RV Village-Down in the Dumps

Ingynow

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I'm not sure but that's heading the wrong direction for us. But thank you for the suggestion.
Just an FYI....we used the Ledges dump station one time heading back west. You can get away with this at other campgrounds but keep in mind that some frown upon this if you are not staying there.
 

DGC

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No clue on a correct answer but does Ledges have a campground where you can do this?
Ledges only allows people who camped their dump, so I suppose if you paid for a night of camping you could. Boone County Fairgrounds has one. It was $10 last year, cash only.
 

cy4state

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This is not great news... We are from the Twin Cities and store our RV just north of Ames. It was great to hit one of the two rest stops just north of Ames and dump. Now we will have to find an alternative I guess. On a side note, we were Vet Med campers and now looking forward to the RV village.
For RAGBRI, I saw the Water Water Treatment Plant had something about dumping and found this on their website. It's not free but may save you from having to go somewhere else if you store in town. https://www.cityofames.org/government/departments-divisions-i-z/water-pollution-control/hauled-waste
 

06_CY

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With the growing number of truck stops along the interstates I guess a lot of the rest areas aren't needed as much. I have to say though, if you just need to use the facilities the rest areas are better, 5 minutes to pull in, do your business, and be back out on the interstate.
Removing those on I29 between Sioux City and Missouri Valley does seem like it will leave a void unless someone is planning on a Loves or Pilot somewhere in between.
I understand the sentiment about the number of gas stations/truck stops, but disagree with the idea that rest areas aren't needed. It's nice to have a quick pee break and back on the road without the hassle of the gas station.

Driving on 29 late at night, I stopped at 3 gas stations to use the bathroom and get a soda, but all were closed. That wasted more time than just using the rest area on 880.
 

keepngoal

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I cant imagine the line up on Sunday if they had one. It would be a cluster.
Using the old RV lots up to 2020, Sun AM was quiet and didn’t have many rigs left. We would pull out for CR around 6-7, and typically the only ones moving. The post game till midnight would be another story.

Morgan Creek moderately accessible with 100 , but only for campers. We used it many times and put $5 in the box.

Good luck out there in finding a place to dump.
 
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brett108

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ImJustKCClone

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From what I read, people were dumping oil, antifreeze, paint, etc down the dump stations. Things you arent supposed to dump. Thus the "few ruin it for the many" saying applies.
That's what the city guy told us when they opened the one in Ames for the support RVs traveling with the RAGBRAI riders.
And yeah, totally sucks because it's tough to find dump sites now if you don't stay at a campground with a dump station.
 

CYdTracked

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Second gravel road encountered on way home. Second because the first would be too obvious what was going on. Crack it and start driving.

Hate to admit but we did this back in the days too. We also had a strict no solid waste rule in place for our bathroom so a little pee water and sink water is not going to really hurt anything IMO. We also parked ours between games at some places that were rural where could just pull it up and drain it in some grass or gravel area where it's not going to harm anything or along some gravel road in the middle of nowhere.

There just aren't many dump sites close to Ames unless you happen to be driving past one at a rest area on the way home or have access to a campground that won't charge you for just passing through. For as much as one has to pay to park in RV village would think that would be something for a future improvement there. I know someone that talked with Pollard when he was welcoming the first people there when it opened about how they should consider allowing people to rent pads during the week or through the offseason to generate a little more money. This person was waiting on their new house to be built and was already living out of their RV while between houses so though it would be convenient if they could pay to stay a few extra days since they weren't tied down to any location at the moment. The obvious answer at the time was no you need to be out on Sunday.

But this poses an opportunity if the athletics dept wanted to generate some additional revenue they could modify a few things there and charge to use the RV pads during the summer as there are all kinds of events that go through Ames that probably would have some demand for RV parking, have the golf course next door too that could see people wanting to camp out a few nights maybe to do some things in Ames, and then obviously have the days leading up to and after home games that maybe some would want to stay a bit longer. Would require some kind of management and reservation system but its an area of opportunity to have that area available for use outside of home games some too.
 

BCClone

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Not exactly sure.
Hate to admit but we did this back in the days too. We also had a strict no solid waste rule in place for our bathroom so a little pee water and sink water is not going to really hurt anything IMO. We also parked ours between games at some places that were rural where could just pull it up and drain it in some grass or gravel area where it's not going to harm anything or along some gravel road in the middle of nowhere.

There just aren't many dump sites close to Ames unless you happen to be driving past one at a rest area on the way home or have access to a campground that won't charge you for just passing through. For as much as one has to pay to park in RV village would think that would be something for a future improvement there. I know someone that talked with Pollard when he was welcoming the first people there when it opened about how they should consider allowing people to rent pads during the week or through the offseason to generate a little more money. This person was waiting on their new house to be built and was already living out of their RV while between houses so though it would be convenient if they could pay to stay a few extra days since they weren't tied down to any location at the moment. The obvious answer at the time was no you need to be out on Sunday.

But this poses an opportunity if the athletics dept wanted to generate some additional revenue they could modify a few things there and charge to use the RV pads during the summer as there are all kinds of events that go through Ames that probably would have some demand for RV parking, have the golf course next door too that could see people wanting to camp out a few nights maybe to do some things in Ames, and then obviously have the days leading up to and after home games that maybe some would want to stay a bit longer. Would require some kind of management and reservation system but its an area of opportunity to have that area available for use outside of home games some too.
I was joking. How much do dump sites usually charge for you to use them? Like 5-10 bucks?
 

BoomerClone

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Hate to admit but we did this back in the days too. We also had a strict no solid waste rule in place for our bathroom so a little pee water and sink water is not going to really hurt anything IMO. We also parked ours between games at some places that were rural where could just pull it up and drain it in some grass or gravel area where it's not going to harm anything or along some gravel road in the middle of nowhere.

There just aren't many dump sites close to Ames unless you happen to be driving past one at a rest area on the way home or have access to a campground that won't charge you for just passing through. For as much as one has to pay to park in RV village would think that would be something for a future improvement there. I know someone that talked with Pollard when he was welcoming the first people there when it opened about how they should consider allowing people to rent pads during the week or through the offseason to generate a little more money. This person was waiting on their new house to be built and was already living out of their RV while between houses so though it would be convenient if they could pay to stay a few extra days since they weren't tied down to any location at the moment. The obvious answer at the time was no you need to be out on Sunday.

But this poses an opportunity if the athletics dept wanted to generate some additional revenue they could modify a few things there and charge to use the RV pads during the summer as there are all kinds of events that go through Ames that probably would have some demand for RV parking, have the golf course next door too that could see people wanting to camp out a few nights maybe to do some things in Ames, and then obviously have the days leading up to and after home games that maybe some would want to stay a bit longer. Would require some kind of management and reservation system but its an area of opportunity to have that area available for use outside of home games some too.
Don’t have an RV and never even thought of this issue but, is human s$it on the ground really much worse than piss?
 

BCClone

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Not exactly sure.
Don’t have an RV and never even thought of this issue but, is human s$it on the ground really much worse than piss?
Do you want the legal answer or practical answer? I'll give both.

Would you rather step in someone's urine or someones number 2 when walking? That is the practical answer.

The legal answer is, YOU BETTER DO NEITHER. I own a hog facility and it is against the rules to have the toilet from the office go in with the hog manure. The human waste has to go into a septic system and be pumped and verified by legal authorities. It is so bad that you may not mix it with animal waste and have it go out on a field and get used as fertilizer.
 
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CYdTracked

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Don’t have an RV and never even thought of this issue but, is human s$it on the ground really much worse than piss?

LOL, good question. Just from an RV maintenance standpoint we had a strict no solid waste policy because it just reeked if it sat in the tank too long plus the places we'd dump at there would be no evidence of it if it was liquid only. We would put some deodorizer in the toilet but even if someone snuck a deuce in it still was not pleasant when you opened up the drain. It's definitely 1 thing I do not miss about RV ownership.
 

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