Surprise! Why you trippin?

We left Sedona early for our next destination, Surprise, AZ, to make sure we could get there in time for the Seahawks football game. We were visiting some very good friends who got special clearance from their HOA for us to park in their driveway. Normally we would be able to see them a couple times a year, but not this year. Visiting them was a real treat and something we really looked forward to. Charlie was especially excited to have someone to watch and enjoy football with.

For two days, we enjoyed somebody else’s cooking, great conversation, and unlimited pool time. The kids bonded with our grownup friends, and I even got a Target run and two loads of laundry in! The kids were also very excited to run around in a house, and we were all especially pleased to have a bathing space that was larger than 2 cubic feet.

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It’s funny the things we missed about home that I don’t even think we fully realized until we got to somebody else’s home. I thought it was going to be the convenience of Amazon, but it turns out that 1. You can get packages delivered to most campsites and friends’ houses, 2. We really don’t need that much, 3. You can probably find what you’re looking for at any big box store. 

It was nice to walk around a clean, friendly, residential neighborhood, too. The only real issue we had was getting power to the RV. It was over 100ºF so we had to keep the AC on from the morning, otherwise it would have been unbearable for dogs and nappers. (The AC isn’t powerful enough to make up that difference between melting & comfort.)

First we plugged into the garage, which is connected to the kitchen circuit, but that kept tripping. The only other reachable outlet was a 20amp hookup from the bathroom, which is GFIC. As a ground fault outlet for wet areas, it trips very easily. We had to turn off every single breaker in the RV except for the AC circuit just for it to work. We also couldn’t turn on any lights in the house bathroom. Eventually, we got it to work, tiptoed around everything electrical, and checked on the RV often. 

Note for future driveway camping: make sure to ask your host about amperage prior to a visit! 

Hawks won, tripped circuits sorted, got our fill of friend time – thank you, Surprise!