Water Off, Wine On

We made it through another week on the road, and compared to some of our recent adventures, this one wasn't exactly the most exciting.

But that doesn't mean RV life didn't find a way to throw us a little challenge.

If you remember from last week's blog, we arrived at our campground super excited because we finally had 50-amp service again. After dealing with 30 amps and only being able to run one air conditioner, we were ready to enjoy ALL the A/C.

Then we realized something very important was missing from our campsite...

Sewer.

Okay, no big deal. We've stayed at plenty of campgrounds without sewer hookups at the individual sites. Usually, there's a dump station somewhere on the property.

Except this time...

There wasn't.

No sewer hookup at our site.

No dump station.

No sewer anywhere on the property.

Let's just say this was VERY unexpected and something we definitely weren't prepared for.

To make matters even better, Krysta was about two weeks behind on laundry. Our washing machine drains directly into our tanks, and we can usually only get about three loads of laundry done before we have to dump.

So suddenly, every gallon of water going down a drain mattered.

Krysta went into extreme laundry conservation mode and washed only the absolute necessities.

Showers also became a carefully calculated operation:

Turn the water on.

Get wet.

Water off.

Soap up.

Water back on.

Rinse.

WATER OFF.

Get out.

And did we mention it was approximately 1,798 degrees outside?

Okay... maybe not literally.

But it certainly felt like it.

Sweating was basically guaranteed, which isn't exactly convenient when you're trying to take the shortest showers humanly possible.

Needless to say, we went into the week a little stressed about just how long we could make those tanks last.

And there was another concern...

Flooding the trailer.

If you've been following us for a while, you may already know that Krysta has managed to flood the trailer not once...

Not twice...

But THREE different times.

And those were times when we actually HAD sewer hookups!

So with nowhere for our tanks to go this week, we were watching those tank levels like our lives depended on it.

Lesson learned: from now on, we're triple-checking exactly what amenities are available before booking a campground.

On Tuesday, we decided to get out and explore the campground a little bit.

During our walk, we came across something neither of us had ever seen before—a fish ladder.

Of course, we immediately had to figure out what it was.

We learned that fish ladders are designed to help migrating fish get around barriers like dams by creating a series of smaller steps or pools they can swim through instead of trying to overcome the entire height of the dam at once.

The one we found was no longer in service, and walking around it honestly gave us a little bit of an abandoned, post-apocalyptic feeling.

But we learned something new!

And if you know William and Krysta, you know we both love discovering random things and then figuring out how they work.

The rest of the week went surprisingly smoothly.

Most importantly...

WE DIDN'T FLOOD THE TRAILER!

We'll call that a victory.

Before we knew it, it was time to pack up and move again—and we were VERY ready to leave.

There was just one little problem.

We still had to empty our tanks.

William checked The Dyrt and discovered that the closest dump station was about 30 minutes away.

So there we were, pulling our entire home down the road with a VERY full black tank.

Let's just say that was probably one of the slowest and most cautious 30-minute drives we've ever taken.

Every bump in the road suddenly seemed much bigger than usual.

But we made it!

And we have never been so happy to see a dump station in our lives.

Once everything was emptied, we could finally relax and continue toward a destination we've really been looking forward to.

But first, we had another overnight adventure.

Saturday night brought us to Schultz Glory Oaks Vineyard & Farm, another Harvest Hosts location.

And this one might just be our favorite Harvest Hosts stay yet.

The property is owned by Greg and Debbie Schultz, who have been making their own wine since 2010. Even better, we learned that they used to live full-time in their RV too, so they completely understood the lifestyle.

They welcomed us with a beautiful wine tasting in their tasting room, and we had such a great experience getting to know them and learning more about their wines and property.

The entire place was clean, peaceful, and surrounded by gorgeous mountain scenery. Greg and Debbie were wonderful hosts and made us feel incredibly welcome.

After the week we'd just had, this was exactly the kind of Saturday night we needed.

We spent the rest of the evening "wine-ing" down, enjoying some delicious wine and taking in the mountain views around us.

It was the perfect reset before another travel day.

Sunday morning, it was time to pack everything up again and head toward our next campground.

Now, technically, our next campground doesn't have sewer hookups at our campsite either...

BUT THERE'S A DUMP STATION ON THE PROPERTY!

After this week, we'll happily take it.

But there's something else about our next destination that we're even more excited about.

We checked the weather forecast, and the high temperatures for the entire week aren't expected to get much above 65 degrees.

After weeks of feeling like we've been slowly cooking ourselves across the country, we are MORE than ready for some cooler weather.

And this next destination is one we've been looking forward to for quite a while...

Any guesses where we landed?