Walt Disney World, Florida
We have a friend, Phyllis, who is the Ginger Rogers of handy-woman tasks. Back in 1999, when Kelly was rehabbing an apartment, Phyllis used to come over after work, in full professional garb, to help. We had gotten her some white coveralls from Home Depot. She’d don one of them over the business suit, stockings, and pumps, and then tackle the nastiest jobs. On jobs that would gag a skunk, she just laughed and jumped in. Just like Ginger, she could accomplish seemingly impossible tasks while wearing heels.
This morning, we were hoping Phyllis was sending us good vibrations. Kelly decided to take the toilet apart. I decided to not eat breakfast. Generally, pooh makes me gag. Poor Kelly always had to deal with dog droppings because just the thought of it would send me yakking. (Can’t believe I’m even writing this!) Anyway, Kelly decided there’d be less mess to clean up if she did the dismantling. She is the bravest woman I know.
If you dare, think about what a recycling toilet does and how it works. You put about three gallons of water in it prior to using it. You add about a half cup of chemicals. Then, you make your biological deposits into the toilet. The “flush” button causes a motor to churn up the contents inside the toilet container. There’s a gauge to tell you when you’ve made so many deposits that the toilet must be emptied into the campground’s sewer system.
Now, if you’re still feeling daring, think about what the toilet would be like after 13 years of use. By strangers. Both of us wore disposable gloves. I had dozens of disinfectant towels unwrapped. The necessary tools were laid out with nearly surgical precision. We were ready.
Kelly had quite a bit of trouble getting the upper part of the toilet unscrewed from the bottom part. There were four obvious screws on the top of the unit, but who knew there were two screws hidden under the front lip?!? Luckily, she found them before she broke the rim. The gasket sealing the bottom and top parts together was indeed ready for replacement. She removed it and handed it to me. I wiped it and wiped it with disinfectant towels until it was clean. Then, I put it in a zipper baggie. Meanwhile, she cleaned the inside of that toilet until it gleamed…well, as much as any 13-year-old plastic toilet can gleam.
We disposed of our disposable gloves. We washed our hands about 20 times. Then, we high-fived each other and headed to the Camping Connection (9140 W. highway 192, Kissimmee FL 34747), an RV service store.
When we got there, we walked the aisles for a few minutes, trying to get a feel for the place. We started by asking for a fuse for the battery. The guy walked around the counter, went down an aisle we’d already visited, and brought the fuse back to us. Then we placed a water valve on the counter and asked to purchase two more. That got a raised eyebrow and a trip to the back of the store. He put those on the counter for us. Then, we put the baggie with the gasket on the counter and asked for a new one. His jaw, plus those of the two other guys, dropped. Visibly. There’s nothing like sewer stuff to get you instant respect. This part had to be ordered.
They gave us great customer service. They found the drawings for our toilet in their online material and printed it out for us. They put a rush on the order for the new gasket. They talked with us for nearly an hour about our other problems and answered all our questions.
We returned to our trailer and Kelly reinstalled the old gasket in the toilet so we would have emergency “service” until the new part arrived. I made a Christmas wreath for the trailer and hung some ornaments from our awning. Kelly put a decal map of the United States on the back of the trailer so that fellow travelers would be able to see which states we’ve visited.
That evening, we joined other campers at the nightly campfire and movie event. We donated some marshmallows and sticks for roasting to some kids and watched The Jungle Book.
A day that started with uncertainty and worry ended with a stronger bond to the RV community, a stronger sense of our strength and ability, and a lot more self confidence.
We have a friend, Phyllis, who is the Ginger Rogers of handy-woman tasks. Back in 1999, when Kelly was rehabbing an apartment, Phyllis used to come over after work, in full professional garb, to help. We had gotten her some white coveralls from Home Depot. She’d don one of them over the business suit, stockings, and pumps, and then tackle the nastiest jobs. On jobs that would gag a skunk, she just laughed and jumped in. Just like Ginger, she could accomplish seemingly impossible tasks while wearing heels.
This morning, we were hoping Phyllis was sending us good vibrations. Kelly decided to take the toilet apart. I decided to not eat breakfast. Generally, pooh makes me gag. Poor Kelly always had to deal with dog droppings because just the thought of it would send me yakking. (Can’t believe I’m even writing this!) Anyway, Kelly decided there’d be less mess to clean up if she did the dismantling. She is the bravest woman I know.
If you dare, think about what a recycling toilet does and how it works. You put about three gallons of water in it prior to using it. You add about a half cup of chemicals. Then, you make your biological deposits into the toilet. The “flush” button causes a motor to churn up the contents inside the toilet container. There’s a gauge to tell you when you’ve made so many deposits that the toilet must be emptied into the campground’s sewer system.
Now, if you’re still feeling daring, think about what the toilet would be like after 13 years of use. By strangers. Both of us wore disposable gloves. I had dozens of disinfectant towels unwrapped. The necessary tools were laid out with nearly surgical precision. We were ready.
Kelly had quite a bit of trouble getting the upper part of the toilet unscrewed from the bottom part. There were four obvious screws on the top of the unit, but who knew there were two screws hidden under the front lip?!? Luckily, she found them before she broke the rim. The gasket sealing the bottom and top parts together was indeed ready for replacement. She removed it and handed it to me. I wiped it and wiped it with disinfectant towels until it was clean. Then, I put it in a zipper baggie. Meanwhile, she cleaned the inside of that toilet until it gleamed…well, as much as any 13-year-old plastic toilet can gleam.
We disposed of our disposable gloves. We washed our hands about 20 times. Then, we high-fived each other and headed to the Camping Connection (9140 W. highway 192, Kissimmee FL 34747), an RV service store.
When we got there, we walked the aisles for a few minutes, trying to get a feel for the place. We started by asking for a fuse for the battery. The guy walked around the counter, went down an aisle we’d already visited, and brought the fuse back to us. Then we placed a water valve on the counter and asked to purchase two more. That got a raised eyebrow and a trip to the back of the store. He put those on the counter for us. Then, we put the baggie with the gasket on the counter and asked for a new one. His jaw, plus those of the two other guys, dropped. Visibly. There’s nothing like sewer stuff to get you instant respect. This part had to be ordered.
They gave us great customer service. They found the drawings for our toilet in their online material and printed it out for us. They put a rush on the order for the new gasket. They talked with us for nearly an hour about our other problems and answered all our questions.
We returned to our trailer and Kelly reinstalled the old gasket in the toilet so we would have emergency “service” until the new part arrived. I made a Christmas wreath for the trailer and hung some ornaments from our awning. Kelly put a decal map of the United States on the back of the trailer so that fellow travelers would be able to see which states we’ve visited.
That evening, we joined other campers at the nightly campfire and movie event. We donated some marshmallows and sticks for roasting to some kids and watched The Jungle Book.
A day that started with uncertainty and worry ended with a stronger bond to the RV community, a stronger sense of our strength and ability, and a lot more self confidence.
