Saturday, December 5
The crew and I are camped in southeastern California near the town of Blythe.
It’s high time I hitch up the Best Little Trailer and pull it over to the dump station at Midland Long Term Visitor Area.
The tongue of the BLT jacked up for a hitch-up.
The last time I took care of this task was November 11th — 25 days ago! — the day we pulled out of Las Vegas Bay Campground. I’m so surprised by this length of time that I skim through previous posts to see if I’d forgotten a dump.
How can one forget a dump?
They’re such an important part of the full-time vagabond life! Anyway . . .
Notice the upright lever on the coupler. It is brought down and secured with a key lock once the hitch ball is seated.
I don’t want to disturb our cozy “nest” next to the ironwood tree.
I leave everything as it is — the blue mat, the table, lounger, camp chair, doggie beds, hummingbird feeder, even a dishpan of dirty dishes. I hitch up and attach the power cords, safety chains, and emergency break-away cable. I don’t bother with the sway bar. We’re only going to the other side of the camping area.
Driving away from camp, I look over at our stuff.
That’s what camp looks like when you don’t camp with a travel trailer . . . .
Those yellow things are the wheel chocks.
Our camp looks like a yard sale! I never worry about the BLT being stolen when the crew and I take off in the PTV. However, I can think of camps where I wouldn’t leave our stuff exposed like this.
Here at Midland it’s okay. Only one vehicle has driven by our camp during the past two weeks we’ve camped here.
Only one!
We rumble from the western boundary of Midland LTVA, where our camp is located, over to the eastern boundary, where the dump station is. On the way I count 15 camps of various rigs, all widely spaced apart.
The photo compresses the distance. Each rig is pretty much by itself.
No one is camped anywhere near the dump station.
I plan to photograph the dumping process, but late afternoon shadows change that.
This timing for dumping tanks works perfectly.
The short-term LTVA permit ends on December 17th. I’ll empty tanks again when we leave for a new camp, thirteen days from today.
Putting camp back together again . . .
If you look again at the third photo in this post, you’ll see that I need to back the BLT into the campsite. While doing that, I want to line up the side of the BLT along the blue mat, positioning the door at one end. It doesn’t matter if it takes two tries or twenty-two tries. There’s no hurry. I’ll position the BLT how I want.
Presto!
Inches from the mat in five back-and-forth attempts! That was fun practice!
Replace the chocks, unhitch, crank until level, lock the coupler, re-position some stuff, and we’re done.
Wow! What a response to the previous post!
If you didn’t open up comments and you have the time, take a look at the discussion on how to conserve water while RVing/tenting, as well as suggestions for the City of Blythe in response to the water spigots being turned off at Miller Park.
Irrigation canals between Midland LTVA and Blythe, along Midland Road.
You’ll also find comments about . . .
. . . the benefits of marijuana-infusion oils for people undergoing radiation treatments, links for ideas for cooking in your RV or over a campfire, chats about dreams and struggles and plans to hit the road, and a lot of other interesting stuff, too.
A few readers made the leap from lurkdom to blogorino status by introducing themselves. That’s always a treat!
Crops grown near Blythe include cotton, citrus, palm trees, vegetables, and alfalfa.
Fallow land beyond the canal
There’s a huge solar array between Midland Road and the interstate.
From our camp it appears as a silver line that sometimes sparkles in the sunshine at the base of the McCoy Mountains. If you like to play with Google Earth, you might have fun finding and “flying over” the facility.
A post beginning with dumping waste tanks could use a touch of something beautiful!
The crew and I pull over along Midland Road. I want to watch and photograph this lovely white bird as it walks in a field of fresh green.
I’ll go out on a limb here and call it a Great Egret. Correct me if I’m wrong.
What a graceful creature!
If you’d like to learn about the Great Egret and hear it’s call, click this link to Cornell School of Ornithology’s website, All About Birds.
That’s all, folks!
I know what you’re thinking — Where’s the crew? They’ll be back next time. Promise.
rvsue
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