Today marks another long day of the hum of the electric heaters and their high pitched background noise. Another day of anticipation when the cold will stop, the sun will shine and the snow and ice will melt. Maybe today the shore power will supply an endless amount of elecricity and we won’t have to run the generator for hours on end.

Here I sit at the dining table, pounding away at the keyboard while the frigid snow-covered East Texas RV park at Marina Village rests quietly. It has been four days of extreme winter weather, sub-freezing temperatures that test a full-time RV’rs constitution. This weather is not what we signed up for when we left New England three years ago.

A week ago, the weather forecast looked perilous for Texans. We, being stout-hearted New Englanders were unphased by hype. Been there, done that. Have the T-shirt. Or, so we thought. The closer we got to the impending doom of an arctic blast, the more real it became. We started to make preparations.

Went to the local market and picked up the basics. Milk, eggs, snacks, and candy. We figured a couple of days secluded in the pines at the campground would be more of a seclusion away from the day-to-day hum of normal life. And we have been through some rough winters in Connecticut. Forty years worth. So, it seemed like nothing that Mother Nature could throw our way was going to upset the balance for too long. Except that Texas in the winter is very different.

With groceries re-stocked and a full tank of gas in the Jeep, we settled in for a winter evening that began testing our prepping. I dumped the gray and black holding tanks, filled the freshwater tank, and covered the pedestal in pine-straw (long pine needles) for insulation after disconnecting the water hose from the spigot and draining it. Seemed reasonable for a couple of days of cold. We put away the awnings and lawn chairs in preparation for the 4″ snowfall. And we felt pretty good about the results.

The next morning we awoke to some frigid temperatures and a new coating of fresh snow. It had arrived with a vengeance. But, we were prepared, right?

By 7:30 am the power was off and we were running the generator for electric power. It was time to get serious and ramp-up our preps. We installed the reflectix in the driver’s window and closed the front curtains, dropped all the shades on all the windows, and closed the doorstep hatch in an attempt to block the cold air incursion. We turned on a third electric heater and hoped it wouldn’t trip the circuit breaker – and it all held together.

The water pump stopped pumping water at some point. The generator droned on into the evening, chugging along, providing the electricity we needed for light and heat. We had a full tank of diesel and a full tank of LP gas, so we were OK in those areas. Our cell services were spotty. The internet died when the power went off in the park. We did not know exactly how widespread the power outage was. Maybe it was local, maybe bigger than that. As the day wore on we realized that this was going to be a long slog.

By 9:30 in the evening the power came back on, so we killed the generator and enjoyed some peace from the diesel moaning in the background. But, like all good things, that ended at 2:00 am when the power failed again and we were back on the generator. Can’t sleep well with that racket. By daylight, it was obvious that dealing with the lack of water was a priority. I went to the roof of BlueSteele to retrieve a couple of 7-gallon water cans we have onboard for emergencies and started planning where to go.

Tractor Supply in town was open, without electricity, for cash sales only. So, I bought two cases of bottled water to have something while I pursued a different source. The guy at the register mentioned that Onalaska had power and that the market was open. 14 miles later on snow-packed and icy roads, I was back in civilization. So was everybody else! The market was crowded but they had big jugs of water at the entrance. I got two in the cart and headed for the register.

A small win is still a win. Confident with my score and a renewed spirit, I stopped at the gas pumps and pumped some diesel into my can. An extra five gallons wouldn’t hurt. Then, heading back home, I realized these folks had no clue how to drive in these conditions. Truth be told, they were minor-leaguers – amateur hacks at driving in the snow. In contrast, on a dry road in normal Texas driving conditions, you better get out of their way. They are speed demons. Snow is a great equalizer!

Suffice it to say that for the next couple of days the focus was on keeping the cold air out of the coach, keeping the heat on, getting internet when we could, making food, thawing out the frozen water pump, de-icing the sewer hose (hopelessly clogged with ice due to my negligence) and generally hunkering down for a spell.

And, we have fared quite well, in light of our circumstances. We actually got the water running well enough to take hot showers and empty the tanks again. This time, however, I drained the sewer hose completely. I even drained the frewsh water lines in the coach to prevent freeze-up. And we were back on the generator for 10 hours until the grid power came on for the night. Ahhhh – quiet and restful sleep.