First Night

Uncategorized 3 Minutes
Lewie and Teddy’s first night in the 2019 nuCampe T@G

My dog, Teddy and I spent the first night in the T@B, sleeping just outside the house under the deck. We purchased a surge protector and a 15 amp to 30 amp converter to power the trailer. I had trouble securing the plug to the trailer. The ring to tighten it seems to go on crooked. I also realized that even if I lock the surge protector to the plug, someone could easily unplug the other end from the trailer and walk off. Last, the bed was setup with sheets and a pillow, and a sleeping bag “just in case”.

Getting into the camper at night was a bit awkward. Everything was dark and I was feeling around for a light switch. I was feeling along the wall inside the door until I realized it was on the ceiling and flicked it on. Although I’m sure Teddy can jump into the trailer, I felt it was too high for him and picked him up to get inside. I stuffed my shoes on a shelf above the headboard, and put Teddy’s leash behind the headboard.

For entertainment, I purchased an HDTV antenna. I was a little frustrated that there wasn’t a place to hook up an internal antenna, since the slot was already being used for the external cable hookup. I ran the cord through the window and connected it outside. In addition, the only power supply available along the wall was for 120 volt electrical outlet. I couldn’t get it to work either in the camper or with my TV in the house after scanning for all channels. I suspect I either need a digital converter box, the antenna range is not good enough , or my house is blocking the closest signal.

I noticed lights were a bit out of reach when laying down. I sat up and turned out the accent light. I noticed immediately various things were lighting up the inside of the camper.

  • A green LED on the headboard for USB & 12v power.
  • A blue LED on the TV
  • The whole back-lit display on the stereo in addition to the clock
  • An occasional flashing red light behind the smoke detector

In addition, I could see light getting through the shaded door window.

In the dark, I could hear quite a bit outside, and it seemed low vibrations were amplified by the walls. The temperature went down over the night. I woke up and saw it was 58 degrees inside with the care package thermometer from nuCamp. Outside temperature was 40 degrees. I unzipped the sleeping bag and used it as a blanket. I tossed and turned until 6 AM. I was bound to finish the night before my alarm went off, so I ran in the house and grabbed a blanket. For an hour, I went into a deep sleep and my alarm was amazingly loud in that closed space.

My back was killing me all throughout the day. Bending over, or looking behind me while backing up the car was painful. The pain lasted even into the second night.

What I learned

This was the first test run with the house three feet from the door. I expected a few problems. I learned quite a bit just by using it at home. I have come up with fixes and ideas to make things more comfortable.

  • Put tape over the TV LED, USB LED, and a flap over the stereo.
  • Get a digital HDTV decoder to see if that’s the problem
  • Get an outdoor antenna with a long range of 130+ miles.
  • Get blackout curtains and Velcro tape for the windows
  • Replace the 120v electrical plug with a combination of 120v and USB 3.
  • Get a ramp for Teddy to enter/exit.
  • Use command hooks to hang up shoes.
  • Considering an electric blanket, but adding and additional blanket for now.
  • Add padding under mattress
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Published by Lewis "Lewie" Moten

Lewis Moten is a full stack developer for web, software and mobile applications as well as interacting with new and legacy hardware devices and mainframes. Most of his popularity on the internet is by writing and freely distributing code that allowed websites to support uploading files with classic ASP code when most shared hosts did not provide that capability. He was also known as "Dedric Mauriac" in Second Life building and selling interactive products, primarily attracting educators and corporate librarians. Mr. Moten has a background in Industrial Design Technology through a scholarship at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, and Carpentry at Mineral County Technical School. In his senior year of high school, he was the treasurer of the Future Homemakers of America (FHA) and a member of the Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD). His early career had ranged from being a certified sandwich artist, setting up and tearing down carnival rides, to catching chickens in the middle of the night. Lewie has worked on large financial processing systems, video training systems, and past contracts supporting NASA, USCIS, and the Navy. Lewie is an active member of various service clubs in the community, a trustee at Samuels Public Library, had previously held a public office in the Town of Front Royal on the Board of Zoning Appeals, and a member of the Chamber of Commerce via his small business, Code Jamboree LLC. Professional History: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lewismoten/ Lewie is often entertaining himself with various hobbies in his spare time. Some of which are/were 3D modeling & Animation, graphic design, video editing, 3D printing, electrical engineering/robotics, vintage computing (6502/1802/Altair 8800), microcontrollers (Arduino/Raspberry Pi), Lego GBC, artificial neural networks, networking hardware, designing board games, building an arcade system, Minecraft red stone, Second Life scripting, home automation and surveillance, off-grid solar, financial investing, sewing, camping, hiking, painting, obedience and trick dog training, photography, gardening (back-yard and hydroponics), table top role playing games, playing board games, singing along out of tune with his dogs, and watching videos on the Internet. You'll often find Lewie with his companion, Teddy, the Amazing Corgi and Gwinn a Pitt/Lab rescue, or going on little adventures in his 1976 Electric CitiCar.

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