#6: Firsts

I have never lived in a trailer. I have never quit my job without having another one lined up. I have never moved out of my home without a new address to move to. So many firsts over here.

This last leg of my journey posed many “new” firsts. These are probably a bit more trivial than the ones I just mentioned, but somewhat monumental for me with this new lifestyle of mine.

1.     Arriving to a campground in the dark.

I had made reservations at a State Park called Tims Ford in Tennessee. Since we (whenever I say, “we” and I don’t mention any that any other person is with me, I’m referring to Addie and me) didn’t leave Mammoth Cave until around 3pm, we didn’t arrive in Tennessee until significantly after dark. From my limited experience, someone is rarely on duty at a campground after dark.

I knew my campsite number, so after entering the park and reading the notes on the empty gate office, I proceeded to my campsite. These campgrounds in the woods are pitch black at night. And this time of year, they are not heavily occupied. Fortunately, I found my site easily. The headlamp I purchased for my Kilimanjaro climb may be the best tool I have. I literally use it every night because once I step outside of the trailer at night, all I see is darkness.

The next morning, I checked in at the visitor center and I was good to go. No big deal to arrive “after hours.”

WHAT I LEARNED: Try to arrive to a campsite before dark. Less stressful for multiple reasons.

2.     Backing in to my campsite.

Not only was it dark when I arrived, but my campsite was a back-in campsite. As far as I know, there are two types of sites: 1) “Pull-through” sites where you just drive your rig in one way, park it, and then when it’s time to go, you just continue driving your rig out in the same direction you drove it in. Or, there is a “back-in” site where you must (eek) back in your trailer.

For those of you who have never towed a trailer (I was one of them), backing up is not easy. The science of it goes against everything we have learned when it comes to reversing a car. Basically, if you want the trailer to go to the right, you turn your wheel to the left. It sounds quite simple, but it’s very counterintuitive. Maybe once you get it it’s like riding a bike…or driving a manual car. I don’t know, because I don’t feel like I’ve “gotten” it yet.

Upon my arrival to this particular campsite, I had no choice. I had to do it. In the dark. No one else was around to help. It took me a little while, but I maneuvered my little Airstream in the designated trailer spot, unhitched and parked my car next to the trailer. Phew. Big hurdle.

WHAT I LEARNED: Practice.

4.     Taking a shower in the Airstream wet bath.

The reason I wanted to stay in this particular area in Tennessee is because I wanted to visit the Jack Daniel’s Distillery in Lynchburg. Going to Lynchburg gave me the opportunity to “get ready” and “go out” in a way. Since I had full electric and water connections at this campsite, I didn’t need to worry about my water supply or my hot water heater, so I decided to give my shower a go.

My wet bath doubles as a storage closet so after emptying my cleaning supplies, Addie’s travel crate and a few other things, I let the water heat up a bit and in I went. Even though I had unlimited incoming water (thanks to my water connection), the run off still goes into the black tank (see #6), which has a limited capacity. I knew I wouldn’t reach that capacity, but I’m still learning so wanted to be cautious.

The shower is small, and my toilet takes up much of the space where you stand, but it wasn’t that bad. The shower head is adjustable, so I just made sure I configured it right so I wasn’t having to lean back too much to get my hair wet.

I ended up running out of hot water before I got to the conditioner stage of my hair washing process, so my shower was cut short anyway. I improvised, and used some leave-in hair oil instead of conditioner and my hair felt fine. I need to learn how to conserve water, so if I can learn in these environments where it really doesn’t matter, then I’ll be way more prepared when it does matter (when I start boondocking).

WHAT I LEARNED: Does the trick when I REALLY need a nice, clean shower, but not the most user-friendly.

5.     Putting on makeup(!).

Not a huge deal, but the day I went to the distillery was the first time I put makeup on for probably a month. I don’t wear a lot of makeup in the first place, but it really felt good to get a little prettied up.

WHAT I LEARNED: Not sure. Hopefully those around me benefited(!).

6.     Emptying the black tank.

This was a biggie. The dreaded “black tank.” My Airstream has two tanks: A fresh water tank and a black tank. Larger RVs have three tanks: Fresh water, grey and black.

Fresh water: The “clean” water that is used for the shower, sink and any other faucets, etc.

Grey: The run-off water from the sink or shower. The “dirty” water, if you will.

Black: The toilet “waste.”

My Airstream has one combined tank that houses grey waste and black waste. So far, I have only used my toilet for #1, so it’s not horrible (buuuuut it still kind-of is).

Most campgrounds have a “dump station.” It’s a hole in the ground, essentially. I have a special hose (slang for this hose is “stinky slinky” - gross) that connects to a pipe opening under my trailer. The other end goes into the hole in the ground. I open a valve on the tank and the contents flow out.

It wasn’t that bad, to be honest. I wore disposable latex gloves to be sanitary and there is a water hose next to the dump hole so I rinsed everything out after the job was done. The “stinky slinky” gets stored in a special compartment under my trailer, which is not exposed to anything else. Gloves get thrown away, hands get washed and anti-bacterial gets applied. Driving away with a full fresh water tank and an empty black tank is a great feeling!

Side note: When you hook up to a water connection at a campsite, you use water directly from that water source/spout/spigot. Therefore, you don’t deplete any water from your fresh tank. If needed, before leaving the site, you can top off your fresh tank with the water from that water source as well. Then you have a full tank for your next stop if it doesn’t have a water connection.

WHAT I LEARNED: Whatever it is, it may not be as bad as you anticipated it would be.

WHAT I LEARNED OVERALL: Take more photos…even photos of those moments that you think you won’t want to document.

Oh! The Jack Daniel’s Distillery is definitely worth a trip. I did a $25 tour which included a sampling of six different JD varieties. Also, Lynchburg is a small town with a lot of character.