After escaping the beautiful but cold Copper Breaks State Park we started to realize just how impactful this ice storm was. The first thing we wanted to do when we hit the road was fill up our propane tank. Unfortunately the nearest fuel company selling propane had just closed, but no biggie, we figured we’d just get some at a nearby gas station. Then we realized the first town we drove through also had no power, and the next, and the next. After reading some news articles on the storm, it seemed like hundreds of thousands of people had no power. It wasn’t until we’d driven 115 miles before we found a gas station that had power. Although we did fill up our gas tank, they didn’t have propane.
By dark it was starting to snow. At that point we started keeping a close eye on the weather, but it’s one thing to read about incoming snow and another to see it start to accumulate on the road. Our stretch goal was Grants, New Mexico but being about 8 hours away that was probably too ambitious, even under perfect conditions. Our back up stop was an RV park in Amarillo, a little over 3 hours away.
After we saw our first accident, involving two semis that had sped past us minutes before, we started getting more concerned. There were a few more spin outs on the side of the road after that.
By the time we hit Amarillo there were already a few inches of snow on the freeway, and way more off the freeway. Our priority was propane, but after getting temporarily stuck in the snow at a gas station we thought had propane (it didn’t), our priority shifted to just finding a safe place to weather the storm. The RV park we were shooting for was still a few miles down city streets, and we weren’t sure if it even had any open spots, so we called an audible and found a nearby Walmart to spend the night at. Before turning in, we did a bit of shopping which included an electric heater we could use while running the generator. We still had a bit of propane left but we wanted to be gentle about how we used it.
The next morning the sun was out, the temperature was rising, and the snow was melting. Just as soon as they opened, we drove to an RV shop that filled propane tanks and loaded up. The first thing Lana did when we left that store was turn on the main RV furnace. It was shorts and t-shirt weather again!
We ended up finding a different but nearby Walmart to spend our work/school hours for the day. This was convenient as we also had some grocery shopping to take care of. Boomer had also been chewing on his bed so we thought we’d get him a new one and see if he liked that one better – see associated picture for A/B test results. Strangely enough the cold temperature was perfect for spending the day in an RV in full sun. Not too hot and not too cold.
After we finished up with work and school for the day it was time to head off to New Mexico where we’d spend one night, on our way to Utah.
