Water, water, everywhere

The husband gave me an assignment to complete while he was out of town for work last week and this week: flush the potable water tank and hot and cold running water lines so that we can drink the water from the tap while hooked up at a campsite. You see, being new to this whole RV thing we (o.k...I)did not realize that you can't just hook everything up and be ready to go. The first time we hooked the water up and turned it on what came out of the tap was pink. And it filled the sink with foam. And it smelled kinda funny. I'm pretty sure it was antifreeze. And there was no way any of us were going to drink it. Last week I was busy neglecting my children so I could finish reading this:

It's excellent! Can't wait to see the movie! But the husband will be home Sunday so yesterday I decided I better get busy. He knows I love to read and, romantic devil that he is, bought me this:

Surprisingly, it's not much of a page turner...but I did find a whole chapter that A. explained what “potable” water is and B. gave some vaguely general instructions on how to sanitize it. First, I had to find a few things. The fresh water tank is located under the bed in the back of the RV:

The “city water inlet” is not an inlet at all, but the pipe the water from the sink and tub drain out of. If your campsite has a sewer hookup, this is where you hook it up, I think. It's in the back, underneath on the drivers side. I also needed bleach:

And a funnel with a flexible tube. I found one after doing some digging around in the garage. Go figure. After flushing all the antifreeze out I poured about half a cup of bleach into the holding tank:

and filled it up with water. Then I turned on the pump:

and all the faucets:

The book said that once you smell chlorine, turn everything off and let it sit for 4 hours, so I did. While I was waiting I made spanakopita for dinner:

YUM! After dinner I went back outside, turned on the pump and all the faucets, emptied the tank, filled it back up and flushed everything out 2 more times. The water looks clear and I can't smell any chlorine, so according to my book we should be good to go! I'm a little concerned that some water was dripping from something underneath the motor home near the “city water inlet” but it was getting dark and I couldn't really tell what exactly was leaking. It seems to have stopped now that I've turned all the water off. Perhaps if my insomnia kicks in tonight I'll look for some more information in my book.