Another Campground Upgrade

We arrived in Maynardville last week and I'm pretty excited about our latest upgrade.  The 'campground' is our private Roadrunner parking space at brother-in-law Mike's place.

Over the years we've put in a 50 amp pedestal and run a water line over to it.  The but we didn't have a septic solution.  Until last week.

Mike is on a septic system and I thought we could use it somehow but have never really checked it out.  We got a 'blue boy' and a new lid for the septic tank and problem solved.  It came together a lot faster than I expected.

The first thing to do was dig around and find the lid.

 Next, I got a crowbar and got the lid off to see what it looked like and what was underneath it.

 The beveled lid measured 19.5" inches on the top and about 16" on the underside.  What we found inside was a very full septic tank.  Every few years it is a good idea of pump these things out and it had been more than a few years.

Then we had a couple of other things to do:  get a 'blue boy" septic tote and find a septic pumping company.  

We found the nearest Camping World and picked up a small 12 gallon "Blue Boy". (Blue Boy is a generic term that refers to another company's model that is all blue plastic.

Next, Mike called and scheduled a local company to come by the next morning and pump out the septic tank.  J&J Septic from Luttrell showed up promptly at 9:30 AM and we got going with it.

 It only took about 20 minutes to drain the 900 gallon septic tank down to the bottom.  Then the washed off the hose and put things away.  We asked them about a lit that might have a removable plastic top.  Sure enough, they knew of a company over by Heiskell, TN that had a lot of models.  We drove over there and went right past the Escapees Park at Raccoon Valley.

We normally stay there for a night after our time at Joan and Mike's just so we can use there dump station/sewer.  

With our new set up though, we won't have to do that.  

On down the road past the Escapees Park, we found Knoxville Pre-Cast Concrete.  The lady behind the desk asked what size of a lid we had and I told her and to my surprise she said, "ok - yeah, we have one.  Cost is $51.02.  Pick up a round plastic green top outside and here are three screws to secure it. Drive abound back and a guy will be waiting there with the concrete lid."

 Done deal.  We put it in the back of the truck and returned to Mike's house.

 We turned it around twice to see which way fit best, put it down and Mike filled in the loose dirt around the top.

 I needed to do a "Proof of Concep" demonstration, so I emptied the black tank on the Roadrunner.

 Then I got two flat boards to make a ramp over the new dump station.

 I aimed, tipped and emptied the tote tank.

 After hosing it out and cleaning it, the job was complete.

We now have 50 amp power, water and a dump station at the Roadrunner RV Campground and Resort.  Pretty excited about it too!

Now all we have to do is figure out a DirecTV solution so we can get satellite TV again.  In the fall and winter the trees have no leaves so it hasn't been a problem.  But it the middle summer, the trees block our Winegard Trav'ler set up on the Roadrunner.

But for now, we watch local TV and don't have to worry about managing our toilet use.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!