2009 Vacation Day 4 - The Dreaded Dumping Station...

Today was the day...the dreaded, much anticipated emptying of the tanks. Have given this some thought along the way, and picked a few brains to get any salient experience I should not be lacking. Not to get too detailed, but the expression "fill your boots" is somehow appropriate...and from a physics point of view, makes sense.
As we were still hitched to water, I filled both tanks full...full=pressure=flow...nuff said. Pulled up to the station, although at this campsite its location was a tad dubious...just a little sign and a white pvc pipe sticking out of the ground. I was somewhat disappointed. from my research (yes, I did some) I was expecting some environmentally favourable setup...all very EPAish...but no, just a pipe. and get this, it was right in front of a bunch of seasonal sites...kinda odd...total strangers pull up to the station, right in front of of your site...and proceed to dump. Although it turned out to be no big deal, more on that later, there was a lingering odour in the air...which begs the question...why on earth would you choose a site...let alone a season, where you could literally trip over the sewer pipe..."Got anything right next to the dumping station? Hey honey, I snagged a prime spot by the dumping station...get out our chairs"

Down to business...pulled on the blue gloves, grabbed the Clorox wipes and paper towels...not really knowing if I was going to end up covered in crap, I thought best to over prepare...no surprise there.In the end (no pun intended)...no big deal...surprisingly civil...all things considered. Out with the blue flexi-tube, connect it up, shove the business end down the sewer pipe and let er rip...

black first, then grey...theory being the much less gruesome grey water is used to flush and clean(?) the flexi-pipe after the black. Physics works wonders...nothing got bunged up (get it?) and it was smooth sailing. Snapped off the blues and a quick round of Clorox and we were as good as dumped.

Headed out...not a big drive today...but it still takes a ton of time. Our plan of only taking secondary roads offers some great views, but is seriously slow...even though we are armed with our trusty Randy McNally, someties the detail is just not enough. Missed a vaguely marked turnoff and then had to recover...turned into this little side road (big mistake) and as we drove deeper along, my mind is now racing...where to hell do I turn this damn thing around...finally scoped out a wide driveway and swung it around back in the right direction.

So I'm sitting outside writing this and going overhead is one of these self powered hang gliders...to me, you have to be totally crazy ass to do that.

We made it to our campsite...big operation, serious acreage...but well organized...golf carts scooting around like worker ants. Nice site with a lake view, short hop to the beach. Again, backed in and set up in about 15 minutes. This trailer is like a magnet...people just stare at it and invariably walk over to chat...truly the coolest abode in the park.

So another one in the books...