The Great Grove Brown Out of 2008

Follow The Crowd Down to The Grove

OH MY GAWD...this past weekend at Skyway was a thriller for those of us living down in the Grove. The sweltering heat saw everyone languishing slowly around the place, some chosing the comfort of the pool, while others hunkered down in their air conditioned campers and RV's doing what Americans do best...consuming VAST AMOUNTS of energy. Being out on the shade of a tree trying unsuccessfully to install lights on my golf cart I was unaware that rolling power surges were threatening to brown out the Grove until the park manager came racing down the hill in a cloud of dust, coming to a quick halt right in front of me!

Seems he had a warning/request for specifically ME! He needed me to turn off as much of my camper's STUFF as was humanly possible...lights off (none were on), turn off all unnecessary applicances such as televisions and air-conditioners, and switch my frig over to run on propane! What I did not quite understand was how I got targeted as the likely CAUSE of these rolling power surgers in our area. First and foremost, at the time of the occurance in question my air conditioner was not even on...I'd chosen to have our two screen doors and a few windows open instead, and other than two small useless fans that came with the camper, we do not have a fan out at camp, and neither one of our two flat screen TV's happened to be on.

I know I LOOK like a vast consumer of energy while camping, but most of what I light up at night runs on SOLAR.

Speaking with our neighbors, I learned that the rolling power surges were NOT NEW to our area, had been and issue last summer as well. Seems (according to the rumor mill) that all of us down in the Grove are currently sharing just one line, and though most of our campers are rated for 50 amps, we are supposed to do our best to remain under 30. Supposedly the electrical guru types are going to evaluate the situation this week and look for a solution...guess we'll put that on the list right under Internet Access.

In more pleasant news, we have our phone system up and running in the camper...for those that might want to reach us up at camp the number is 647-2989.

Don't forget this weekend's big AUCTION to raise funds for St. Jude! The rules state we are to contribute something new to be auctioned off...personally, I'd rather see some of us donate something OLD, something ANTIQUE!