BE PREPARED
Why the Boy Scout motto matters for RVers
by Ari B . Adler , Trekers . org
RVing in the Texas winter storm of February 2021 may have seemed like a crazy idea , but my wife , Jessi , and I had gone to Texas to escape winter . Instead , residents said it was the coldest it had been in about 100 years . Still , we counted ourselves lucky to be in an RV and prepared with plans A , B , and C .
During most of our seven months on the road in 2021 , we ran into all kinds of strange weather . It finally reached a point where text updates to our daughter back in Michigan prompted the reply , “ If you were playing Weird Weather Bingo , you would have won by now !”
The ice and snow that coated much of Texas all the way to the Gulf of Mexico were undoubtedly unusual . But the other things we encountered -- from hail and severe dust storms in Texas to extreme heat and land spouts in Minnesota -- weren ’ t all that unusual .
That ’ s why we always say it ’ s crucial to prepare for any situation , no matter where you are traveling in your RV .
In October , we were camping for a few days in Michigan ’ s Upper Peninsula when we discovered the water had been shut off earlier than expected at a state park . We weren ’ t concerned because we almost always arrive with our water tanks full . But we heard of several campers who showed up at state parks with empty tanks and facing a weekend with no water .
When we can get out and not worry about cellular signals for work , we prefer the solitude of finding an open space in the woods and living off-grid when we can .
And that ’ s why living in an RV that we have set up to be self-contained for boondocking was how we managed to be better off than Galveston residents in their houses during the winter storm .
Is your RV prepared for both routine and unusual circumstances ?
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