At some point the truck and trailer will cease being the focus here - but getting these two together, figuring out the hook and unhook procedure, learning about trailer brakes, and learning how to back up and park a 5th wheeel trailer—these are the items dominating our attention lately so the content here reflects that.
Today we spent a few hours at the local state park which is on Lake Michigan. It’s about 6 miles from our house and one of our favorite places in the world. While that all sounds blue-sky and toes in the sand, the initial reason for the excursion was noticing that the in-trailer gauge that indicates levels in the various tanks and battery was reading 2/3 full for the black water tank.
In case you’re not familiar with RVs - that’s the one connected to the toilet. Nothing unusual - what goes in must come out. Except - and this is a big except - we haven’t yet used the toilet.
I’ll let that sink in (sorry…) a moment…...
....with me now?
So - we were faced with two possibilities. Either the gauge was wrong, or the gauge was right. I honestly couldn’t decide which I wanted to be true. The former would be initially a relief (sorry..), while the latter would be more handy as we live in this thing for a year.
How did it come out in the end? (Sorry..)
After pulling the trailer to the state park’s dumping station (and making 2 loops through the crowded campground because I guessed the outputs to be on the wrong side of the rig) and going through the rubber-globe and sewer hose routine, we found the worst possible case to be true. The tank was “pre-stocked” - and the gauge remained at 2/3 after emptying.
Nothing to do except be grossed out, get over it, shake our heads, and head to the beach where we walked, had stone-skipping contests, had lunch, read books, and finally pulled out when it was apparent that the sun-crazed crowds were going to insist on squeezing their cars into any spot possible—including the space we needed to be able to pull out again.
Here’s a beauty shot with Lake MI in the background: