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I have always wanted to rent an rv. im soooooo close to doing it and going cross country.

however, the dumping of the black water and gray water scares the *shit* out of me. see i what i did there ? huh? huh? I’ll be here all night, folks.

I want to get the rv as my mom is coming, too (its something she has wanted to do, a place shes always wanted to go) and shes 86 so I figure having a bathroom she doesnt have to walk to is helpful. Plus we could camp out a few nights, eat groceries we buy, etc.

My only worry is draining the bathroom tank. Am I unreasonable? Is it gross? I have this thought I will mess it up and fling the poo of 20 strangers in my face

It's not bad, there are two valves, gray and black. Gray is all the sink and tub drains, black is the poo tank. When draining make sure the hoses are in good shape and firmly connected, using rubber gloves. Pull the Black handle first let it drain, close the valve then pull the gray to flush out the hose with "cleaner" water.

OR see if you can rent a RV with a compost toilet.

We have a 5th wheel. Our rule is pee in the camper all you want. Poop goes into the campground toilet though. We also do not put toilet paper down the camper toilet. We keep a tiny trashcan with liner next to it and toss used paper in there. Since your mom is older you may want to get handicapped tags. These are almost always paved flat sites that are bit wider to accommodate needs. We stay primarily in COE campgrounds and state parks. So being able to use those sites is beneficial and usually close to the showers and reaL potties.
I have a black tank (potty) gray tank (shower and bathroom sink) and galley drain. So when you hook up to drain your hose is clean and dry. Put gloves on hook the hose to your camper drain and put the other end in the septic dump. Most place have a heavy lid, or a rock or something to help hold it in place. You drain the black tank first, then the galley then the gray, most campers also have a fresh water hookup to allow you to do secondary flush/dump of black tank. There are also septic tabs you drop in the potty when you park and stay to keep it from getting smelly. When your all done the drain tube has been flushed with what is soapy water from the shower, so then you spray it out put it in its specific container and you are good to go. The reason we don't put paper in the toilet is it messes up the sensors to tell you how full that black tank is. Nothing worse than being parked for a week and your black tank sensor saying its full from day one.
Overall thoug its not a big deal to dump

Great idea, Gotta! We have a fifth wheel, also, and what I have found is if you make reservations at decent campgrounds, most likely you can ask someone to show you the ropes...the last thing they want is any accident like you are worried about! RV'rs are a friendly lot. Aren't we, Tush?? 😀

There are several national RV campground search sites with reviews, prices and ratings; PM me for links. I really have found the reviews on those websites pretty descriptive and mostly accurate (of course, there are always mal-contents with any place). I spend time before each trip researching sites to stop at, that has helped us book our stops.

(Now I don't think you want to try "boondocking" in a rental RV with your mother, but it is do-able, and we have done it several times, free overnight parking, no facilities, in some big chain store parking lot.)

I'd just make your itinerary up, phone in your reservations and pay in advance for them before you head out. Then try hard not to drive more than 300 miles a day before you stop, and really try to arrive at your campground by 4 pm. In other words, don't be like my H and me, and drive until it's getting late!! 😮

I love RV camping. I just like camping. I talked my husband into going camping. I decided to rent one of those cabins with no bathroom, nest to a tent site, as friends were going to tent camp. I went down with my daughter and her friend a day early to set things up. That weekend we were hit with a tropical storm. We ended up running ropes between trees and hanging tarps. My had a good time, but husband said no to camping without a toilet. I really miss camping.

Being both in the medical field and a full time RVer, I am really comfortable talking about and dealing with poop, lol.

It seems much more intimidating than it really is. Whoever you are renting from should hopefully give you a demo and like others said, the community will also help if you need it.

I highly recommend the road trip. Since we have been on the road, we have seen so many amazing and just overwhelmingly beautiful parts of this country that any picture just won’t do justice. It is humbling at times and puts perspective on things to see such beauty and separate yourself from the stress of the world.

[This message edited by SI Staff at 3:00 PM, Wednesday, June 21st]

One suggestion:
Before you put the "real" stuff in the black and gray tanks then consider doing a dry-run, albeit a wet one (pun of some sorts intended…)
Flush your toilet several times, maybe add some paper and pour a couple of buckets of water. Then let the water run in the sinks, maybe add a small dash of detergent or dish-washer liquid. Then practice emptying it. If you are going to make some beginners mistake it’s better that it’s only relatively fresh water and not yesterdays well-digested steak…

Bigger's suggestion brings to mind our newbie RV experience when we finally decided to go "wet camping" i.e., load the tank with fresh water and dare to use the commode! We had hauled this old RV all the way from Virginia to Texas and back, then to the mountains of West Virginia during the winter, and we never needed to put water in the lines, as we always were booked in full service campgrounds with decent bath houses....

Well.

So I had to have a check-up colonoscopy last summer, and the hotels up at Cleveland Clinic don't allow patients to bring dogs...we had 2 big dogs. You gotta start drinking the prep and 'visiting the facility' the night before the big procedure, so we finally got to truly test the capabilities of RV camping - just like at home, haha!

I thought it was great to not have to be in a cold, clinical hotel during that looonnnng night with the many required sips of lemon-flavored "prep." (I "slept" on the dinette made into bed, right across from the small refrigerator and just a step back to the bathroom...I didn't even wake up the older dog snoring on the floor!)

Everything was great....until we were on the ride home, stopped at an interstate RV dump station, and discovered that whoever had traded the old fifth wheel unit in must never have flushed out the black tank...and the dealer hadn't done that liitle task either, before they sold it to us! The black tank appeared to have a total blockage of petrified poop & paper. Oh my....

We were told to put a couple dishwasher detergent tablets, a cup or two of septic tank cleaner enzymes, and a whole bag of ice right down the commode, and then we drove the last 100 miles home. Let her sit for a week and then went to a nearby RV campground, paid a $15 dump fee, and everything was fine. Lesson learned....

Gotta, I hope we aren't giving you TMI....it really is unlikely you'd run into this issue with any late-model rental. But maybe worth asking the rental dealer if they have serviced the unit in that fashion!