catlinyemaker (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
catlinyemaker) wrote2013-12-04 12:48 pm
catlinyemaker) wrote2013-12-04 12:48 pm
Entry tags:
Getting out of (bad) weather
Ahh, the vagaries of life on the road, aka fleeing the storm.
We spent Thanksgiving in Arkansas with my MIL; it was a nice long weekend with family members arriving at staggered intervals as their schedules permitted. Sunday we got back on the road after roughly two weeks in Hot Springs, headed for Sherman, TX, on the first stage of our long drive to California for the Escapees’ Rose Parade HOP.
MIL’s health concerns (happily resolved) kept us from making reservations for this leg of our travels. That combined with our first choice campground not returning our call while requiring reservations meant that we stopped short the first night, ending up in a very nice campground just north of the Red River in Colbert, OK. RiverView RV & Recreation has wide concrete pads at every site, and well maintained gravel roads.
The only negative was the entry road, patrolled by two dogs who chased the RV for several blocks. When we mentioned them to the folks at the campground, they laughed and said: “oh, that’s so-and-so’s dogs”, but really, we were worried. I don’t think dogs know just how much stopping distance an RV needs; we came close to committing pooch-icide a couple of times, as they darted across the road right in front of us.
We were supposed to be in Colbert for three nights, but a cursory check of the weather report (“how cold is it going to get tonight?”) resulted in a quick change of plans when we realized that the severe winter storm they were warning about wasn’t just going to hit Oklahoma, but Abilene, TX (our next planned stop) too. We avoid ice and snow whenever we can, these days. Duallies are great for towing but they don’t do well on slick surfaces. As J likes to say, our truck thinks the way to drive on ice is sideways.
This storm may turn out to be a bust but we’d rather err on the side of caution. With the weather report moving the storm arrival up from Friday to THrusday, we opted to aggravate the cats and drive two days in a row.
Yesterday we got into the KOA in Abilene in good time, and took advantage of nearby shops to stock up on cat and human food. Tonight should see us settled in Pecos, TX for a few days while the storm passes; they’re still calling for ice that far south but the roads should be clear by the weekend.
One good thing about these longer drive days back to back; we’ll have more rest days for the remainder of the trip. We’d planned to drive every three or four days, but doing basically three drive days in a row gives us back some time. If all goes well, we’ll have almost a week to spend in Las Cruces, which will be a nice break.
We spent Thanksgiving in Arkansas with my MIL; it was a nice long weekend with family members arriving at staggered intervals as their schedules permitted. Sunday we got back on the road after roughly two weeks in Hot Springs, headed for Sherman, TX, on the first stage of our long drive to California for the Escapees’ Rose Parade HOP.
MIL’s health concerns (happily resolved) kept us from making reservations for this leg of our travels. That combined with our first choice campground not returning our call while requiring reservations meant that we stopped short the first night, ending up in a very nice campground just north of the Red River in Colbert, OK. RiverView RV & Recreation has wide concrete pads at every site, and well maintained gravel roads.
The only negative was the entry road, patrolled by two dogs who chased the RV for several blocks. When we mentioned them to the folks at the campground, they laughed and said: “oh, that’s so-and-so’s dogs”, but really, we were worried. I don’t think dogs know just how much stopping distance an RV needs; we came close to committing pooch-icide a couple of times, as they darted across the road right in front of us.
We were supposed to be in Colbert for three nights, but a cursory check of the weather report (“how cold is it going to get tonight?”) resulted in a quick change of plans when we realized that the severe winter storm they were warning about wasn’t just going to hit Oklahoma, but Abilene, TX (our next planned stop) too. We avoid ice and snow whenever we can, these days. Duallies are great for towing but they don’t do well on slick surfaces. As J likes to say, our truck thinks the way to drive on ice is sideways.
This storm may turn out to be a bust but we’d rather err on the side of caution. With the weather report moving the storm arrival up from Friday to THrusday, we opted to aggravate the cats and drive two days in a row.
Yesterday we got into the KOA in Abilene in good time, and took advantage of nearby shops to stock up on cat and human food. Tonight should see us settled in Pecos, TX for a few days while the storm passes; they’re still calling for ice that far south but the roads should be clear by the weekend.
One good thing about these longer drive days back to back; we’ll have more rest days for the remainder of the trip. We’d planned to drive every three or four days, but doing basically three drive days in a row gives us back some time. If all goes well, we’ll have almost a week to spend in Las Cruces, which will be a nice break.