A really short journey is still a journey
We are having a great time enjoying food, friends, and fun in the desert. We’ve had several potluck meals, shopped at Tyson Wells, and even went to dinner at the Quartzsite Yacht Quartzsite Yacht Club!
We are also breaking in our 2025 Rockwood Mini Lite 2506FK. We did spend a week at the Quartzsite Sports, Vacation, and RV Show but we had access to water, electricity, and they hired a dump service that came every three days. With that much dumping, we didn’t get to really test our tank capacities.
Minimize water usage
Now that we are spending a week completely off-grid, we knew we needed to conserve a bit more. We have a 54-gallon fresh water tank, similar to the tank in our previous Mini Lite 2205S. We don’t worry too much about water usage, though, because we carry our Wolverine Tuff Bottles and pump to refill the tank without moving the trailer. As long as we aren’t wasteful, the water lasts a decent length of time.
Minimize waste
We do have a second grey water tank in this trailer, which seems like it’s going to be a big help. Grey water has been our most limiting factor in the past. On the other hand, we really got into the habit of keeping dish water in a dish tub, then pouring it in the toilet to help keep the black tank from being too dry. So it’s funny, but not too surprising, that our kitchen grey tank hasn’t even indicated a 1/3 full light yet.
We also learned to really minimize shower water, because we always knew that was the source of most of our grey water. To that end, last year in Quartzsite we got a Geyser Shower system. In fact, Tony likes that system so much that he bought a second set and put it in the house shower. With the Geyser system, a shower only takes about a gallon of water. I take this kind of shower on days I don’t have to wash my hair. So, grey tank management has become pretty bearable also.
In my mind, black tank capacity was never a problem for us. We thought we could easily stay off-grid for eight days without filling that tank. That proved to be untrue, at least on this trip. Now, I will say, we had our final dump at the show on Saturday, so we really have to count this as an nine-day experiment. Of which, we made six days before we knew we were not going to make the entire nine. Also, we have stayed in camp almost the entire time, so we are using our own bathroom exclusively, rather than being out and about all day and only using ours in the evenings. So it was a full test.
Without getting too in-depth, we will continue to keep half a mind on the timing of dumping the black tank. It may well prove to be our new limiting factor.
You mentioned a journey?
Oh right, I had a point here. We had to pack up and drive into town to dump our black tank. Knowing we would be doing that, we did not fill our water tank with the Wolverine Tuff Bottles. We simply filled the fresh tank after we dumped the black and shower-grey. The kitchen grey still registered as empty. We were on the last dot of fresh water, so it seems that the fresh and black had just about the same lifespan, at least this week.
The RV Pit Stop
There are a few places in Quartzsite where an RVer can pay to dump waste tanks, fill water tanks, and fill propane bottles. Our go-to place is called the RV Pit Stop. They offer all three of these services, plus a machine that dispenses reverse-osmosis drinking water for a quarter a gallon. Oh, and ice, though we’ve never needed ice.
Tony had filled our propane on the day we moved to our boondocking site, so they are still full enough. We also had used a different machine for drinking water a couple days ago, so we didn’t need that service today.
Packing up for a journey
So we took maybe our shortest journey ever, seven miles into town to the RV Pit Stop. I thought, hey, no worries, we are only driving a few miles into town to dump our tanks. Easy pack-up, right?
Ha! Moving is moving. I still ended up stowing all the things that were sitting out, and folding down the dinette table, and vacuuming so I could bring in the slide. The only real shortcut I took is that I piled a bunch of stuff on the bed instead of putting it away properly. Great idea, huh? Sure, until bedtime, when we had to move everything again. Silly me!
Can we fix this?
For the record, we aren’t the only ones who had to make this short journey. Two of us actually went on the same day.
You know, when you gotta go, you gotta go. I don’t think planning to use the toilet less is really a valid plan. In the future, for these long stays (more than six days, apparently) we need a plan. Probably easiest is just scheduling a dump-day in the middle of our long stay. It felt a little silly packing up, driving, getting back, and setting up again when we only have one full day ahead of us. It might feel a little less silly if we go earlier in the week.
We also will be looking into a local dump service. I’ve seen the trucks driving around, so I know they exist. We will likely research the cost of an onsite dump service, and schedule that if enough of our group wants it. Or, like I said, just schedule a “dump day” where the plan of the day is to hook up and make that short but vital journey.
Many of this group camping with us, buys a long-term visitor area (LTVA) pass so they can use the facilities at those stations. We don’t stay in the area long enough to justify that, because we can stay in the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land for up to 14 days, and that is usually our limit anyway. Those who have LTVA privileges may not be interested in a dump service. On the other hand, maybe they would be happy to not have to hook up and drive to a dump station!
Power to Spare
I do want to mention that we have not had any problems with our Power Package from ABC Upfitters keeping up! Without the solar and lithium system we have, we might also have to run a generator occasionally, or really conserve power. One of the biggest power hogs is the Starlink, which I need if I’m going to entertain you all with these occasional journey journals! Haha.
One day, more for fun than necessity, Tony hooked up the DC-DC charger on the truck and tested it. We increased power to nearly 100% in mere minutes, and he said the truck was not annoyed at all. So we know that is a valid option if we do have some cloudy days. Anyone want to buy a generator that was only used once?
Upcoming journey
Tomorrow, we pack up for real and head to our next stop. We’ll be exploring two new-to-us RV Parks and will report back on what we find. Until then, StressLess Camping!
