Revenge of the Stink Bugs

My boat shoes squished as I walked.  I never wear socks with boat shoes, I don't know why.  Maybe I'm a slave to fashion.

We stayed in the Journey for my mother's funeral services at my parent's church parking lot.  Ryan's family stayed with us.  There were six of us, four adults and our two granddaughters, Taylor and Kierra.  After two days of boondocking with no hook ups, we drove an hour South to our son Corey's house.   Staying in his driveway, we used the onboard water and holding tanks and just hooked into his electricity.

We used the showers in the house, but it was nice to have the bathroom in the Journey for use at night.

We had a great time visiting, Ryan and Corey were enjoying seeing each other for the first time in over three years and Amanda and Amber, Corey and Ryan's wives, got a chance to really get to know each other because of the distances they live from each other.

We took the girls to an Easter Egg Hunt put on by the town, they had a blast and got lots of candy.

Inside the Journey, we still have some Stink Bugs. 

 When one appears, I grab a tissue, catch it and flush it down the toilet, sending it to "Poop Beach".  After seeing how long a Stink Bug can swim we figured they were having a great time down there in the black tank. 

Checking my tank levels with the six of us, the black tank level showed full by Monday night.  We looked online and found, just 10 miles away, a campground at the Navy Base at Earl, NJ.  We called Tuesday  morning and spoke to a super nice lady who said come on over, we could dump our tanks for free!

Free is good and in no time, Marti, Taylor, Kierra and I headed over to the campground.  The campground is on a former mobile home site, the mobile homes that once were there each had a nice cement slab to park on.  The sites are all FHU, the only odd thing was that the sewer connection is about three quarters of the way up the slab, right in the middle.  And the connection pipe is about eight inches high.  Perfect for a mobile home, but a little difficult for the average RV to use.

Marti guided me as I backed the Journey into the site and I stopped with the back end of the Journey just even with the sewer connection.  I carry two 15 foot sections of sewer hose and they can be connected together.  Putting the two hoses together, I just reached the sewer pipe. 

Being very careful, after getting everything hooked up, I released the grey tank for a couple of seconds to make sure it would work.  The theory is if something went wrong, you'd only spill soapy water. 

I did everything right, the grey water flowed fine.  I picked the hose up starting from the Journey's connection and "walked" it towards the sewer pipe to get the water to flow.  It worked well.

I then went and opened the black tank valve and "walked" the sewer hose toward the sewer connection, bidding all my Stink Bug "Friends" goodbye.

Suddenly, the connection holding the two sewer hoses unhooked and there I was standing between the two connections, with 15 feet of black tank sewage shooting all over me from each hose.

Thanking my lucky stars I had my mouth closed, I quickly ran and shut the black tank valve, but the damage was already done.  There was a big puddle of black tank "stuff" all over the ground and I was covered from chest to toes with that "stuff".  I swear I heard dozens of tiny voices laughing at me, the Stink Bugs got their revenge on me for flushing their beach.

I reminded myself that I changed many dirty diapers in my lifetime.  I sloshed around and re-hooked my sewer hoses back together and made doubly sure the connection was tight.  I gingerly re-opened the black tank valve and finally got the black tank emptied.   To add insult to injury, one of my hoses sprung a leak, squirting a small geyser of water up into the air.

I took out my grey water hose that I use to flush my black tank and started washing down the area,  also using a broom.  

I made an amazing discovery.  Black tank chemicals don't help with smell.

I washed down the area and then I spent some time picking up "things" and putting them down the sewer pipe.  Marti, with her great sense of humor, took my picture while I was doing that task.  Yes, I love that woman of mine.

I spent about a half hour getting the site cleaned up.  When I was done, I walked into the Journey and took off my clothes, dumped them in a plastic bag and took a good long shower.  Twice.

It wasn't a total loss, Taylor and Kierra had a blast playing around the campground and climbing some trees.

We've taken a new direction in dealing with the Stink Bugs, when we see one, we now grab a tissue and catch it, wrap it carefully, squish it and then put it in the trash.  Next to my boat shoes.

Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave a comment.