Taking a Dump and Dumping the Tank

It ain't pretty but everyone has to do it. Using the bathroom in a RV is definitely different than using a regular one. Pretty much the toilet is a raised bowl with a hole in the bottom and a pedal on the side.

I will spare you any pictures of the inside :)

When you press the pedal half way down the bowl fills with water. When you press the pedal all the way down it opens the hole in the bottom and flushes the toilet. The toilet water or "black water" as it is called in RV lingo goes into a tank under the RV. Everything from the toilet collects in the black water tank until it is full, about one week, and then we empty it. Everything collecting in that tank isn't all liquid so we have to break it all down. At the beginning of every tank cycle we toss a chemical packet down the toilet hole.

The chemical packet dissolves in the tank and breaks everything down so that it all comes out of the tank smoothly. Like I said, it ain't pretty but everyone has to do it.

The black water tank isn't the only one that fills up and needs to be emptied, there is also the grey water tank. Grey water is the water from the sinks, shower and washing machine. Since there are so many sources of grey water that tank needs to be dumped at least twice a week.

Dumping the tanks has several steps. We need to shut off the water and disconnect the hose from the trailer's water supply and connect it to the tanks. We got quick connectors for the hose to make it easier when switching it from one to the other.

Then we open the black tank and let the sewage flow. We turn the water back on so that can help clean out the black tank. Opening the tanks is done by pulling a handle inside this compartment.

Once the black water tank is emptied we open the grey water tank. By opening the grey water tank second the grey water going through the hose helps clear the black water out of the sewer hose. When both tanks are emptied, we close them, shut the water off, switch the water hose back to the trailer's water supply, turn it back on and then we are done.

When we first moved into the trailer using the bathroom was kind of weird for me. It took me a little while to get comfortable with the idea of the way the toilet works but now it is just normal. The only thing I hate about using the toilet in the trailer is when I really have to pee. Before I use the toilet I need to fill it with water. Sitting there listening to and watching the water run is torture when you really gotta go!

Experimental Meals

One of my favorite things to do is experiment with meals. From trying new recipes to making them up, I enjoy experimenting. I am also very fortunate to have a husband who is willing to try whatever I make. Well almost anything, if you ever think that tilapia, brown rice and broccoli and cheese cream of soup all mixed together might be good, let me tell you that it is gross and not even Meric will eat it!

So I have been experimenting a little and thought I would share. Last night I made chicken, macaroni and cheese with steamed broccoli. Sounds pretty basic right? Well for the chicken I breaded it in crushed pretzels with a little ranch and garlic seasoning. Instead of using regular cheese for the macaroni I used white cheddar, butterkase, and yogurt cheese. Butterkase and yogurt cheese are both semi-soft cheeses so they made the mac and cheese so creamy I didn't have to add any milk. After dishing it all up, I thought it looked so good I had to take a picture. And after eating it, I would have to say it was delicious!

Another experiment was a result of laziness. When I make lasange I mix together sour cream, cream cheese, and cottage cheese. I take that mixture and layer it with meat sauce and lasange noodles. (I started adding spinach to it for some extra nutrition.) Lazy version is to take a scoop of the cheese mixture, roll it up in a lasange noodle and cover it with the meat sauce. It is all the same ingredients but without the layering. The last time I made it I ran out of lasange noodles half way through. As a result I got even lazier. I mixed the meat sauce and cheese mixture together. Then I boiled some tortellini and mixed it all together. The results... YUM! Adding the cheese mixture to the meat sauce made it very creamy and added great flavor.

I have also been experimenting with breakfast, mainly pancakes. My lastest creation was pina colada pancakes. I used a pancake mix and added crushed pineapple, coconut flakes and rum extract. They turned out pretty good. The pineapple made them sweet and the rum extract added good flavor. I couldn't really taste the coconut though. I am slowly starting to like coconut so I was okay with the light coconut flavor. Baby steps!

Automotive Repairs

Meric is a do-it-yourself kind of guy when it comes to automotive maintenance and repairs. Living in a trailer makes that a bit of a challenge. We don't have a garage or driveway to work in and most campgrounds aren't too thrilled about people changing their oil and stuff like that on the campsite. So how can you do your own automotive work while living in a trailer? Well being in the military makes the answer easy, take it to the automotive bay. On most military posts they have automotive bays where you can take you vehicle to have work done on it or a place to do it yourself. At only $1.75 per 1/2 hour you can rent a bay area which includes lifts, access to all of the tools and help/advice from the mechanics who work there.

This past Saturday Meric and I took advantage of the automotive bay. Meric had just gotten a "power pack bundle" from Banks. (Banks is a company that specializes in upgrades for your vehicles.) The bundle included: air intake, exhaust (including high flow muffler), inter cooler and down pipes, tuner, speed brake. All of this is to help make his truck more efficient while towing our trailer. After a quick safety video, Meric and I checked out some tools and went to work. We were going to start by changing the air intake and the exhaust. Meric had looked at the instructions for the air intake and decided any idiot could do it, so that was my job. Following the instruction booklet (the pictures helped) I was able to switch out the old air intake for the new one on my own.

the new air intake that I installed

Meric started on the exhaust but quickly ran into trouble with a couple of rusted bolts that just wouldn't come off. Being at the automotive bay was great because Meric had access to so many different options to try and get the bolts off. Unfortunately, one of the guys that was helping broke one of bolts. Which led to more time being spent in trying to get the rest of the broken one out, but without any success. We did change out the exhaust but we will need to figure out what to do with the broken bolt at another time. For those that are worried the exhaust system is still functional without the bolt and there isn't an exhaust leak.

Meric's new exhaust tip

Broken bolt top right corner

We still have a lot of work to do before the new system is completely installed on Meric's truck but the automotive bay makes it easier. It is nice to have a place we can go to work on our vehicles.

4th of July

Cabin in the memorial

For the 4th of July, Meric and I decided to do some more sightseeing. This time we went to visit Abraham Lincoln's birth place. I knew that Lincoln was from Illinois, but I didn't realize that he was born in Kentucky until we moved here. Lincoln's birth place is actually only 30 minutes down the road from us. Our first stop was Sinking Spring Farm. This is the site of Abraham's family farm at the time of his birth. There is a memorial building which houses a cabin from the era of Lincoln's birth. (The actual cabin he lived in no longer exsists.) The 56 steps up to the memorial represent the 56 years of Lincoln's life. There is also the sinking spring, a walking trail, a gift shop that shows a video about Lincoln's life in Kentucky, and cabins that you can rent for an "authentic" experience.

56 steps to the memorial

Sinking spring

Next we headed down the road to visit the sight of Lincoln's boyhood home. Abraham's family moved from Sinking Spring to Knob Creek when he was only 2 or 3. The site has a log cabin, a small garden to  demonstrate the crops that were grown there, and a picnic area.

Cabin at Knob Creek

After our presidential sightseeing, we headed home to bbq some steaks and watch 1776. When it got dark we watched the fireworks show that was going on close by.

Playing Tourist in Kentucky



 

It doesn't look a thing like the real Stonehenge

Today Meric and I decided to play tourist and visit some near by attractions. Our first stop was Kentucky Stonehenge. It is located on private property (right next to the person's house) but they allow people to walk around it. In reading about this stonehenge I couldn't find any explanation as to why it was built. After seeing it in person, I think it was built because the owner has the space and enjoys building things with stone. The house was surrounded with interesting stone features and a very cool looking outdoor stone fireplace.

One of the many stone cannons on "Cannonhill"

Our next stop was the very exciting Dinosaur World. Okay so I admit this one was cheesy for two adults to do, but I felt like a little bit of cheese. It was a dinosaur museum and a walking trail that had life size dinosaur replicas along the way. It was actually not too bad and we had fun walking around taking pictures with the dinosaurs.

The last stop of the day was the National Corvette Museum. There were so many beautiful cars! They had a 1953 model (the very first) and several other classic, new and rare corvettes. The museum was huge and we both learned a lot about this classic car.

Meric really wants one now!

1953 (the first model)

Tonight we enjoyed skydivers and a fireworks show put on by the campground. It was really cool and very convenient to just sit outside and watch the show so close to our house (trailer).

1 of the 3 skydivers

On a side note, I knew that we live close to the time zone line where it changes from EST to CST but today I learned exactly how close. From where we live right now, if we drive ten minutes south of us we are in CST. TEN MINUTES down the road an we would only have a two hour time difference from everyone back in Washington instead of the three hours we have now. I have never lived this close to a time zone line and find it kinda weird.

Long Time No Blog...

Time seems to really fly by when you are traveling cross country and getting settled in a new state. At the end of May, Meric and I left North Carolina and headed to Kentucky. It was our first time to haul the trailer further than across the campground and we were nervous. I was nervous for Meric hauling our 5th wheel and Meric was nervous for me hauling our cargo trailer. Turns out neither of us had to worry because we made it to Kentucky just fine and in one day. During our trip I was impressed by the people who would graciously let us merge and one guy at a gas station who helped Meric back out of a tight spot. (backing up the trailer is definitely a two person job!) Our first night we camped at the KOA just south of Louisville. After a long day of hauling trailers it was nice to sleep in our own bed. The KOA is also where we were going to be storing the trailers while we traveled to Spokane.

It took us about 2 1/2 days to travel to Spokane. We really enjoyed our time there and in Ridgefield but as always it never seems long enough to do everything and see everyone. On the way back to Kentucky we had a wonderful treat of visiting with AJ and Jessica and holding baby Reagan. (Yes I am still bragging that I got to see and hold her first!) You know you have a long way to go if South Dakota is on the way!

We stayed our first few nights in Kentucky at the KOA and then moved to our current campground. We are staying at the Glendale Campground and really like to so far. It is a family owned and run campground and they seem like a real nice family. A lot of the people here are full-timers too. It seems more like a little community than a campground. Our spot is really close to the spots on either side of us, but the owner said that they only fill them when they are really busy. There is a pool and a lake on the property as well as a couple of large grassy fields. It is a nice campground and we like it here except that it is a bit of a drive to get to Fort Knox, about 40 minutes.

Tweaking the Trailer: Bathroom Edition

When you live in a trailer one thing you need to do is maximize minimal space. The bathroom is one space that definitely needs to be maximized. In our trailer we have a bath and a half but we are using the "half" as a utitlity closet and that leaves us with just one bathroom. Here are some modifications we made to make our space more useful.

Shower: In our bathroom we have a shower only and no tub. (Yes some trailers have bathtubs.) We only have two small shelves to put our shampoo, conditioner, soap, etc.  That is not enough space for everything and our shower head is not one you can put a shower caddy over.

Our solution was to add a soap dispenser and hook. This way I have plenty of room for shampoo, conditioner, and soap. I also can use the top as an extra shelf for my razor and face soap.

Towels: Without a linen closet, we don't have a lot of space for towels. Also with a small washer/dryer, I can only wash a maximum of 3 bath towels at once. Our solution was to get microfiber bath towels. Microfiber towels are very thin but very absorbent. They are actually bigger than regular bath towels. It is a little different using the microfiber towels but I really am liking all of their benefits. Not only are they light and compact but they dry very quickly and don't get the musty smell that used towels get.

4 regular bath towels vs. 4 microfiber bath towels

Storage: In our bathroom we have a cabinet under the sink and a medicine cabinet for storage. The cabinets are actually pretty deep, which is nice, but not nearly enough. Putting shelves in is not an option because the space is so tight we would constantly be running into them. Our solution is a shoe organizer. The shoe organizer sits flush against the wall and the pockets are plenty big enough to hold all of our bathroom stuff. So far it is working great and I don't even have all of the pockets filled. We also got a toilet paper holder that stores extra rolls so we can have extra rolls handy if we need it.

Hook: Originally the wall behind the sink had the hand towel ring on it and only a hand towel ring. We thought it was a waste of space and moved the hand towel next to the sink. We put in a hook so that we could hang our bathrobes on the wall instead.

And that is how we are maximizing our minimal bathroom.