If we’ve learned anything in the last eight years on the road, it’s this: there’s no perfect spot with perfect weather all the time. That’s one reason we decided to keep full-timing. We figured if we just kept chasing after good weather, we wouldn’t ever have to endure extreme temperatures or natural calamities. How wrong we were!
Colorado wildfire evacuation September 2015
Since we became full-time RVers in 2007, we’ve experienced three major natural disasters, and a several minor ones that came close. Three directly affected us, including a wildfire that happened earlier this month, a flash flood in Texas and a tornado in Colorado.
I’m pretty sure that we don’t have dark clouds following us around, but instead my theory is that when the great outdoors is your home, odds are pretty good that at some point Mother Nature is gonna pay you a visit.
It doesn’t matter if you drive a Prevost or a Prowler, when your home has no foundation, you can’t escape the effects of wind, rain and other unpleasant weather changes. All dramatic weather events will cause your rig to rock and roll, potentially putting you in a lot of danger. How you endure and survive is totally up to you.
Is Your RV Prepared for Weather Calamities?
- Do you have a “go bag” filled with life’s necessities like prescriptions, energy bars and extra cash?
- Do you know how to track changing weather conditions without the Internet?
- How fast can you pack up and bug out?
Texas flash flood, April 2010
Even though I grew up in California and lived with the looming danger of earthquakes, I never took time to prepare for emergencies. Those sad natural disaster stories on the evening news were about other people in trailer parks on the other side of the country, not ME.
I lived in constant disaster denial – until I was profoundly affected by my first one as a full-time RVer.
From that scary night we evacuated a riverfront RV park at 10 pm in the pouring rain, to the Colorado wildfire evacuation we experienced this month ((it came within .08 miles of us!), I don’t like the chance we take by living in a RV, but at least I’ve grown more comfortable with the weather odds. This is a small price to pay for living in such stunning, dramatic places.
Colorado tornado evacuation into missile silo, May 2009
Still, I urge you: know what to do in the event of a natural disaster.
- Get an evacuation list ready. Keep it in a visible place where you won’t miss it if you find yourself in a state of panic during an evacuation.
- Keep your go-bag stocked. Replenish it yearly with fresh stock.
- Scan and preserve your important documents on a portable device a USB drive. Keep it in the go-bag
- Practice hooking up your rig in the dark. Seems like weather calamities always happen at night. We’ve had to evacuate in the dark on two separate occasions.
- If you have pets, keep confinement systems handy at all times. Crates and x-pens are invaluable during panicky situations and keep animals safe.
There’s plenty of places to learn more about natural disaster preparedness (www.Ready.Gov) so I won’t bore you with those details. But please, do yourself and your loved ones a favor and take this warning seriously; prepare yourself now so that you can have many more years on the open road.
More Reading
Be Prepared for Disaster on the Road
Rene Agredano and her husband, Jim Nelson, became full-time RVers in 2007 and have been touring the country ever since. In her blog, Rene chronicles the ins and outs of the full-timing life and brings readers along to meet the fascinating people and amazing places they visit on the road. Her road trip adventures are chronicled in her blog at LiveWorkDream.com.
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