Dispersed Camping for "CR-V Towing Shakedown" trip. Towing the CR-V is fine, but found charging issues with it.

We drove out of the overcrowded cesspool that is the Metro Denver area on Wednesday of this week.  We headed to the Vedauwoo Recreation Area's dispersed camping sites along FR700 in the Medicine Bow National Forest between Cheyenne and Laramie, Wyoming....about three hours away.

We got us a nice set (#5) and settled in with no issues.  The CR-V towed fine, no issues starting after being towed.

The rest of Wednesday was spent relaxing/napping in our new gazebo.

Thursday's sunrise wasn't too bad, I missed the good stuff but caught the sun rising from the treeline.

Found the battery dead on the CR-V and I determined the tow brake cable had been left extended out enough to engage the brake lights.  Something to check I thought for future travels.  After I jump started it, we took the Honda CR-V we'd towed from home and checked out the area along FR700 to the junction with Happy Jack Road.  A bit of driving on Happy Jack Road saw us at a trailhead for some short distance hiking.

Returning to camp to rest and relax once again, the afternoon saw us in camp, doing not much of anything.  I did have one chore, re-installing the old Coulomb Volt/Amp Meter, as the one I'd put on last week was giving me bad readings.

A quick trip to Laramie, about 16 miles away, allowed me to return the faulty meter via Amazon, and for Martha to get some snacks and for us to get the CR-V's battery checked out at Advanced Auto Parts.  The test revealed a possible failing alternator, it showed barely 12.7 volts with the car running!

We returned to camp with no issues, and we drove the CR-V the few miles to the nearby Ames Monument.  We'd been there before with Scarlett, I must say it's much more comfy driving a cage though!  LINK

Martha's 2014 Honda CR-V seemed to be running fine and I was thinking that we'd schedule it for a mechanic's check up soon.

This morning, Friday, I went to check the wiring points on the alternator and didn't find anything loose.  I checked the battery's resting voltage (it'd sat all night) and was surprised to find it reading 15.5 volts!  WTH.  

OK, I thought, the cheapo multimeter I'd brought along had failed.  I went to check it by reading the voltage on both the RV's chassis battery and Yagi's battery, both reported expected voltages in the 12.x range.  So, my multimeter was OK.

Doing some troubleshooting with RichardM via text, I disconnected the positive terminal from the CR-V's battery and now it read 16+ volts!  WTH.

Tried draining the voltage some, at RichardM's recommendation, but running the headlights on High Beam and turning on the DRLs did nothing to lower the voltage readings.

Finally, I took a chance and started the car up.  Now the voltage reading on the battery was 27 volts.  Yes, 27 volts!  Way past the expected charging voltage of 14.5 volts from the alternator/voltage regulator!

Some communication with RichardM later, we decided to break camp and take the CR-V to our mechanic back home.

About an hour later, we'd taken down the gazebo and readied the VRRV for travel with the CR-V in tow.  We lost perhaps 30 minutes getting gas at a nearby gas station as I had to unhook the CR-V after not being able to make the U-turn needed to line the VRRV to the gas pump.  You can't back up when flat towing a car.

Still, in spite of that hassle, 3 hours after departing the campsite, we were in Parker, CO and dropping off the CR-V with the mechanic.  Hopefully, they'll be able to give the car a good look on Monday and see what's going on.

We go back out camping on Monday, Martha and I.  More to follow.