Physics and Math and Poo-Oh My!

Or, why I should have paid more attention in high school

Having secured our what (the RV), the where (our itinerary) it was time to turn our attention to the how. How do you travel with your house on wheels? At home when I flip a switch—presto—on come the lights! When I want a cold drink, the refrigerator at home is stocked. After a hike a long hot shower made possible by indoor plumbing feels so good. And where, in the name of all that is sacred, does your poo go without a sewer system? All will be revealed!

First some basics about life on the road. There are several options for where to camp. One is a private campground with hook ups to electricity, water and dump stations. These often have pools, hot tubs, wi-fi, small grocery stores, etc. You pull in, you hook up, you dump out, you leave. I admit, I found the ease enticing. However concrete parking pads surrounded by hundreds of other RVs was not the vibe we sought. Besides, we are not towing a car and had no transportation to get to the parks we wanted to visit. On the other end of the spectrum is what is known as boondocking. Basically you park the RV and live self contained. Like most things in life, happiness is found in the middle. Most of the National Parks offer hookups and the parking pad is surrounded by nature but with none of the “ritzy” amenities. In these parks we still have to learn the mechanics of RV life but there is a safety net of dedicated electricity and water with public toilets and showers. The notable exception to this rule is our first stop—Glacier National Park. There are no hook ups; we will be boondocking right out of the chute.

Electricity

Time to dust off the physics books. Our RV has two separate power systems, one runs on 120 volt AC and one that runs on 12 volt DC. The 120 V power comes from either running the generator (we have one on board) or plugging into the “shore power” (campsite) line if there is one. This wil run our air conditioning, microwave and outlets in the rig. Our RV has two 12V batteries: one to power the ignition system and the other to power amenities (such as interior lights and refrigerator). OK, as my high school algebra teacher used to say: “what is the practical application”? Well, if we can’t plug in (like in Glacier) our use of the AC, microwave and electrical outlets is severely limited. Generator use is limited by the Park (noise!) so I’ve ditched the idea of using the AC or microwave in Glacier. The generator also charges the auxiliary 12 V auxiliary battery. It’s a busy beaver! Keep in mind that the generator is gasoline powered so we are pulling on our fuel supply by using it. All of this means we must be judicious and strategic in our use of electricity. Time to do some math. Thanks to an engineer buddy (who actually understands all of this stuff!) we figured out that with an hour of generator a day we should be ok to use the plugs, keep the lights on, make coffee, charge phone/ipad/watch batteries and maybe even use an electric blanket at night! Thanks, Steve!

Water

In the words of Ben Franklin, “When the well is dry we know the worth of water.”

Here are the parameters: we have a 40 gallon fresh water tank, a 6 gallon water heater tank, a 24.5 gallon “grey” water tank and a 24.5 gallon “black” water tank. Grey water is waste water from the shower and sink, black water is from the toilet. I will refer to the black water tank as the poo-poo tank because that’s how mature I am. When we are hooked up to a water source the fresh water supply is limitless (we still plan on only drinking bottled water). However, at Glacier we have no hook up. We will start the trip with a full water tank (gas mileage be damned) to maximize use at Glacier. Through a serious of higher math calculations I figured we could take 5 minute showers while at Glacier. Correction 5 minute COLD showers as the water heater uses precious electricity. Peter pronounced this untenable and will use the public shower in the campground. I decided I will be either smelly or cold because public showers just aren’t my thing. Once we leave Glacier I’ll be back to my sweet smelling self.

Now as to the grey water/poo-poo water situation it should not come as a surprise to anyone that this task is solely, uncontravertibly on Peter’s list of duties. I will gladly cook. I will not dump the after product of said cooking. We must have watched a million YouTube videos on how to dump waste. It involves physics and heavy duty plastic gloves. Every 3 days or so you hook one end of this big A hose to the poo-poo coupling on the rig and the other end to a designated dump hole. The physics is getting the right angle so it flows. The gloves are for, well, I will let your imagination take you there. After it empties, you take that same hose and hook it to the grey water coupling. That both empties the tank and cleans the hose. Then Peter calls to Gigi and tells her it is time to hit the road! For inspiration (cause I am mature) I leave you with this clip called “Poop Geyser”.

Well, we are two weeks away from adventure. I’ll be back to post our packing extravaganza which feature clothes for three seasons!. As always if you know someone that would enjoy this blog, please pass it along. Also, if you get anything from Substack asking you to purchase a paid subscription, PLEASE ignore it. I am not looking to make money—just spread joy.