches for everything including seat heater on the old thundermug as we used
to call it or the toilet. Intimidating as it was it was still basically easy to
operate the Road Warrior as I had already done before when I moved it to the
back yard. You just get in and turn the key and it starts and then you put it
in drive and hold on.
What I was looking for was what all the
switches meant. Like the leveling switches with the level correction meter as
it went through its trial and error method of correcting how level the vehicle
was when parked stationary for the night, this I good so you don’t roll out of
bed. Also I needed to be able to know
where to check the fluids in case an oil level sensor was out. I guess I am
still old school when it comes to trips and depending on gauges and sensors to
do what man does best and especially when on a trip and I am not home.
As I sat there in my backyard I was able to
start the generator and cool the RV down to a very comfortable sixty five
degrees, extend the awning, and level the vehicle all from the driver’s seat. Then
I was able to access the switches for the rollout rooms to automatically extend
and increase the living space without leaving the comfort of the inside of the RV.
I rambled around inside the Road Warrior for a half an hour checking inside
storage spaces, opening closets, and checking out all the features, before I even
decided to go outside and play.
Outside I found all the access doors and
a door to the extendable storage space to house bicycles or lawn furniture. Additional
storage was slung underneath the frame in easy slide out storage bins big
enough to hide a small Mexican family if one decided to make a cross border
excursion. Personally I couldn't imagine how anyone would want to take that
much stuff along with them just to camp. I guess if you have storage space,
people will always want to fill it with no concern as to how much it is going
to cost to truck the additional weight across the country in increased fuel
costs.
You don’t have to have a months’ worth of
clothes to travel instead you only need two to three days’ worth of changes then
you could always find a laundry mat, usually at a RV camp , to wash your clothes. But then again if you
are rich enough to own one of these things you could always buy new and drop
off the dirty clothes at Goodwill on your way. Water is a big thing to carry on
these things and we are a very water dependent society needing our showers and for
other uses like flushing toilets and such . This almost requires you to find an
RV camp and tie up for the night. Tying up includes dropping your waste line
into an approved sewer , connecting your
water line, and hooking up to the
electricity at the camp site . All of which had been simplified as much as technology
will allow at this point.
I did see where truckers used to let
their trucks idle all night and this has been a large wasteful practice just to
keep them warm and at the same time , keeping food cool in refrigerator boxes ,
and assuring the truck would start in the morning. A new truck stop now pumps
heat in the winter, electricity, and air conditioning in the summer from their
main terminal, through special truck umbilical’s that extend through the passenger’s
side window. Along with it comes digital cable and internet hookup and the cost
is way less than what it would cost in fuel usage to let the truck run. Improvements
are coming in the efficiency of trucking but it has been at a slow pace and is
only tied to high fuel prices as it is only then it becomes affordable to make
the changes. Unfortunately that is the case for solar use in our country
presently with a glut of natural gas, solar has taken a backseat to natural gas
again after a brief revival in the early 2000’s. Even now this Road Warrior
with only 12000 miles on it has taken a backseat to the new models sporting
natural gas clean engines. We have went backwards from using diesel as a major
source of fuel efficiency, to natural gas being the dominate source of fueling.
Yet both are limited sources of fuel in their present state, and only diesel
can be synthetically made from vegetable and plant sources , making it a viable
alternative energy source now, and in the future as more synthetic diesel is
supplemented in the original diesel sources.
Willie Nelson made plant diesel popular and
widely used by truckers where available and more sources are popping up daily, but
still have a long way to go to keep up with original diesel as a primary fuel
source. The plant diesel is all natural with no harmful effects to the environment.
And this Road Warrior had a list of stations throughout the country that
supplied the green diesel so to speak and could be instantly accessed while
driving through the computer. The onboard satellite uplink would provide the
present location of the road warrior and then download to the computer, the
station closest to it for green diesel if you wanted it to. I was impressed. It stated in the owner’s manual that the
engines were designed to be able to run on either, as efficiently as possible, due
to sensors in the engine that changed the variables based on the engines
performance.
This was all good news to me and made me feel
better about them taking their trip and I couldn’t wait to talk with Lee about
what Ann had really accomplished. Lee still had a while to go on his leg and
was still pretty stiff and sore and may require physical therapy to be able to
get through this little setback. Ann and Lee were eating dinner at a little
river barge close to Guerne, Ohio. Tied up on the other other side of the river,
you had to walk a gang plank to board the barge and then you sit under a windowed
pavilion with the water lapping right outside the windows at river level. Then
you could look out over the river and hope one of the big cat fishes didn't flop
right into your lap. It was an experience and good seefood dining as I called
it. Meaning you could look out the window and see the fish swimming right up to
the barge. After eating, hot dog buns
could be bought and then fed to the big carp and cat fish that frequented the
barge for their own dinner right off the side of the barge. The locals had been
feeding them for years and the fish always knew where to catch a meal. Some of
these giants easily went five feet long and could swallow a hot dog bun whole.
Anyhow they were eating their supper and
planned to return to their Road Warrior to enjoy a night’s sleep in their new
toy. I was sure my little house would still be used by them. If not I still had
plenty of renters waiting for an opportunity to spend a couple of nights away
from the hubbub of the city.
I shut off the generator and hooked up the
electric cord to the house and left the Road Warrior for my own home along with
Susie and Babe who were patiently waiting on me outside the Warrior. It was
getting dark and the sun was setting across the river in a brilliant orange
sunset, sending spirals of crimson across the sky. Colorado
had nothing on me as this part of the Ohio Valley was as pretty as anything
could be, as in the dim glow the shadows cast by the trees overhanging the
river and orange reflection off the river from the sunset mirrored memories of
my youth spent here on vacation. Memories I will never forget and to make sure I
sat myself down on a carved bench and the dogs curled at my feet, and I sat there till it was so dark all I had
left of the day was the memories etched in my mind . Just wished I had someone to
carry those memories with me.
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