18/#27 It's NOT Jello And It's Frozen!

There are only 5 more days on the calendar until we leave West Yellowstone. We and all the other work campers are getting anxious about hitting the road and moving on to the next adventure. Like everyone else we are starting to get the rig ready to travel. Things need to be stored and secured, final loads of laundry are being done, and food is being prepared so we can travel without having to spend too much time cooking.

All this time we are still working our jobs here and dealing with the cold weather. The last 3 days the high temperatures have not gotten above freezing. Water hoses have been disconnected and we have been working off our on board fresh water supply. We have also been keeping an eye on our propane supply and make good use of electric heaters, blankets, and mattress pad. The last was a recent purchase and it is wonderful on these cold Montana nights.

Everything was going smoothly so we knew that somewhere we were going to run into our "jello" moment. After the cold spell had broken I went outside to dump our waste water tanks. I pulled the handle and glug, glug, stop. What the .....! I checked the sewer hose and lo and behold (always wanted to use "lo and behold") it was frozen solid in a couple of spots. I hadn't payed attention to the low spots that had developed and the water there froze solid in the shape of the corrugated hose. Well that wasn't good. Now I couldn't dump my full waste water tanks!

Soon Mary was out there with me trying to solve this dilemma. First we tried a blow dryer but the ice was too thick and hard so we got nowhere fast. Then we thought we might be able to disconnect the hose, hold it vertical, and maybe the ice would slide out. Nope, not happening. Finally we boiled water and Mary poured it down the hose while I held it vertical and eureka! (Always wanted to use "eurika" also.) The ice started to break free and all the nasty sewer water and frozen waste water flushed down the campground's sewer connection. That was great but there were 2 more hoses to do so more hot water more frozen poop water and finally the hoses were clear. Mary called them "poopcicles". Did not sound appetizing.

But were we done? No! Now I had to get back to dumping the full grey and black tanks. As I pulled the handle to empty the tanks we had a little geyser of waste water squirting through a hole the ice had punctured in one of the hoses. Out to the hardware store ( which by the way has a decent RV section) and one new hose later we were able to dump our tanks without creating a bio-hazard situation.

This could have ruined our whole day or put us in a lousy mood but like I always say "there goes the jello". Patience and a sense of humour may be the best tools an RVer can carry with them on the road. You never know what will happen next but whatever it is you just have to deal with it. Later on it becomes another story to tell around the campfire.

Well we are tired and don't feel like cooking after our poop water ordeal so we are treating ourselves to dinner out. Tomorrow we go back to work to finish our commitment and earn a substantial bonus. It may have been the only thing keeping us here the last few weeks. So I will sign off with empty poop tanks and a brand new sewer hose in our home in West Yellowstone because.....

Home is where we park it,
Frank and Mary