Tag Archives: maintenance

Las Lajas, Lago Alumine, Wild camp, Piedra Mala in N.P. Lanin

December 2, 2018 – December 8, 2018

Driving so many kilometres, often on rough roads, means that there is almost always something that needs to be adjusted, repaired or replaced. Probably about 50% of the time when we arrive at a camping spot, one of the first things Derek does after we are set up is get his tools out and work on something. The fridge is finicky and doesn’t always work, screws rattle their way out of the camper and need to be tightened or replaced, one time the electrical connection for the solar panels on the roof was loose or filters need to be replaced on the truck. Sometimes it is more complicated, like when we noticed that the camper batteries were completely discharged and not being charged as we drove anymore. The computer chip governing the relay had quit and so Derek wired a manual bypass… we now have a manual switch in the cab that we need to remember to turn on for charging camper batteries when we start to drive, and off before we shut down the engine so that the fridge doesn’t end up draining the engine batteries. He is one handy guy!

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Atacama Desert, La Serena and the Elqui Valley

October 23, 2018 – November 12, 2018

Entering Chile was such a drastic contrast to our last few days in Bolivia. The highway was paved and had wide shoulders, we were driving 80 to 100 km/hr and there were road signs giving distances to the next town. We were headed for San Pedro de Atacama, a small tourist town not too far from the border, where we were looking forward to warmer temperatures, a shower, and a little bit of village life – maybe a nice restaurant, some interesting shops, that kind of thing.

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