X-Treme Freeloading...

So, the trip to Alaska got us initiated in the fine arts of freeloading.
Now, I look back at our first days as freeloaders in pupal stage with nostalgia. Long gone are the days where we were willing to pay for camping.

But we are still learning. I guess we are no longer junior freeloaders, soon to be seniors. My dream is to become a Jedi Freeloader...get to freeload in the parking lot of a police station using the reserved spaces, and in the morning, get asked if we need to refill our fresh water tank.

Last time we dry-camped for a long time, the challenge was to conserve our batteries.
Now, on this Alaskan freeloading spree, the challenge has been to conserve fresh water and to keep our gray water tank from filling up.

A fellow Airstreamer, Mark, introduced us to some techniques to deal with these issues.
First, he installed this gizmo on our sink faucet.



This little stick activates the water flow when it gets pushed sideways. This lets you leave the faucet open, and just use tiny portions of water, just what you need, instead of closing and opening the faucet every time. This has saved us lots of fresh water and keeps our gray water tank low.

The second technique involves having a plastic container under the kitchen faucet at all times. This container catches all the water. Later the water is used to wash dishes, then strained, and if the gray water is running high, dumped into the black water tank....which is the last one to ever fill.



The last trick we came up with involves carrying a gallon of water at all times. We use it to flush the toilet instead of using the fresh water tank and pump. This works better at flushing real good without using tons of water to get the "job done."



So there you have it, some simple tricks to get you started on the path to happy freeloading.