Days lost to weather

[JDCrow]

Just out of curiosity, how many days, and the stories has everyone lost to the weather? One of the main reasons we bought a Motorhome was the ability with the genset to just pull over anywhere and be able to hang out. Today looks like a no go for us. Our last leg to get home 

[96 EVO]

I haven't "yet" holed up due to weather, but the day my patio awning turned into a spinnaker, I wish I had!

[FishAR]

I've been lucky I guess. This is the first year with the motorhome but in 5 years going to Florida with travel trailers and a fifth wheel I haven't missed a travel day yet.

The first year on the way home with a travel trailer (we only went 3 weeks that year) got hit with an ice storm in Murfreesboro TN and wanted to pull over but semis had every ramp and rest area filled up so kept soldiering on in 4 wheel drive. Going 40 mph on interstate, cars in ditch at every bridge, wife telling me "You're going to get run over from behind". I said Well I prefer that to jack knife or hitting something with my front, sometimes we could barely see.

 

I still get chills thinking about it.

[Scott 61]

I use an app call (highway whether) you can put a start & end point in and it will give you the weather & wind Speed along your route

[JDCrow]

2 minutes ago, Scott 61 said:

I use an app call (highway whether) you can put a start & end point in and it will give you the weather & wind Speed along your route

Awesome, I’ll look into it. Have you adjusted your route due to weather? Apple Maps will put the Noah warnings up for the route you punch in.

[Ron Jones]

We have spent some pretty “bad” times in our MH during storms but nothing compared with what’s shown in your screen shot. We have fulltimed for 18 years, travelled extensively in 49 states and all ten Canadian provinces and one of their territories. We have evacuated two times based on tornado warnings (sirens) in Tennessee. Both times we were in a city-owned campground and spent a few hours in their cement-block bathhouse before being “released” and returning to our MH

 

We were “chased” up the East Coast (years ago) by a hurricane. We would drive about 300 miles up the coast during the day and the storm sort of “followed” us every night. We did this from Florida to New Hampshire.

 

We were boondocking one night, the lot was big and almost empty. High winds hit. I moved the coach so it was pointed into the wind and we spent the night.

 

We have spend many nights with ALL four slides IN to help save the slide-toppers and to be able to drive away faster. So far, so good.

 

With all that, neither of us has ever wanted to “test” being in our coach during a hurricane or tornado or even super-high winds. It just doesn’t make sense (to me) to do that. If I was in the area covered by your “warning,” I would move (if possible). These units are not tied down. Although, on the TV news, when they do show damage to an RV park, it seems there are more 5th wheels and travel trailers on their sides than motorhomes. 

 

Good luck.

[Ivylog]

In 20 years we have NOT stayed put because of weather…yet. Did spin one evening in Amarillo ready to move, watching the local TV station track a tornado that crossed the interstate, 10 miles away.

The Zoom Weather app let me shoot the gap between two very large, hot thunderstorms near North Platt, Nebraska one evening. We had 5 seconds of heavy rain, but clear sailing after that.

Edited November 4, 2021 by Ivylog

[Land Lubber]

We spent three months traveling the OR & WA coasts, July, Aug, & Sep, without any weather issues. Sure, we had some occasional rain but it didn't bother us. Much of the country is in need of rain so when it comes people are happy to get it. I understand that other parts of the country get significantly more wind & rain but we choose to travel to those areas. Being that it is fall, we expect the weather to make us change our plans at times. Ol' man winter is coming soon so we have to expect colder & windy conditions at times.

[Ivan K]

Forecast of this happening made us run from east of Amarillo to sunny Arizona and wait the Texas spring storms out.

[Moonwink]

During our attempts to travel from St Louis to Quartzsite after Christmas, a couple of times we had to alter our plans due to weather.  One time, as we were headed across NM with sever crosswinds, our crank-up Winegard TV antenna started banging up and down on the roof.  Sagebrush was lining the sides of the roads blown up against the fences.  I wasn't having any problems keeping it under control but the headwinds were preventing the transmission on my gas MH from staying in overdrive.  That was enough.  I had the wife look up the next campground which happened to be the Escapees in Deming.  The next morning with the front past, the weather was calm and the sunrise was beautiful. 

On another occasion, we'd gotten as far as Abilene, TX with the weather closing in.  I thought I could out run it and spend the night in Van Horn.  I was wrong, the weather was already closed in.  We were cautiously heading west on I-20 when we came up on a traffic jam.  As I came to a complete stop, the front tires went sideways on the black ice.  Thankfully, we were at an exit and there as a campground sign right there.  We pulled in the campground only to find out it was completely full of oil well workers.  The owners knew we were in a jam and let us stay between a couple of sites on the already sleet covered ground.  All the regulars had gone home between Christmas and New Years so we weren't inconveniencing anyone.  For the next 3 days, we sat there and watched another inch of sleet accumulate.  Overnight on the last night, it rained melting all the ice we were sitting on.  The next morning, when I started forward, I felt the MH sink into the mud.  See the picture for how we were able to get out of our space and back on the road.