Before we bought our first motorhome and hit the road traveling fulltime we developed a set of about 40 camping rules. The first few rules were easy such as find a level campsite, lock the door when we leave, dump the black tank first and then the gray, and have Linda watch when I back the motorhome so I don't hit anything.

After a few campgrounds we added more rules to our list such as look up before backing in a campsite because a tree limb can suddenly whack the motorhome, make sure the satellite dish is not blocked by a tree, roll up the patio awning before going sightseeing, and if I can't see Linda when backing I need to stop.

After we got more experienced additional rules came fewer and further between, but occasionally new rules had to be added - don't drive the motorhome on sand without first checking to make sure the sand is packed, buy diesel fuel before the fuel tank runs dry, lower the TV antenna after watching a ballgame in a rest area and unhook the Honda CR-V before driving into a hospital parking lot. Yes, we learned each of these things through experience.

Ok, after seven years of fulltiming and stopping in 450 places for the night you would think we know all the rules and they come automatic. After all, we have driven motorhomes 76,000 miles in three countries and have parked in tight spaces. Heck, we are so experienced we don't need a set of rules anymore.

Well, we just added Camping Rule Number # 263 - Do Not Park Near A Dump Station.

Mid afternoon we stopped at Escapees Park of the Sierra in Coarsegold, CA and requested a boondocking site. The manger, being a nice guy, assigned us the park's most level site which was on pavement and even had a water faucet in case we needed water. It was shaded from the hot evening sun with ample room to park the CR-V, so we quickly set up and drove to town to eat dinner.

Heading back to the campground we noticed two women with a water hose spraying water around our beautiful and clean motorhome. As we got nearer we realized what had happened. The park's dump station was about 25 feet from our motorhome and those two women attempted to dump their black tank and the hose came loose from their motorhome and the entire contents had run under our motorhome. We managed to walk around the mess and when we entered our motorhome the odor hit us so bad we had to go back outside. It was a hot day, about 90 degrees, with a pavement temperature of over 100 degrees. We had left several windows open and a ceiling vent fan running so it had sucked the black tank odor from the hot pavement into our motorhome.

The two women (no, not blondes) apologized numerous times and continued trying to wash the bowels (no pun intended) of their black tank from under our motorhome and out of the parking lot. After a while, with two vent fans working hard, the odor left our motorhome, but we have now added another camping rule.

Camping Rule # 263 - Do Not Park Near A Dump Station