Wet Sheets and Fireflies

We are zooming up I-81 in Pennsylvania, headed for Allentown. The sun has set and we can see fireflies on either side in the cornfields.

We begin to notice the fireflies at the beginning of June until about the middle of August. They are always a delight, an unexpected display of silent fireworks.

Last night in Tennessee I woke to wet sheets.

We were parked on a hill, the nose of the truck pointing down and I was tossing and turning and put my hand right in a cold, wet handful of sheet. It was not a nice way to wake up, but I guess it would have been more alarming if the wet sheets had been warm.

Himself and I have our own bunk, his is the lower and mine is the upper. Mine is way nicer, as it is fashioned after the “I Dream of Jeannie” genie bottle. It’s all vivid satin and velvet with lots of sparkle. "Diamonds" sparkle like fireflies on the walls and ceiling, gold, silver, pink, orange and turquoise fabric everywhere.

It is my sanctuary from the Highway.

In an effort to reduce our engine idle time, save fuel and  wear on the engine, Himself has installed his own version of the APU, (auxiliary power unit). These are very expensive generators that provide electricity, a/c and heat. There are several different brands on the market and they go for about $10,000.00 give or take and more than one brand of them sound like a sick and very loud lawnmower.

Being Manually Competent, Himself has concocted our own version of the APU.

We bought an RV gas generator,  cut a hole in the back wall of my bunk (an insult to the Jeannie Bottle but it had to be done) and installed a window a/c unit in the upper bunk. There are various gizmos, widgets and technicalities that I am not going to describe because frankly, I don’t know what they are, but it is a very tidy, well thought out and most importantly a functional system for a quarter of the price.

The only hitch in the whole works is that we have to be careful about parking on an incline. If there is too much downward angle on the a/c, the condensation builds and runs in right to the Jeannie Bottle. It’s a pretty fast drip. I tried to rig up towels and a plastic bag but to no avail. I woke Himself and he moved the truck around the parking lot and back to our space, this time in the opposite direction. It stopped immediately and we were soon asleep.

Another disaster averted.