Winter RV camping has special challenges. The special challenge I faced the first time I camped in an RV in the winter was a frozen toilet. Not that the toilet actually froze, but the night was colder than I expected and sometime during the early morning hours before sun-up when the temperature dropped to its lowest point, water froze the flange and while the toilet still worked quite nicely, the tanks started filling up, and when it came time to drain them, lo and behold, nothing came out despite the very full black and gray water tanks.

Oh, that was so much fun.

I was so new to camping in an RV (my Eagle Flight travel trailer from Jayco) that I thought the line was clogged at first. Before it hit me that, you know, there's no insulation around those tanks and it was bleeping cold outside.

That moment of realization was really quite funny when I think back on it.

I poured bottles of RV anti-freeze, the stuff you winterize your RV with, down the toilet and prayed. But it didn't help. In the end, I had to pack up and haul the RV home with a full tank.

The sloshing must have given the anti-freeze time to work after about a 3 hour trip on the road. When I got home, I put a bunch of 5 gallon buckets nearby, and one under the drain, and opened it up. Let me tell you now that this isn't something I recommend you do. I hauled sludge into my house and flushed it, because I couldn't think of a safer way to dispose of it all. I will never live that down. But it worked and I learned a valuable lesson.

Never, ever forget that RV's are not meant for winter camping without some serious advance preparations.

Here's what you need to do if you want to go RV camping in the cold of winter.

• Add the RV antifreeze into your black and gray water tanks while they're empty so you don't ever have to worry about what happened to me happening to you. Empty the freshwater tanks and use bottled water.
• If you're going to camp for longer time periods, get some skirting and blue board insulation and wrap it around the bottom of your RV so it covers your exposed holding tanks. If your tanks aren't exposed, well, then, lucky you. :)
• Use some kind of moisture absorbing crystals or blocks to keep condensation down. Or use a dehumidifier. Or both. Did I mention that I also ended up with puddles of water all over my floor near the windows? And water on my walls.
• Think about your water pipes. You might need to tape a heat strip to exposed hoses if you're going to be RV camping in the kind of weather that will freeze the water in them. Do you have outside faucets or attachments? These are going to be a problem if you don't protect them.

If you need to plan for longer winter RV camping, you'll have to take even more precautions. Otherwise, you could do real damage to your pipes and tanks. You could even end up with a lot of mold and mildew inside your RV if you let condensation build up and don't clean up the excess moisture when you park your RV.

I hope telling you about my experience with RV winter camping helps make your experience a whole lot more fun!