The most recent learning experience in the world of RVing happened as we were leaving Jalama State Park. It was time to empty the ‘Black Water’, the toilet tank, and I went through the, by now, familiar ritual of attaching the hose and placing it in an opening for sewage. It was a little different than the other ones I had used, as the opening had a bottleneck and the hose could only go down about 8 inches. I didn’t think any more of it and plugged the hose down as far as it would go and went over to pull the valve to empty the tank. The tank was pretty nigh full, as I was taught it ought to be, as gravity provides the force for the content to escape. There was a slight hesitation as I pulled the valve, as the sludge within seemed to pause before it made its exit. With a satisfying ‘glug’ the effluent began to flow.  Something in the back of my mind registered that all was not well. The end of the hose came spewing out of its hole as an air trap had been created, giving the effluent no place to go but up. An impressive geyser shot forth as if to rival Old Faithful herself.. Without pausing to think of the consequences I grabbed the snaking hose and put it back in the hole, leaving some space for the air to escape. There was a momentary question as to whether the stuff was going to go down the drain, but as it was, fortune was smiling upon me. Miraculously I was only dowsed to the elbows. Another fortunate circumstance was that the holding tank was mainly for Annet’s use, as I use outside facilities. When Annet was consoling me on my great misfortune, I was able to rationalize my experience by likening the Schaap-extract to lily water. This at least, was pleasing to her.

Another occurrence that took place at Nevada Beach in Lake Tahoe I can add to my learning curve as well: We had found a rare open campsite in the best kept State Park we had encountered. It was a tight fit, though and as I attempted to cut in our rig, my guide waved me in, saying: You have almost got it! Tired from the end of a long journey I was paying more attention to my signalman then I was to the position of Molly relative to the truck. BANG! There was a shotgun blast behind my ear. When my heart started beating again, I turned to see Molly’s nose poking through the back window. The rest of our stay at Nevada Beach was getting that taken care of..

Just two more things to add to my list off ‘What Not To Do’.