We awoke to the reality that Escapade was done and life could return to “normal” for a couple of days before the next phase of our adventure. Just as in a fixed home, part of “normal” is maintenance. At 8:00 AM John from All Pro Water-Flow showed up to clean the waste tanks (black & gray). John normally summers in Monument, Colorado and spends winters in Yuma, Arizona. Business has been slow in Colorado this season because of the fires, and the trip to Gillette for the RV rallies had proved to be a good business move for him.
John cleaned the tanks using water at 2600 PSI fed through a small diameter high pressure hose to a special nozzle. The nozzle and hose go through a clear adapter inserted into the drain line where it attaches to the tank outlet pipe. The nozzle tends to pull itself into the tank and this arrangement allows him to control the high pressure line and see the effluent as it comes out and goes into the drain hose (which is obviously hooked to the sewer fitting). He was able to access the black tank fairly easily as it has a 3″ ID drain pipe with one 90 degree sweep that bends down to exit the bottom of the coach. The gray tank was an entirely different matter. The drain is no more than 1.5″ ID and Ts into the 3″ line. It makes a jog before a final 90 degree elbow (a sharp turn, not a sweeping one) where it’s attached to the tank. John tried several things and finally switched to a different nozzle with a spring on the end which allowed it to move through tight turns. The gray tank needed cleaning, but the black tank really needed of cleaning, and I was glad we had this done. We had not had the tanks cleaned in the four years we have owned the coach, and I can only wonder if/when any prior owners had it done.
Our tank level sensors worked a little better afterwards, but not perfectly. There could be lots of reasons for that, and getting them to work was not my primary objective as I plan to install the external See Level sensors anyway. John was patient, persistent, and took the time he needed to get the job done at no extra charge. This was another good vendor experience and another good learning experience for me. When I eventually redo the utility bay, I will make some modification to the waste plumbing that makes it much easier to clean the gray tank in the future.
We had noticed on the Escapade Extras newsletter for yesterday that the DOVES C-BOF had arranged for all day training at the American Red Cross office in Gillette. I called the contact person to see if we could get into their two training sessions, but the classes were full. We discussed future training opportunities that will be available following the 2014 Escapade, and I noted them in my calendar. I also sent her our contact information via e-mail.
While our next door neighbor Rick was preparing to leave, I e-mailed him our contact information. I left the patio awning rolled up so he wouldn’t have any clearance issues when pulling out. He left for Sundance late in the morning. By that time the sun had pulled around to the southeast so we put the patio awning back out. It was very warm and cloudy, and the humidity was up a bit, but we didn’t close up and use the ACs. There was a chance of thunderstorms, but none developed.
Linda did laundry and stopped at the grocery store while I worked on the membership and financial records for our FMCA Freethinkers chapter. I then returned my attention to the preparation of blog posts, and discovered that I had received a recommendation from Magnum that I had not yet implemented. A quick trip to the inverter bay and I had the maximum charge rate reset to 80%. The Magnum ME-ARC remote is a bit confusing at first, but the more I use it the easier it becomes. The manual, however, is absolutely essential, and I keep a PDF version on my iPad2 and laptop so I don’t have to dig out the paper versions.
I worked at my computer most of the afternoon and early evening. I’ve been capturing our daily activities using the Note app on my iPad2. I try to fill them in before bed each night, but they are rarely polished enough to upload to the blog. I e-mail them to myself and save them on my laptop where I can more easily do final editing and eventually upload them. I am about a month behind at this point, but I am catching up. I need to select a photograph or two for each post and then up they go!
We started to go for a walk after dinner but only got as far as VJ & Carol’s motorhome and invited them over for a drink and conversation. They had never been invited inside a Prevost conversion, so we wanted to unveil the mystery on behalf of all Prevost conversion owners everywhere and help them check that off their bucket list.
When VJ and Carol said their farewell for the evening it was still light enough for a stroll around the RV park. Many RVs had left during the day, but many were still here. New vehicles were also arriving, but not in Boxelder RV Park. Earlier in the day we had noticed lots of horse trailers arriving in the stables area immediately north of Boxelder RV Park. Linda checked the activities listing for the CAM-PLEX and discovered that a 3-day equestrian event was taking place. The horse trailers were using a road that comes into the stables from the east. The horse park and RV park are separated by fences with gates, which were closed and roped off to prevent animal, pedestrian, or vehicle traffic moving between them. This made good sense; the equestrians wouldn’t want us traipsing amongst their horses any more than we would want horses trotting through the campground. From our living room we could see them coming and going to the equestrian park, which is apparently due east of Boxelder RV Park.
We had fresh strawberries for a late dessert and turned in for the night.