I have been following several RV groups and forums and the subject of having a plan in the event of an emergency - in particular a weather emergency - has been discussed. It had never occurred to me that having an actual plan was something that was necessary, but it does make sense. Living in the Northeast, the most hazardous weather conditions are generally hurricanes and blizzards. While there are occasional reports of tornadoes in this area in recent years, when growing up a tornado was something that occurred far away from here. When traveling in an RV, however, it is important to be aware of any type of weather condition that may occur in areas that may be unlike those you are used to experiencing at home.
There has been only one occurrence for us of an actual weather emergency while on a trip in the Roadtrek, and this occurred this past October. We were in Pennsylvania and the radio weather reports were for rain - which is not generally of concern. Just as an aside - weather reports on the radio in some areas can be hard to come by. Generally, FM stations which are the most common to pick up on a vehicle radio don't bother with weather reports or even the news. AM stations in some areas are few and far between so the usual source of weather radio reports is just not reliable. We were out in the Roadtrek heading home from a dinner at a restaurant at night and we had an FM station on and we heard for the first time ever the Emergency Broadcast Signal that was not followed by the usual, "This is a test". No, this was the real thing. A sudden severe storm was heading for the county that we were in and the towns listed included the town that the campground that we were staying at is in. The time frame for the coming storm would allow us to get to the campground that was near by with plenty of time - and we continued back to the campground and our site. As we were driving the report repeated several times, each time including more localities that would be affected. There would be heavy downpours and sixty mile per hour damaging winds. We got back to the campground with enough time to get ourselves hooked up and able to get inside the Roadtrek - and while we did that we looked around us to see where we could go if we needed solid shelter. The brick building housing the restrooms and the laundry was less than 200 feet from our site in a direct path and we knew that we could get in there quickly if we needed to. That was our plan and the night and the storm played out. Without going into further detail - as I did write about this experience in an article some time after that trip - let's talk about making a plan if you learn of a pending emergency coming your way.
In areas that frequently are hit by such severe weather of all types, the campground may have its own Emergency Plan for those staying there and it is always a good idea to ask at the office when you check into the campground if there is one. If so, have them explain it to you and show you on the campground map (there always seems to be a campground map that you are given at every campground) where you are to go in the event of a severe storm, tornado, flood warning, etc. If they don't have a campground plan then you have to come up with your own.
The first thing that you want to determine is where you will go if the conditions get so bad that staying in your RV will not be safe. You want to find the closest solid building - like the brick and cinder block restroom building that we decided upon. You need to plan in advance the path that you will take to go in - and what you will take with you. If you have children with you don't frighten them but explain to them that if - for whatever reason - there was some need to leave the RV because the weather gets bad - this is where we will go and how we will get there.
One thing that we find very valuable to have and bought after our first season in our Roadtrek is a NOAA Emergency Weather Radio. (That was the year that we went through a bad storm on the road, an earthquake, and a hurricane that was coming up the East Coast heading in our direction and in the direction of our home.) The radio that was recommended to us by other RVers is the Midland WR-120 Weather Alert Radio. This is not expensive - less than $30. It can be found in some Walmarts and can be ordered on the Walmart website with free shipping to any Walmart. Ours came with an AC power adapter, a 12 volt cord to plug into the dashboard, and 3 AA batteries. It runs on any of the three. It locks into the local NOAA emergency broadcast automatically and will give you any emergency reports and weather reports for that area. It has a digital display and can be set to act as an alarm from a silent radio to wake you up in the event of an emergency broadcast. The alarm is loud and will get you up and out of bed to react to the emergency coming. For the price this radio does a lot and it gets very positive ratings and reviews. I know that some will say - "Oh I have an app that will do the same thing so I don't need a radio." Well, we went through Hurricane Sandy at home and during that storm cell towers went out of service. It does not help to have an app with no data service to use it with. At the same time - radios worked. In fact, we had the Midland and that worked throughout the storm and for the week after when power lines were down and emergency crews worked 24 hours a day to restore communications and power. So as part of your emergency plan get yourself a radio - and make sure that you have spare batteries on hand. When you make your emergency plan keeping this radio on before and during this storm is essential to the plan - and if you have to abandon your RV and head for solid shelter the radio and spare batteries are to go with you.
You also want to be sure to have at least one - if not more than one - good and bright flashlight with spare batteries. If power goes out you have the flashlights - even in a small RV like a Roadtrek a flashlight helps to get around in the dark. Should you need to leave the RV - take the flashlights and the batteries.
If you need any medications, make sure that your plan includes having those medications together for an easy grab and go if you have to leave the RV. You don't know how long you will be in the shelter building. And you don't know if your RV will be there when the storm is over. Sorry - but that is a potential reality with some storms.
Be prepared to have a lot of company in the building you are running to. You are not the only ones who decided that this is "the place" to go in case of an emergency. Get comfortable with the idea of being in a crowd in tight quarters. Stay away from windows - these restroom buildings rarely have windows - and stay away from doors. Don't expect to be comfortable inside. You are there to stay safe - not to have a good time.
Listen for any warning sirens or alarms - do not ignore them. We have been in all types of situations where an alarm is going off and people just ignore it. We have been in hotels when the fire alarm has gone off in the middle of the night - up on an upper floor - and people come out into the hall look around and go back into their rooms - while others are heading down the staircase to the street. We have been in stores and malls where the fire alarm is going off and people just ignore it. We were in a movie theater when the fire alarm went off and people just kept watching the movie - while some are wisely heading for the exits - and as we were just getting out we could hear theater employees yelling at those remaining in their seats to "get out, get out!". Don't ignore alarms!
There are some RVs that are much lighter than others. The Roadtrek is four tons - which is a heavy van. There are Class As that are large and heavy. Then there are thin walled travel trailers, small and light Class Cs, etc. Don't decide in a high wind situation or a tornado that your RV will stand up to anything. There are some very frightening photographs of RV campgrounds after a tornado or severe storm has gone through. The afternoon of writing this article I saw photos of the aftermath of a sudden storm in Georgia in which there were large and small RVs crushed by trees and a travel trailer turned upside down. This was not a tornado. The Roadtrek and larger, heavy RVs "should" stand up to 60 mile per hour winds but look around your RV when making your emergency plan for that campsite to see what trees might fall, what electrical lines could come down on your RV, etc. - and what could block your path to your shelter should you decide to wait too long to go.
These are just a few ideas about creating your own emergency plans for each campground that you are in. You can add to these anything that you need that will keep you and your family safe. If you are not at a campground and you are, for example staying overnight in a Walmart parking lot - go into the store. This is why it is just one reason why it is important if staying at a Walmart overnight in your RV that you stay in one that is open 24/7. If you are out in the woods all alone in your RV - and there is no time time head for civilization, call 911or the local police department and alert them to your location and that you are out there. If they feel you need to move and that is still possible, do so. If not, then tell them that you want them to be aware that you are out there and at the moment there is no need to come to help. After the storm, call them back to let them know you are safe.
Roadtrek
Showing posts with label hurricane. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hurricane. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 6, 2016
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
A Long, Hard, Non-RVing Season...
When you own a Roadtrek or any RV you start thinking in terms of the "RVing Season" and the "Non-RVing Season". That is the time of year that you are able to get in and go in your RV and the time of year that you are not traveling because of the weather - freezing temperatures, snow, and more snow. There are some that don't even think about this - they follow the good weather and RV full time, heading to where it is warm and if that changes, move on to where it is warmer. Some of us can't do that - yet.
This year - Fall 2012 into the winter of 2013 - has been a particularly long non-RVing season for the two of us. Trips planned in October and December were cancelled. There was "historic" weather to contend with and then illness. For many years we have traveled for each of our birthdays. Meryl's birthday trip was to be at the end of October. We were set to go to Pennsylvania. The day we were set to leave it was raining - well, more than just raining. Hurricane Sandy hit us hard. Luckily we had no real loss due to the storm. No trip though and even thinking about leaving once the storm passed, we did not want to leave the house without electricity and routes away from here involved areas that were hit hard and some of which were still under water. We were not aware of it at that point but that was the start of our non-rving season.
At that point, I started looking forward to our next trip - a winter trip down to Colonial Williamsburg for Grand Illumination, as we had taken the year before. We would be leaving at the end of November for almost a week. Reservations had been made way back for the trip and it would highlight the holiday season for us. We had winterized the Roadtrek in mid-November and we would travel without water as we had the year before in December. We were all prepared and a few days before we started getting the Roadtrek ready for the trip and packing in things we would take with us. The day before we got all of the clothes that we would need on the trip out of the closet and filled the shelves and cabinets in the Roadtrek - the temperatures in this part of Virginia at this time of the year can vary from freezing to over 70 and we were preparing for both in what we were bringing with us. The night before we leaving my throat started to feel scratchy and I started coughing - for no real reason. The next morning I woke up in anticipation of getting on the road and I felt terrible. The thermometer went into my mouth (one that we had not packed into the Roadtrek) and read 100 degrees F. I was sick. At this point I did not know that these were the symptoms of this year's variety of Flu. We postponed the trip for a day - maybe tomorrow I would feel better and have a normal temperature. I didn't and the trip ended before the Roadtrek left the driveway. This actually lasted for all of December and into January and along the way developed into Bronchitis. Nothing serious but a great deal of disappointment - because the weather got colder and the days were either raining or snowing - along with a very significant snow fall that we had not seen in a couple of years.
We were spoiled by 2011 into 2012 - that winter was warmer than normal and the weather was fairly good. Here, in 2013, we were with week after week of negative forecasts. I know it was worse in other parts of the country - snow where it has not snowed in years and years. We tried planning a few overnight trips - all cancelled because of the weather. Even impromptu overnights were not possible as the weather would be good one day and bad weather was coming the next day. And it seemed - still seems - like the Spring will never come. The groundhog came out and said Spring was soon to arrive - the groundhog lies.
I am writing this about two weeks before you are reading it and outside it is snowing - lightly - with higher predictions of accumulations than likely will happen (I hope) but still once again, it is snowing. Like many of you, I am tired of it. I have been reading on the Roadtrek Facebook page about others in Florida and other places that are warm enjoying their Roadtreks. I am envious. When I heard the prediction of this current storm, I said to Meryl, "Let's just get into the Roadtrek and head south - where it is warm and there will be no snow." She smiled and told me to have a good time. I was only half joking about the idea - the feelings were serious, but I know that we just can't do that for various reasons. I have not heard the words "NorEaster" spoken on local TV news and weather reports as often as I have these past six months. We can count our blessings that we did not lose our house as some did. We are now healthy, etc., etc. And maybe one needs to own an RV or trailer and be caught in this "lifestyle" to appreciate these feelings.
Of course, during times like these you try to use the good days to do the things that you need to do - or want to do - inside the Roadtrek. Actually, any excuse is good to get into the Roadtrek. So you go out and exercise the generator or charge the battery or find things to go out and take photos of to write articles for sites like this. It is also a time for projects but lately even that has been hindered by the weather outside. There have been a few things that I wanted to set up to demonstrate and document for you here, but there has yet been a day that it has been nice enough to even do that. But still, any excuse to get out to the Roadtrek is good.
It has been a long, hard, non-RVing season. I hope that is will soon end and we can hit the road again. I have some plans for late April - no reservations yet - maybe so that I don't jinx it - but the reservations have to be made soon. Maybe soon we can all be singing, "Here Comes the Sun".
This year - Fall 2012 into the winter of 2013 - has been a particularly long non-RVing season for the two of us. Trips planned in October and December were cancelled. There was "historic" weather to contend with and then illness. For many years we have traveled for each of our birthdays. Meryl's birthday trip was to be at the end of October. We were set to go to Pennsylvania. The day we were set to leave it was raining - well, more than just raining. Hurricane Sandy hit us hard. Luckily we had no real loss due to the storm. No trip though and even thinking about leaving once the storm passed, we did not want to leave the house without electricity and routes away from here involved areas that were hit hard and some of which were still under water. We were not aware of it at that point but that was the start of our non-rving season.
At that point, I started looking forward to our next trip - a winter trip down to Colonial Williamsburg for Grand Illumination, as we had taken the year before. We would be leaving at the end of November for almost a week. Reservations had been made way back for the trip and it would highlight the holiday season for us. We had winterized the Roadtrek in mid-November and we would travel without water as we had the year before in December. We were all prepared and a few days before we started getting the Roadtrek ready for the trip and packing in things we would take with us. The day before we got all of the clothes that we would need on the trip out of the closet and filled the shelves and cabinets in the Roadtrek - the temperatures in this part of Virginia at this time of the year can vary from freezing to over 70 and we were preparing for both in what we were bringing with us. The night before we leaving my throat started to feel scratchy and I started coughing - for no real reason. The next morning I woke up in anticipation of getting on the road and I felt terrible. The thermometer went into my mouth (one that we had not packed into the Roadtrek) and read 100 degrees F. I was sick. At this point I did not know that these were the symptoms of this year's variety of Flu. We postponed the trip for a day - maybe tomorrow I would feel better and have a normal temperature. I didn't and the trip ended before the Roadtrek left the driveway. This actually lasted for all of December and into January and along the way developed into Bronchitis. Nothing serious but a great deal of disappointment - because the weather got colder and the days were either raining or snowing - along with a very significant snow fall that we had not seen in a couple of years.
We were spoiled by 2011 into 2012 - that winter was warmer than normal and the weather was fairly good. Here, in 2013, we were with week after week of negative forecasts. I know it was worse in other parts of the country - snow where it has not snowed in years and years. We tried planning a few overnight trips - all cancelled because of the weather. Even impromptu overnights were not possible as the weather would be good one day and bad weather was coming the next day. And it seemed - still seems - like the Spring will never come. The groundhog came out and said Spring was soon to arrive - the groundhog lies.
I am writing this about two weeks before you are reading it and outside it is snowing - lightly - with higher predictions of accumulations than likely will happen (I hope) but still once again, it is snowing. Like many of you, I am tired of it. I have been reading on the Roadtrek Facebook page about others in Florida and other places that are warm enjoying their Roadtreks. I am envious. When I heard the prediction of this current storm, I said to Meryl, "Let's just get into the Roadtrek and head south - where it is warm and there will be no snow." She smiled and told me to have a good time. I was only half joking about the idea - the feelings were serious, but I know that we just can't do that for various reasons. I have not heard the words "NorEaster" spoken on local TV news and weather reports as often as I have these past six months. We can count our blessings that we did not lose our house as some did. We are now healthy, etc., etc. And maybe one needs to own an RV or trailer and be caught in this "lifestyle" to appreciate these feelings.
Of course, during times like these you try to use the good days to do the things that you need to do - or want to do - inside the Roadtrek. Actually, any excuse is good to get into the Roadtrek. So you go out and exercise the generator or charge the battery or find things to go out and take photos of to write articles for sites like this. It is also a time for projects but lately even that has been hindered by the weather outside. There have been a few things that I wanted to set up to demonstrate and document for you here, but there has yet been a day that it has been nice enough to even do that. But still, any excuse to get out to the Roadtrek is good.
It has been a long, hard, non-RVing season. I hope that is will soon end and we can hit the road again. I have some plans for late April - no reservations yet - maybe so that I don't jinx it - but the reservations have to be made soon. Maybe soon we can all be singing, "Here Comes the Sun".
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Our First Real Vacation in the Roadtrek Complete with Earthquake, Sudden Violent Storm, and Hurricane
The electrical power is back at our home four days after Hurricane Irene. I am back at my computer and I can now take the time that this article deserves.
We have waited a long time to be able to travel again as we used to and in mid-August for some many years we have gone South. Once we got the new Roadtrek we started planning this trip. It started out a little more extensive than perhaps a first extended trip should - though I know that some get a Roadtrek and the next day leave to go across country for three months. We usually go away for three weeks. We started off planning for just over two weeks and at the point that we left the trip was whittled down for thirteen days. Initially, the trip was to include a night in Pennsylvania, four days in Washington, D.C., eight days in Williamsburg, Virginia, and then two nights (three days) back in Pennsylvania on the way home. As we got close to the trip I began to think that perhaps we were planning too much and that maybe we should break in a trip like this a little shorter. At the last minute we cut out the Washington, D.C. portion of the trip and left in the rest.
If you have been reading along with me on this site, you know that we have been preparing the Roadtrek and packing it with things that we will need on a trip since the day that we got it this past April. Well, the final packing to prepare for this trip took four days of adding in things that we figured we would need and all of the clothing that we would need for two weeks out - plus spares. Before we left, every cabinet was full and packed tight.
Also over the past several weeks I have been finding every noise inside that would bang, clunk, or rattle as we drove, and made certain that it was quieted. We have just about found most - though along the way on the trip a few new ones could be heard. We were ready to go!
We planned a new route from our house to the highway avoiding some of the bumps of poorly paved roads and cutting several minutes off the trip. Of course, with construction on every road everywhere (it seems), a few minutes here or there does not mean much when you sit in traffic before you get twenty miles away.
Our first night would be in Lancaster, PA. The trip to Virginia is over eight hours of straight driving and I did not want to arrive in a campground for the first time after their office closed, so we set a stopover in PA at about the half way point. We would arrive in Pennsylvania with enough time to go to a farmer's market called Roots with time to stop before at the campground, check in and pay for the night, make sure the power at the electric post was good, and then be off to the market. With traffic, the trip was a little longer than it should be. We stayed once again at the Old Mill Stream Campground in Lancaster, PA. The people who work at this campground are great and very accommodating. I will have more to say about them as these articles continue - as we returned to this campground at the end of our trip with a hurricane coming up the coast and forced us to make sudden last minute changes in our plans.
The next day we would leave for Virginia and head for a campground that has been highly recommended by other RVers for the Williamsburg area - American Heritage Campground. I plan to devote an entire article to that campground. It did live up to its recommendations.
I am not going to attempt to tell you all about the things that we did on this trip in one article and there will be several to follow. I will focus on the places that we went and the things to do.
I will tell you now about a few things that will make this trip stand out in our memories for a long time. These are things that go beyond traveling in an RV or specifically, a Roadtrek. During this trip - as it's title states - we encountered an earthquake, a sudden violent storm as we were driving on US 95, and a hurricane.
There may have been other earthquakes on the East Coast during my many years, but I have never felt one. If anyone told me that one took place, it would be a surprise to me. On this trip, we were within one hundred miles of the center of the earthquake and we felt this one. It is an odd sensation. We were inside a museum building on Jamestown Island. This building was built just a few years ago over an archaeological site and to preserve the site, the building was built on cement piers above the ground do as not to disturb the history beneath. We were standing at one of the display cases on a wall near the front of the museum. Suddenly, it felt like the building was swaying. It just seemed natural that it would do this - my wife said to me that the building must be moving in the wind - the James River is just feet away. I said to her that this was not possible - we have been in this building before and it cannot sway in the wind. Well, she said, if it is not the wind - it must be an earthquake. Over our heads, the hanging light fixtures started swinging. We were just standing there. My wife asked me if we should be heading for a door. I figured that if there was a problem, someone would be on a loudspeaker telling everyone to get out, but the young lady at the reception counter was just sitting there talking to some guy who had come by. There was no panic and it was like this happened there every day. The swaying stopped, of course, as suddenly as it started and it lasted about thirty seconds. The lights kept swinging but other than that it did not appear that anything had been moved out of place. The artifacts in the cases were as they were. Suddenly, a man who appeared to be an administrator came running out to the girl at the reception counter. He asked her if she felt "that". He said that he was sitting at his desk and suddenly everything started moving. I saw him pull out his cell phone and start calling to find out what happened. Now, this is National Park Service, so I would figure these guys know an earthquake when they feel one - or would know who to call to find out. He seemed to make three calls before he got confirmation that we just experienced an earthquake - 5.9 they told him on the Richter Scale. Everyone just went back to what they were doing so we continued to tour the musuem. Later, people who had been outside when it happened said that they did not feel anything. In the next few days, speaking to people at Colonial Williamsburg - just a few miles from where we were, most felt it - outside or in - and those who were outside who did not actually feel the movement, felt a feeling of dizziness or of being lightheaded. Yes, this was my first earthquake. My wife, of course, has been a much larger one - an 8.9 in Mexico - which she slept through. This occurred before we met when we were in college.
The earthquake was the big topic of conversation in Virginia for days. When we left Williamsburg, we were going back to Lancaster to spend a few days. There were reports of Hurricane Irene but there was no certainty at that point what path it would take. We were continuing with the trip figuring if it did come our way we would likely be home by then. We left Williamsburg and headed in the Roadtrek north on US Route 95 - well known for its traffic between Richmond and Washington D.C. We left mid-afternoon and planned to stop for dinner at a restaurant in Fredricksburg that we have been to before. The plan was that we would stop early for dinner, avoid the bulk of rush hour and leave when the roads were clearer heading up to Pennsylvania. What we had not planned for - and had no idea about was a sudden flash storm that violently hit several counties in Northern Virginia including the city of Fredericksburg. We were driving along with the sky cloudy, but not out of the ordinary, when suddenly the sky turned dark. At the same time it started to pour and the wind sharply blew. The Roadtrek which was traveling at the speed limit - the speed limits here are 70 mph - was taken in the wind and blew out of the lane. I held tight on the wheel and got it back between the lines while I slowed down. It handles the wind at slower speeds much better. Everyone else was slowing down as well and we were surrounded by trucks and cars. We had the radio on and again for the first time in my life I heard the Emergency Broadcast System actually come on - and not for a drill- and report that in these counties - they listed several counties - the locations of which we had no clue - but obviously we were in one - there was a severe storm with 60 mph winds, heavy rain, and large hail. We saw no hail but we certainly were in the downpour and felt the wind. I got behind a small truck with large red rear lights that I could see easily and just kept going following behind. We drove about half an hour in the storm heading north and the sky started to clear as suddenly as it had grown dark. The storm was heading south and we had driven through it.
We were just about in Fredericksburg and we f0und our exit. The restaurant is a chain restaurant and is located in a section of the parking lot for a large shopping center. There is also an incredibly inexpensive gas station in this shopping center - which we had stopped in on the way south and paid $3.29 per gallon. This may not be a big deal where you are located but here in NY the gas topped $3.89 and was headed for over $4 again when we left on this trip. Well, anyway, we are now off 95 but deep in traffic approaching this shopping center - most of the traffic - rush hour from both Richmond and D.C. was passing the shopping center by. We managed to get over to the lane to enter the shopping center - and it was eerily deserted. In fact everyone of the many, many stores and businesses were closed - and appeared to have been closed for some time. We continued along the inner roads of the shopping center to the restaurant and it was closed and dark. Those here must have know that this storm was coming - and they closed the stores and got out fast. Well, now we had to find someplace else for dinner and try to avoid what had turned into bumper to bumper traffic back on 95. I suggested that we head for US 1 - to try to avoid the traffic and also because there would be opportunities to find restaurants on a route that was not a limited access road.
To get to US 1 it is necessary to drive through most of Fredericksburg - and like the shopping center - it was closed. There was no electric power in any of the buildings and everything was deserted. It continued along like this down to US 1 - and US 1 was not much different - though it was bumper to bumper traffic with a mile traveled in about a half hour. It took us an hour and a half until we found an open road back up to US 95- which by this time had opened up significantly and was moving. We eventually found restaurants open nearer to D.C. and had dinner. Another experience to write home about...
And then there was the hurricane. At this point the reports were uncertain as to when this hurricane would reach NY and whether or not it would be as strong as it was reported to be in Bermuda. We were uncertain what to do - stay the two days as planned in Pennsylvania or leave the next day after arrival this night. My wife was concerned that we had left things out in our backyard that would blow up and damage the house. I was concerned that we were putting ourselves into the storm and that Pennsylvania - perhaps more west than we would be - would be a better place to be than at home in the direct path of the storm. We would have until the next morning to decide when we went into the office to pay for our stay.
We hooked up that night in the mud. The storm that we drove through in Virginia must have made its way through Pennsylvania also. The next morning the sun was shining and you would never know that there was a hurricane in the forecast. We went into the office and explained our situation. The ladies who work at Old Mill Stream Campground are very nice and very accommodating. She completely understood and told us that if we needed to leave there was no problem and we would not have to pay for the second day even though it had been reserved. They were uncertain what the weather would be like there. They had heard reports from nothing to heavy rains. Meryl was anxious that we would have a problem with the things left in our backyard and the decision was made to head home. We would spend the day in Lancaster, have an early dinner and head home.
Throughout the day we heard weather reports getting worse and worse for NY. I started to think that perhaps we should head west to where there would be no storm at all and avoid the problem all together. That place - where there would be no storm - would be Pittsburgh. We pulled into a McDonald's parking lot and connected to their wifi to find a campground in Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, I was not finding any - not that I was not finding vacancies - I was not finding campgrounds. OK - we would head home.
The rest you know. The storm hit NY hard and heavy (though not as heavy as anticipated). We sat in the dark - actually in the Roadtrek in our driveway using the generator and the inverter alternately to be in the light and be entertained by the TV at night. And waited four days to have the power restored. I still think we should have gone to Pittsburgh.
There you have the excitement. In the next several articles I will write about the fun of our vacation trip in our Roadtrek!
We have waited a long time to be able to travel again as we used to and in mid-August for some many years we have gone South. Once we got the new Roadtrek we started planning this trip. It started out a little more extensive than perhaps a first extended trip should - though I know that some get a Roadtrek and the next day leave to go across country for three months. We usually go away for three weeks. We started off planning for just over two weeks and at the point that we left the trip was whittled down for thirteen days. Initially, the trip was to include a night in Pennsylvania, four days in Washington, D.C., eight days in Williamsburg, Virginia, and then two nights (three days) back in Pennsylvania on the way home. As we got close to the trip I began to think that perhaps we were planning too much and that maybe we should break in a trip like this a little shorter. At the last minute we cut out the Washington, D.C. portion of the trip and left in the rest.
If you have been reading along with me on this site, you know that we have been preparing the Roadtrek and packing it with things that we will need on a trip since the day that we got it this past April. Well, the final packing to prepare for this trip took four days of adding in things that we figured we would need and all of the clothing that we would need for two weeks out - plus spares. Before we left, every cabinet was full and packed tight.
Also over the past several weeks I have been finding every noise inside that would bang, clunk, or rattle as we drove, and made certain that it was quieted. We have just about found most - though along the way on the trip a few new ones could be heard. We were ready to go!
We planned a new route from our house to the highway avoiding some of the bumps of poorly paved roads and cutting several minutes off the trip. Of course, with construction on every road everywhere (it seems), a few minutes here or there does not mean much when you sit in traffic before you get twenty miles away.
Our first night would be in Lancaster, PA. The trip to Virginia is over eight hours of straight driving and I did not want to arrive in a campground for the first time after their office closed, so we set a stopover in PA at about the half way point. We would arrive in Pennsylvania with enough time to go to a farmer's market called Roots with time to stop before at the campground, check in and pay for the night, make sure the power at the electric post was good, and then be off to the market. With traffic, the trip was a little longer than it should be. We stayed once again at the Old Mill Stream Campground in Lancaster, PA. The people who work at this campground are great and very accommodating. I will have more to say about them as these articles continue - as we returned to this campground at the end of our trip with a hurricane coming up the coast and forced us to make sudden last minute changes in our plans.
The next day we would leave for Virginia and head for a campground that has been highly recommended by other RVers for the Williamsburg area - American Heritage Campground. I plan to devote an entire article to that campground. It did live up to its recommendations.
I am not going to attempt to tell you all about the things that we did on this trip in one article and there will be several to follow. I will focus on the places that we went and the things to do.
I will tell you now about a few things that will make this trip stand out in our memories for a long time. These are things that go beyond traveling in an RV or specifically, a Roadtrek. During this trip - as it's title states - we encountered an earthquake, a sudden violent storm as we were driving on US 95, and a hurricane.
There may have been other earthquakes on the East Coast during my many years, but I have never felt one. If anyone told me that one took place, it would be a surprise to me. On this trip, we were within one hundred miles of the center of the earthquake and we felt this one. It is an odd sensation. We were inside a museum building on Jamestown Island. This building was built just a few years ago over an archaeological site and to preserve the site, the building was built on cement piers above the ground do as not to disturb the history beneath. We were standing at one of the display cases on a wall near the front of the museum. Suddenly, it felt like the building was swaying. It just seemed natural that it would do this - my wife said to me that the building must be moving in the wind - the James River is just feet away. I said to her that this was not possible - we have been in this building before and it cannot sway in the wind. Well, she said, if it is not the wind - it must be an earthquake. Over our heads, the hanging light fixtures started swinging. We were just standing there. My wife asked me if we should be heading for a door. I figured that if there was a problem, someone would be on a loudspeaker telling everyone to get out, but the young lady at the reception counter was just sitting there talking to some guy who had come by. There was no panic and it was like this happened there every day. The swaying stopped, of course, as suddenly as it started and it lasted about thirty seconds. The lights kept swinging but other than that it did not appear that anything had been moved out of place. The artifacts in the cases were as they were. Suddenly, a man who appeared to be an administrator came running out to the girl at the reception counter. He asked her if she felt "that". He said that he was sitting at his desk and suddenly everything started moving. I saw him pull out his cell phone and start calling to find out what happened. Now, this is National Park Service, so I would figure these guys know an earthquake when they feel one - or would know who to call to find out. He seemed to make three calls before he got confirmation that we just experienced an earthquake - 5.9 they told him on the Richter Scale. Everyone just went back to what they were doing so we continued to tour the musuem. Later, people who had been outside when it happened said that they did not feel anything. In the next few days, speaking to people at Colonial Williamsburg - just a few miles from where we were, most felt it - outside or in - and those who were outside who did not actually feel the movement, felt a feeling of dizziness or of being lightheaded. Yes, this was my first earthquake. My wife, of course, has been a much larger one - an 8.9 in Mexico - which she slept through. This occurred before we met when we were in college.
The earthquake was the big topic of conversation in Virginia for days. When we left Williamsburg, we were going back to Lancaster to spend a few days. There were reports of Hurricane Irene but there was no certainty at that point what path it would take. We were continuing with the trip figuring if it did come our way we would likely be home by then. We left Williamsburg and headed in the Roadtrek north on US Route 95 - well known for its traffic between Richmond and Washington D.C. We left mid-afternoon and planned to stop for dinner at a restaurant in Fredricksburg that we have been to before. The plan was that we would stop early for dinner, avoid the bulk of rush hour and leave when the roads were clearer heading up to Pennsylvania. What we had not planned for - and had no idea about was a sudden flash storm that violently hit several counties in Northern Virginia including the city of Fredericksburg. We were driving along with the sky cloudy, but not out of the ordinary, when suddenly the sky turned dark. At the same time it started to pour and the wind sharply blew. The Roadtrek which was traveling at the speed limit - the speed limits here are 70 mph - was taken in the wind and blew out of the lane. I held tight on the wheel and got it back between the lines while I slowed down. It handles the wind at slower speeds much better. Everyone else was slowing down as well and we were surrounded by trucks and cars. We had the radio on and again for the first time in my life I heard the Emergency Broadcast System actually come on - and not for a drill- and report that in these counties - they listed several counties - the locations of which we had no clue - but obviously we were in one - there was a severe storm with 60 mph winds, heavy rain, and large hail. We saw no hail but we certainly were in the downpour and felt the wind. I got behind a small truck with large red rear lights that I could see easily and just kept going following behind. We drove about half an hour in the storm heading north and the sky started to clear as suddenly as it had grown dark. The storm was heading south and we had driven through it.
We were just about in Fredericksburg and we f0und our exit. The restaurant is a chain restaurant and is located in a section of the parking lot for a large shopping center. There is also an incredibly inexpensive gas station in this shopping center - which we had stopped in on the way south and paid $3.29 per gallon. This may not be a big deal where you are located but here in NY the gas topped $3.89 and was headed for over $4 again when we left on this trip. Well, anyway, we are now off 95 but deep in traffic approaching this shopping center - most of the traffic - rush hour from both Richmond and D.C. was passing the shopping center by. We managed to get over to the lane to enter the shopping center - and it was eerily deserted. In fact everyone of the many, many stores and businesses were closed - and appeared to have been closed for some time. We continued along the inner roads of the shopping center to the restaurant and it was closed and dark. Those here must have know that this storm was coming - and they closed the stores and got out fast. Well, now we had to find someplace else for dinner and try to avoid what had turned into bumper to bumper traffic back on 95. I suggested that we head for US 1 - to try to avoid the traffic and also because there would be opportunities to find restaurants on a route that was not a limited access road.
To get to US 1 it is necessary to drive through most of Fredericksburg - and like the shopping center - it was closed. There was no electric power in any of the buildings and everything was deserted. It continued along like this down to US 1 - and US 1 was not much different - though it was bumper to bumper traffic with a mile traveled in about a half hour. It took us an hour and a half until we found an open road back up to US 95- which by this time had opened up significantly and was moving. We eventually found restaurants open nearer to D.C. and had dinner. Another experience to write home about...
And then there was the hurricane. At this point the reports were uncertain as to when this hurricane would reach NY and whether or not it would be as strong as it was reported to be in Bermuda. We were uncertain what to do - stay the two days as planned in Pennsylvania or leave the next day after arrival this night. My wife was concerned that we had left things out in our backyard that would blow up and damage the house. I was concerned that we were putting ourselves into the storm and that Pennsylvania - perhaps more west than we would be - would be a better place to be than at home in the direct path of the storm. We would have until the next morning to decide when we went into the office to pay for our stay.
We hooked up that night in the mud. The storm that we drove through in Virginia must have made its way through Pennsylvania also. The next morning the sun was shining and you would never know that there was a hurricane in the forecast. We went into the office and explained our situation. The ladies who work at Old Mill Stream Campground are very nice and very accommodating. She completely understood and told us that if we needed to leave there was no problem and we would not have to pay for the second day even though it had been reserved. They were uncertain what the weather would be like there. They had heard reports from nothing to heavy rains. Meryl was anxious that we would have a problem with the things left in our backyard and the decision was made to head home. We would spend the day in Lancaster, have an early dinner and head home.
Throughout the day we heard weather reports getting worse and worse for NY. I started to think that perhaps we should head west to where there would be no storm at all and avoid the problem all together. That place - where there would be no storm - would be Pittsburgh. We pulled into a McDonald's parking lot and connected to their wifi to find a campground in Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, I was not finding any - not that I was not finding vacancies - I was not finding campgrounds. OK - we would head home.
The rest you know. The storm hit NY hard and heavy (though not as heavy as anticipated). We sat in the dark - actually in the Roadtrek in our driveway using the generator and the inverter alternately to be in the light and be entertained by the TV at night. And waited four days to have the power restored. I still think we should have gone to Pittsburgh.
There you have the excitement. In the next several articles I will write about the fun of our vacation trip in our Roadtrek!
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