Trouble At The Winery

I Stayed At A Harvest Host Winery And This Happened

North Dakota is without a doubt one of the most agriculturally productive regions of the US. From the Interstate highways you can kind of see this. However, take a drive down the state’s secondary highways and you’ll be surrounded by vast fields of sunflowers, wheat, corn and oh yes, soybeans. Not only that but you’ll pass by the huge dairy barns that house up to cows under a single roof. These barns are nearly automated in a lot of ways and they have everything from calving areas to milking stalls. I am not here to talk about North Dakota’s over 100 dairies. Instead, let’s get into one of North Dakota’s Harvest Host wineries together.

As part of the Harvest Hosts program that I subscribed to, I get to stay at wineries for “free”. Of course, it’s not really free because I support my hosts by buying wine at their establishments. Red Trail winery is no different except for one thing: They ran out of wine. The owner apologized and let me know that a hail storm 2 years ago wrecked their grapes. That meant a shortage of product for his winery. Oh well, such is life, I plugged into the 30 Amp power he supplied to his campers. The fee for the night was $30 USD, which was a whopping $40 Canadian for a stay at a peaceful site.

Harvest Hosts Don’t Always Provide Power, But When They Do It’s Devine!

I had been plugged in for about 20 minutes. The air conditioner was cranking out the cold air and my RV became a tiny, cool oasis on a 30 degree day. What a treat to have an electrical plug in at a Harvest Hosts location! I filled the freshwater tank and jumped in the shower. What a relief. I felt so wonderfully refreshed as I dried off afterwards. It was then that I smelled burning electrical. I quickly got dressed in the light smoke that was filling my bedroom at the back of Daisy Mae. It wasn’t a fire, but there was definitely something going on with the electrical. I ran outside and unplugged the cable. The nearest RV technician was in West Fargo on the North Dakota border. I’d go to Camping World in West Fargo tomorrow and get a technician to look at it. In the meantime, Annabelle, Jolene and I enjoyed strolling Red Trail’s vinyards, admiring this year’s grape crops. The end of Each row had the name of the grape variety lovingly hand painted on a wooden sign, like a stable of thoroughbred race horses. I’ll keep you posted as to what happens in West Fargo.