No two ways about it, today we experienced some of the most white knuckled driving we’ve done in the RV, maybe ever. As I’m typing this we’re pulled over safely at a RV park in Vinton, Louisiana, just east of the Texas border, well short of our goal for the day, which was San Antonio. But with that said we’re very grateful (and probably lucky) to have made it here in one piece.
Last night we decided to drive straight through the Florida Pan Handle, along with Alabama, and spend the night in an RV park right near the beach in Biloxi, Mississippi. Even though this was going to be a quick stop we decided to stay in an RV park instead of a gas station so we could hook up to utilities and stretch out for the night. By the time we got up it was a chilly 36 degrees and Boomer was already not so happy to take on his morning business. It probably didn’t help that Josh and I decided to take him with us on a walk down to the beach. At least it was a quick walk though. After a few pictures our hands froze and we quickly jogged back to the RV. For the record, Boomer did take care of all aspects of his business on that walk.
As we drove along the main beach drag through Biloxi and Gulfport we thought about how nice it would be to visit another day, when we had more time and weather wasn’t quite as arctic-like. Originally our plan was to drive from Biloxi to Canton, Texas (we even had reservations there) and stay there for 3 nights to hunker down through this not so awesome weather. But with the realities of the situation becoming clearer we decided to stay on the more southern 10 and drive to San Antonio where it was still going to be really cold, just not horrifically cold. Our next real destination is Palo Duro State Park in north western Texas so driving through San Antonio was going to put us through some extra miles, but we thought it would be worth it.
Driving through Louisiana it started to get cold, quickly dropping into the mid 20s. At one point we pulled over at a random Walmart in Hamond so I could take a couple of calls and Lana could prepare some lunch. In a strange twist, this was actually the same Walmart we had stopped at for a work/school day on our last trip back from Florida in October. That last time we had to run the AC in that parking lot. This time we had to run the furnace.
At some point while we were driving through central Louisiana we noticed some red on the map about 50 miles from the Texas border. We were wondering how bad the traffic would actually be considering there weren’t that many cars on the road. It was about that time we also started to see more and more cars that had slid off the road and into ditches. When we finally hit the red, traffic had stopped. The other side of the 10 had also come to a complete stop, with no accident in site. By the time we finally got moving (sloooowly) and approached the spot that had caused all the vehicles to stop, we noticed it wasn’t an accident, it was a really nasty patch of ice covering a short bridge. As we ever so slowly drove across the bridge I happened to look back in the side mirror and noticed a car start to slide off the road right behind us. The road after that bridge was a bit better, but not by much. At that point we felt comfortable driving a blistering 10mph.
San Antonio was still more than 300 miles away and at the rate we were going we wouldn’t get there any time soon, and that’s assuming we could keep our rig on the road. While the campground we had reserved in San Antonio was right downtown and would have been a nice place to weather out the storm, we just couldn’t justify the risk. We cancelled that reservation and started calling around to find something much closer. Eventually an extremely nice lady picked up the phone at Bender Oaks RV in Vinton and welcomed us in.
While we thought the interstate was in bad shape, as soon as we exited (slooowly) we realized how marvelous it was compared to city streets. That one mile from the freeway to the RV park was solid ice. After making the drive at no more than a walking pace we pulled into our parking spot and hooked up power. All the water pipes were frozen over so connecting to those would be pointless.
So here we are, in an RV full of propane, gas, and food, hooked up to electricity, about to spend the night with temps in the mid teens. We’re warm (relatively) and safe, and things could be a lot worse. So what’s the key take away here, these Mid-West weather warnings are no joke. While we take pride in being able to adapt and be flexible, sometimes it’s just best not to mess with mother nature. The plan is to stay here for a couple of nights until things thaw out and we can keep heading west.