Tank Cleaning - 05/13/14

Tuesday – May 13, 2014
Tank Cleaning
Chicago, Illinois

Time for one of my not-so-favorite annual chores: clean the black and gray tanks on our Casita Travel Trailer. Obviously, the black tank is the most challenging of the two tasks. Sharon always gets a kick of watching me in my "Robin Williams" garb (suited up with black rubber gloves and apron) as depicted by Robin Williams in the movie RV.

Fortunately, the black tank only holds 15 gallons, so generally after twenty gallons of fresh water is flushed through it, the tank is pretty clean. The gray tank has a capacity of 32 gallons and is not as overwhelming to clean out as the black tank. After cleaning, both tanks are filled with fresh water and treated with Happy Camper Odorless Holding Tank Treatment. I let the treatment set in the tanks until our next trip. It seems to get the job done in terms of cleaning our tanks and eliminating odors.

The cleaning of the fresh water tank is straight forward. I drain the 25 gallon tank and the water lines. Then fill the tank with fresh water and about a pint of bleach. I run this solution through the water lines and let it set until our next trip.

With the tank cleaning tasks now behind me the Casita is good until next year. Project complete!

Tomorrow another adventure begins.

Back at Home Base - 05/01/14

Thursday – May 1, 2014
Back at Home Base
Chicago, Illinois

After being on the road for the past five months it feels good to be back home. We decided early on in our travels that living in a RV full time would not suit our lifestyle. We certainly enjoy traveling, but prefer to have a home base to return to for a spell. That being said, time to get the lawn mower tuned up for the spring and summer mowing season, tend to some landscaping, cultivate the garden, stock our pond with some gold fish and start on the PIC’s (that would be Sharon!) to-do list. Maybe being on the road full time wouldn’t be so bad after all!

Our neighbors next door are kind enough to collect our mail for us while we are gone. It is absolutely amazing the amount of junk mail we received. It is difficult to appreciate the amount of junk mail one receives until you see five months worth of it piled up on a table. What a waste of natural resources and one’s time to sort the junk mail from the legitimate mail. We wish there was some way to stop junk mail, but we have not found one yet.

While we were away for the winter, we followed the weather reports on the brutal winter weather they were having in the Chicago area. Our neighbors confirmed this was one of the worst winters ever; severe cold with a lot of snow. We feel so fortunate we are able to travel to warmer climates during the winter.

The weather presently is in the low fifties. We shall see what the summer has in store for us.

Tomorrow another adventure begins.