Honey Wagon Service

“I’m going to use it to get some honey!”

But not at an RV park.

We are newbies. Actively learning about our new lifestyle but still newbies nonetheless. And this means that we are frequently coming across new vocabulary.

We have been living out of our coach since we brought it home earlier this summer and we intend to keep living in the coach until we have to put the Castaway into storage later September or early October.

Although we try to make as much use of the house for our washroom needs, we seem to be able to fill up our grey and black tanks relatively quickly, even with the infrequent use of the Castaway’s washrooms, shower and sinks.

We decided to camp overnight at our local KOA to empty out the tanks and replenish our fresh water tank. This particular KOA is only a few kilometres from our home and it is a nice campground.

We reserved a 50-amp service with water only.

Our grey and black tanks were full and we needed to dump them before we could set up the coach on the site.

“Can I use the dump station on our way into our site?” I asked.

“You can. We can also arrange a honey wagon service for you later today if you would like.”

“Well, that sounds great but we really don’t need any honey.” I replied.

Confused look from KOA staff member.

What is a honey wagon service? Honey wagon is a traditional term for a wagon or truck that collects and carries waste and it can serve as a sanitation system at campgrounds and marinas.

The honey wagon service at this KOA comes to your coach and empties your tanks for you. They did come later that day and dealt with the tanks without us knowing until I had checked our gauges. Grey and black, empty.

This morning I filled our fresh water tank. The tank holds about 105 gallons and it was only 1/3 full.

I estimated that we needed about 75 gallons to fill the tank. At the typical city average of about 2 gallons per minute, that would take 40 minutes.

The tank filled in about 30 minutes. I guess I underestimated the flow rate. Thankfully I was checking every 15 minutes or so.

The tank obviously stops receiving water once it fills. There was no overflow or spillage but good to know that it doesn’t take much time to bring in fresh water into the Castaway’s tank.

Mission accomplished and we also had a wonderful evening. We even experienced our first campfire by the coach. Awesome.