Okay, we had our first “holding tank” learning experience last night. Here were are all cozy and getting ready to hit the sack… it’s about 10:00pm when we notice this yukky odor emanating from the drains.

Eeek, the shower tray was leeching gray water (that’s the term for all sink/shower water; toilet stuff is called “black water” – ugh, eh?!)

Okay, I think we discovered our max – just four days for the forty-gallon gray water holding tank. That was a shower for each of us every day, regular hand washing & dishes. Not much.

(We’re on partial hook-ups just now at the Elks Lodge in Oceanside, CA – that is, electricity and fresh water coming in… but gotta move the coach across the lot to “dump” – that’s the term for draining the waste water).

Okay, so back to my story: I go into a panic. Ty and I decide we’d better handle the dumping NOW. We baton down the hatches in prep for moving our housey on wheels… alas two of the four leveling jacks are stuck in the gravel now. So, Ty gets out the hammer and starts whacking away at the poor jacks.

Thwack, thwack, thwack… holy smokes, it’s now after 10:30pm and we’re surrounded by seniors here. Chances are they’re getting disturbed. Sure enough – a disgruntled lady appears clad in dressing gown demanding to know what the heck we’re up to as we’re keeping everyone awake. OOOOPS!!

I told her we are new RV’ers and apologized profusely, explaining our predicament. She promptly suggested we go get the “Blue Boy” from the camp host to tide us over to the morning… “it’ll be a darnsite quieter than the hammer” she scoffs as she goes back to her coach. Oh dear.

I’ve no idea what the heck a Blue Boy is. But, I make my way over to the camp host… and sure enough, I spot this plastic container on wheels with hoses and openings and a big handle like a sled! By this time, Ty’s a tad stressed and ready to hit the sack regardless of the leakage and eau d’pong.

But I convinced him I’d found the solution – so, we haul this little blue dump “sled” to our coach, drain about 15 gallons, and yank the sloshing thing over to the dumping drain. I kept waiting for the “Candid Camera” peeps to spring out from somewhere!

What a hoot! I said to Ty we could look forward to bonding in a few days (that’s what Gary Smalley says these kinds of camping-type challenges create in the end!)

Tell you what though, this experience sure made me think about how much water we use in regular “bricks ‘n’ sticks” houses without realizing it.