This is my 4th season working the sugar beet harvest and my 4th season staying at the city campground in Stephen MN. I have to say it’s head and shoulders above other campgrounds used in the area. It has full hookups (50 amp) at each site, great WiFi, over 150 channels of cable, clean bathhouse and laundry, and walking distance to the post office, grocery store and hardware store. Plenty of space between sites, easy to back in and the road through the campground does NOT turn to muddy ruts when it rains. All that being said, they are very protective of their water pipes. The other night, a hard freeze was forecast. Instead of asking everyone to unhook from campground water for the night, they elected to turn off the water and blow out the lines for the season. Water will be turned back on in the spring.

We’re not totally without water resources though. The water in the bathhouse is still running so we can do laundry, take showers and use those toilets when necessary. Everyone in an RV should have a freshwater tank and water pump but there’s at least one truck camper in the campground without those amenities. Some people didn’t have a chance to fill their freshwater tanks before the water was shut off. The harvest organizers have arranged for a truck to come to the campground twice a week to refill freshwater tanks. I’ve never had to utilize those services before so we’ll see how that works out.

On a semi-related note, a few months ago I realized that my water pump was defective. It would pump water but at very low pressure and would not shut off. I contacted the manufacturer and they were going to authorize replacement while I had the RV in for accident repairs. Since those repairs got delayed they said I could purchase my own replacement pump and they would reimburse me. I did that last month and was much happier with the new pump. I didn’t realize how much I would rely on it here.