North America

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A Meltdown in the Toilet Room

I think we can all appreciate how much time we spend on the toilet.

In my rig, the toilet has its own room with a nice heavy door that makes the room forgettable. It’s so easy to just toss stuff in there and forget it until you actually need to use the room for the purpose for which it is intended. And then, you go, “Oh, no!” as you realise you have to move X, Y, and Z out of the way to use the toilet.

This morning, I swore that the broom was never going to attack me again and that I was going to spend the time needed this afternoon to tame the most necessary and most poorly used room in my home.

I completely emptied the room, then washed it all down, from the ceiling to the floor. Then, I actually got the paint out (not surprised that I had tons left, but surprised that it was still good!) and did a ton of touch ups. No more staring at depressing white spots or scratches while doing my business!

Then, it was time to evaluate what I was storing in there and, to my surprise, I was able to determine that everything that was in there belonged in there or, rather, had no better place to be stored. It was just a matter of reorganizing a little.

End result:

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This picture really makes me regret not taking two seconds to take a before picture because you would not believe I had the same amount of stuff in here, the room was so crowded and barely usable!

I went through my hardware bin to use up odd bits and found everything I needed to secure everything. A curtain rod hook was perfect to hang the broom:

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And another curtain rod hook was the perfect solution to hold the floor piece of the filing cabinet securer:

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And finally, an eye hook and a zip tie are holding up the vacuum:

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I have no illusions that that will hold for travel, so I’ll have to take the vacuum down for now, but I have an idea of how I can use snaps and elastic in junction with this set up to really make the vacuum secure. I just don’t have time to sew today.

The floor now only has a garbage can and two big containers (one of carpet cleaning solution and one of stain remover for topping up a spray bottle) that fit perfectly behind the toilet.

When I was cleaning out the top shelf, I found some pictures I had completely forgotten about! They are from my trip to Maine. I found some little screws and hung up on the blank side of the room. I went for the random layout approach and it didn’t come out as nicely as I would have liked, but it’s nice to have them out:

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I’ve bought all the supplies I need to continue touching up the paint all around the rig, so I guess today was the kickoff of spring spruce up. What, it’s only late-January? Well, it’s very springlike around here these days!

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When Non-RVers Run Campgrounds…

The staff at Bayou Segnette State Park obviously does not RV.

The RV park is practically empty and there are lots of sites within spitting distance of the bathrooms, playground, and laundry. Twice now, they have put an overnighter on the same pad as me. Twice now, my neighbours have sadly told me, “Man, we should have just stayed at Walmart, we would have had more space.”

I don’t mind the tight quarters since the other rig is on my driver’s side, but there is no logic to this decision except that non-RVers don’t understand RVers. It’s like when I’m asked to move my rig, as though that’s a small request.

What burns me the most though, is that I never wanted this site that is right next to the comfort station and offers me zero privacy because my passenger windows overlook the path to the comfort station while my rear window faces the busy playground. Why I couldn’t have been put all by my lonesome in the back of the loop, like I requested, is beyond me.

It’s almost as though the staffers have been told by management, “These saps know we’re the best deal in the New Orleans area and so they’ll jump when we tell them to.” Shame on them.

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Oh, Right, I Have a Grey Tank!

I found a little bit of water in the bottom of the shower this afternoon and couldn’t understand it for a long second. Oh, right. Silly gal. Your grey tank is FULL!

I’ve been able to leave my grey valve open where I’ve been parked in the last long while, so I haven’t had to manage my grey tank at all. I haven’t emptied it since Hampton Roads and had a couple of long showers here.

Like most places, you cannot dump grey water on the ground here, so I did an old trick. I grabbed a big bucket and filled it from the grey tank, then emptied it in the black through the toilet. I did this four times and got my grey tank down to a third full. This barely nudged up the level in the black and will actually make it easier to empty when I go dump next week.

I’m really hoping the weather will cooperate and let me complete my solid four weeks of boondocking experiment when I get to Texas. If so, then I will need to find a better way to manage grey water dumping I will run out of space in the black tank after so many weeks. My writing partner Will has some seemingly more manageable alternatives to Blue Boys, described in our ebook, and I am going to explore them.

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Thank You, Ms. Grumpy Pants!

This morning, I packed up the inside of the rig in preparation for moving, then went to check the post office in case I could leave town today.

The package still isn’t here, so it really would have been cheaper to pay the $60 for guaranteed two-day delivery on my package instead of renewing for another five nights at $90. I believe that Monday is a holiday here and that there won’t be mail, so I’m giving my package till Tuesday AM to arrive.

Anyway, the weather isn’t that great near Houston right now (we finally got sun, YAY), so it’s rather nice to be on hookups and this will probably be my only paid nights of the winter. $200 is about a fifth of what I would have been paying per month for RV park fees, electricity, and propane so, really, my budget can absorb this.

I went into the office on the way back and a rather grumpy-looking and quiet woman was at the desk. I said, “I’m in 84, I want to renew for five more nights, I know I have to move to a different site, and I just checked online so I know you have tons of availability.” She pushed some keys and stared at her screen for a long while and then started to write me up a new park entry pass for the truck. I asked what site I was going to and she said, “The same one”!

I have no idea what she did — if she moved the reservation to another site (which the other front desk person said was not possible) or if she determined that only half of the site was booked or if the other guys cancelled, but I consider this a miracle!

I didn’t mind putting away stuff inside as it’s really just tidying up after myself now, plus the minor aggravation of securing the filing cabinet. It’s really putting away the water hose and power cable, getting off the levelers and stowing them, backing into a new site, getting level again, and rehooking up that is such a pain.

I don’t expect to have much to blog about in the next few days as I have some business matters to attend to and will need to be in the office for most of the next few days, another reason I don’t mind staying put. So if the blog goes a little quiet, no need to be alarmed. 🙂