It’s the Little Things

There’s a lot to learn about living in a small space, things you wouldn’t normally think about. For example, grocery shopping is tricky now and itty-bitty poop tanks have to be emptied with surprising frequency. It’s shocking how quickly the fridge fills up, and then how quickly the other thing fills up. Not to disturb anyone’s delicate sensibilities, but well, shit happens. A lot.

There are hundreds of choices when it comes to camping toilets. It’s a very serious decision and requires a lot of thought. Now, you may not be into toilet research (and who is?) but if you intend to do any kind of camping with another human being who is important to you in any way, you should not take the toity choice lightly. Your decision could seriously alter your future ‘in a relationship’ status.

Far be it from us to tell anyone what kind of pooper to purchase, you do you. We just recommend that if you travel with another person, you are both in agreement with the choice. After exhaustive research (seriously, we were really pooped), we chose to have a Thetford cassette toilet installed in OurRamblinVan in combination with a little exhaust fan in the ceiling of shower/toilet stall. We cannot stress enough how important that last piece is, we lovingly refer to it as “The Little Fan That Could."

We take turns emptying the 5-gallon cassette. The convenient thing is that it can be emptied into any regular toilet. The inconvenient thing is that it has to be emptied a LOT. It is not a pleasant job, particularly if a lot of smoked meats were indulged in and yes, you always know if there was corn for dinner when it’s your turn to dump the pooper. So, we spread the love around, so to speak, and share the doodie duty. It’s only fair. We also turn on the exhaust fan when, well, you know. Yes, we’re learning a lot about living in very close proximity, the little things mean a lot.