The one thing you never think about when you are all excited to take on the wide-open roads are your bathroom breaks. I mean, it seems like an awesome perk to be able to tell the kiddos to go ahead and GO while you are driving down the highway! But, seriously. What do you do with it then?
While dumping your “dump” is less than glamorous, it is a very necessary part of RV life. One that I have always taken for granted. It was never my job to worry about. All those camping trips with my Dad and Uncle Bill, it never occurred to me where it ended up.
Rob and I have had some giggles over the “stinky slinky” hose under the holding tanks, and he has watched many videos and read many blogs about proper dumping etiquette. When you have a rig as big as ours, the holding tanks are a pretty good size. Out of site, out of mind, right? Well, for a little while at least.
For 14 days, exactly.
We found out the hard way that our tank is only good for two people for 13 days. Not a day, not even an hour more. How did we find out? Let’s just say that the essential oils can only do so much when your tank is full.
Apparently, once the level reaches a certain point, the fumes must escape out the toilet. And into the bathroom. And if it is raining and your vent is closed, into the rest of the RV. Into the rest of your very tiny HOME.
Last weekend, we started our day very early. It was a lovely spring morning, flowers were blooming and everything just looked (and smelled) lovely! We had a beautiful day exploring Madison, Connecticut. We wandered around, enjoyed ourselves, then went to a laundromat (I have yet to invest in a mini washing machine, but it is VERY tempting as I have zero patience for laundromats…) and then went to the gym (because campfires and S’mores are delish but also very bad for the thighs…). We got home about 10:30 pm.
Unfortunately, Rob opened the door to an odor that was ABSOLUTELY NOT there when we left.
NO matter how many manuals you read, how many videos you watch, or facebook groups you belong to, you can NEVER be prepared. I cannot describe the eye burning, nose running, absolutely horrific assault to the senses we were met with when we opened that front door. We opened the vents and the windows and turned on the fans, we essential oiled essentially everything… But it was too dark to “eliminate the source”, so we had to live with the putrid smell until morning.
Let’s just say that it was a long, long night.
I’m so extremely excited for y’all and I feel like I’m living vicariously through y’all! How awesome an opportunity. Wow on the hard lesson of smell. I’m certain it will never happen again lol when you talked about camping with Uncle Bubba and Uncle Bill I got great memories instantly! I miss them how are they? I love you guys I look forward to the new posts