05/02/2022
We got up around our usual late-ish time which seems to me becoming the norm. The only way to change that is to stop watching the TV so late at night and into the morning hours as obviously, I need the sleep. I have heard of many older folks who have trouble sleeping but it is not true in my case. As usual, we took a short walk and ran into Daniel trying to blow leaves off a campsite and complaining that the wind was not helping which was true as it was blowing in the opposite direction that he wanted the leaves to go. I suggested he blow with the wind, and he replied that he would then have to blow the entire park as the site he was working on was an outside site. Incidentally, the site was vacant as the tenants who had been long termers had moved out as had a couple of others, also long termers. The first tenants had a reputation for hogging the laundry room as they seemed to do laundry every 3-4 days. It was a dull and overcast day with the chance of rain in the forecast, but we have no special plans except some maintenance work around Mr. George.
Following breakfast and coffee, I settled down to read emails and was aware of a sewer smell permeating the RV which reminded me that I needed to flush out the black tank. I dropped what I was doing and set about preparing for the flushing which first required that I empty the black tank. With that part done, I dragged in the water hose but first shutting the dogs in the bedroom so that I could leave the doors open and attached the flushing wand that I have for exactly this occasion. This wand is about two and a half feet long and attaches to the hose at one end and has a very small jet nozzle at the other which increases the pressure of the water quite considerably. The idea is that it will break down the solids in the black tank and thereby allowing them to be flushed out. It is a straightforward process, and I followed the power flushing by filling the tank completely. The tank holds about 30 gallons of liquid. Then it was back outside to open the outside valve and releasing the liquid down the exterior sewage drain where it normally goes. I repeated this process three time in all before the flow down the sewer improved considerably. Satisfied that the drain was free from impediments, in this case, built up piles of you know what, I coiled up the water hose and put everything away hoping that that I have fixed the problem at least this time. There are several reasons for poop build up. Among them is lack of water with each flushing which creates a situation where there is not enough water in the black tank to help the solids dissolve. Another is using too heavy a toilet paper which clumps up and does not readily dissolve. The third is dropping something down the toilet that should not be there, the sort of things little kids do. As I do not have any little kids and the dogs are not smart enough to drop things down the toilet, then I suppose that I must inadvertently be to blame for the slow flow for the other reasons.
I have scheduled for the RV mechanic to stop by and replace the RV toilet as the flushing mechanism, which is foot operated, is not working properly. When the pedal is depressed, the valve opens and at the same time, water starts to flow to flush the toilet. If the pedal is only slightly depressed, the valve closes, and the water still flows and is supposed to flow for a short time when the bowl is closed to leave some in the bowl to act as an odor seal just like in a house toilet which was not happening in my case. Normal wear and tear on the rubber gaskets and constant use of the foot pedal mechanism is the cause of the problem.
The mechanic could just repair the flushing mechanism, but it is quicker albeit a little more expensive to replace the entire unit and for him, a lot less messy. As with everything RV wise, there is not much room for moving or room to work. That is one of the things that you do not think about when you think of RV’ing and all that goes with it. It is easy to think of the fun things but there are the serious sides to it as well. I have heard that a well tried and true method of helping to fix the buildup problem if you are travelling, is to dump a bag of ice cubes in the black tank through the toilet and the movement of the RV and the ice sloshing around will help the break down the piles.
Sandy was giving me “the look” and was being her usual buggy self, which told me it was time to go out for the evening walk. We met a nice lady who stopped and spoke to us just so she could make a fuss of the dogs, well Sandy as Mikey was up to usual tricks of trying to hide. We chatted for a bit, and she said that she and her husband were both airplane pilots flying for Fed Ex and were here on vacation from Minnesota. She joked that she prefers boxes to people are the reasons why they fly for Fed Ex and not one of the big passenger outfits. They have a rented rig from Cruise America emblazoned with some beautiful murals as pictured above. We do get to meet some interesting people.
We sat for a while outside after we returned before heading back inside for the final time for this day.
Written 05/03/2022. Read my other blog at https://pondblog2011.com
Henly RV Park Day 3, Tuesday
05/03/2022
I got up earlier than usual as I was not sure if the RV Mechanic was coming by today or not. I checked my messages but nothing from him until I was just getting ready to walk out the door for the morning walk. He texted to say he would be over, and I was his second call. I knew that would give us time to complete the walk which we did for about a half mile before returning to Mr. George. The park is pretty empty as the campers come and go and even some of the long termers have moved on. Sometimes, the RV may be gone maybe for repair, but you can tell if they plan to return because they leave the carpet and outside things where they are. When the site is absolutely clear, then it’s a good bet, they have moved on.
I had no idea when the repair man would show up only that it would be sometime today. I busied myself writing and posting and worked on a few pictures to pass the time. He eventually showed about 1:30 pm and immediately got to work on changing out the toilet. The new one is slightly different in shape with a more elongated front but otherwise, a toilet is a toilet. It took him about 30 minutes to make the swap. I wondered what he was going to do with the old one and watched as he carefully boxed it up and drove it to the nearest dumpster. Question answered. Probably, because he is a regular here at the park, Management would not say anything to him about the type of trash he is dumping even if it is Construction related.
When he returned, he turned his attention to the levelling system which works in Automatic but is not level at the completion of the sequence and is off by quite a bit. Even without the use of a level, it is easy to tell as it feels like walking uphill. The unit is in need of recalibrating, and he got on his phone to whichever place he turns to for instructions on subjects that he is unfamiliar with. He did some things on the unit and let in the jacks and then told me to do the leveling using the automatic system which I did. He checked the floor with my level, and it was close enough. Two down and one more to go. Little did we know that the last project was going to be a doozy.
The last time I opened the slide when I moved to this site, there was a loud grinding noise just as it finished opening it and I quickly let up on the button. The slide was all the way out, but I just knew something was majorly wrong. The mechanic looked at it and through the rest of the afternoon worked on different part and pieces dismantling some of them with an endless display of power tools. He got it back working again but eventually concluded the worn cable, although still working, really needed to be changed out before it broke. He said he will order another cabling system and will return on the 17th to do the repair. He is a very tall man, probably 6’4 or 6’5 and had no trouble in working on the upperpart of the slide out. Me, I cannot even touch the ceiling and would have needed a step ladder. I gladly gave him a check for the work he had performed, and he drove off and I took the dogs out walking. As they had been tied up outside for a couple of hours while the work was going on, they were not that enthusiastic for the walk. Good thing too as my body was tired with the exertions of the day, most of which I spent watching the other guy work and that made me tired.
After the walk, we adjourned back to Mr. George, and I tidied it up following the construction experience before we settled in for the evening. I did spend time writing while my memory was still fresh as it is so much easier than to rely on recall which is not that good anymore. The rest of the evening was spent in the usual way.
Written 05/03/2022. Read my other blog at https://pondblog2011.com