Go RVing! It's a sticker on the back of our friends trailer. We say it whenever things get way too complicated with our fifth wheel. Sometimes people thing we're on a never ending vacation and we say this phrase to ourselves because it makes us laugh. You have to keep your sense of humor when you live on the road...otherwise you'll probably end up in tears in a straight jacket. This was one of those weeks. You turn on the news and they say something like "Good news, it's not negative today." Well yee haw. You know you're insane when you cheer for weather in the teens! Let me back up...
We knew the temperature was going to drop and that there would be snow. Up to this point, this season, the snow has been minimal and has melted pretty fast. On Sunday, Ian tried to gather some supplies and skirt the trailer for extra insulation. We've had heat tape on our water hose for a while so we were ready enough. I stocked up on groceries because I do not like to drive in the snow. I'm actually a bit afraid of being stranded on the road with three children in a ditch with no family around, so my motto is "it's not worth it." When I woke up on Wednesday morning, the water in the kitchen and the kids bathroom was frozen in the pipes. I was just grateful for the water in our bathroom working. Hooray for hot showers! I did dishes in the bathroom and overall I didn't get my feathers too ruffled. This stuff happens. It would have helped if our whole trailer was skirted, but Ian's been working overtime and well, this stuff just happens. The next day, all of the water was frozen. This was starting to get old. Ian asked me to go to the store and pick up supplies so he could insulate some more when he got home. Keep in mind the weather is negative this whole time. I did not go get the supplies because I was terrified to drive on these roads . So he insulated until bedtime hours and we tried to thaw things out as best we could. By the time our heads hit the pillow we had water in one bathroom. This was a huge success. Lets get some details here. Remember what it's like to go camping ? When you brush your teeth without water. How about using the toilet? You kind of need water for that. We used water bottles and at one time I shoveled snow into the toilet and waited for that to melt. Cooking is challenging without water. You can't wash your hands, dishes are piling up and we only have so many in these tight living conditions....So you can see the tension rising right?
The next day was Friday. Still only have water in one bathroom, which I'm grateful for but still frustrated about. That's when I started to notice the creek behind the trailer. At first the way the snow accumulated was beautiful. It looked like we were above the clouds, then it started to melt in some areas. It appeared that it was partially frozen so when the water started to thaw it was looking for a path around the "iceberg" the path it chose was covering the sidewalk and creeping closer to the trailers. I was getting a little panicked but the water would rise and then freeze again. When Ian got home that night, he finished insulating and by that night we had water! Success! I made dinner and did dinner in the kitchen, we really lived it up!
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| This I what it looked like when the snow first fell, like beautiful puffy clouds! |
The next day, everyone was looking at the creek and getting antsy. It was definitely rising but then it would freeze into a slushy like substance. I mean how much can it thaw in 3 degree weather? We went out for frozen yogurt that night because, well we're crazy. We were siting on the couch singing duets while Ian played on the guitar...oh what a perfect life we live....then our neighbor knocked on the door. The water was rising. That was the end of our peaceful night. Ian started helping some of the neighbors that were already getting water creeping up on their rigs. Some people moved forward a few feet, some people didn't and this is what happened to their trailer.
The jacks were covered in ice. The fire department came, at one point they said evacuate, then they said we were on pre evacuation status. We were told there would be cots for us waiting at the rec center. I did not find this comforting at all. All of my children were asleep. It all happened between 9:30 and midnight. It was one of those should we stay or should we go moments. At one point we were near the creek and we could hear the ice breaking and water flowing. It was so creepy. I packed a few days worth of clothes in my car along with the laptops and school stuff. Grabbed my insurance papers and declared I was leaving. Ian tried calming me down and we decided to sleep in our clothes and wait for the fire department to come knocking on our door to evacuate us.
We woke up and were surprised to see no water under our trailer. Again it was that decision, do we wait it out? Will it really happen? It's not super easy packing everything up. It's possible but it's definitely a hassle. Kids bikes and nerf guns are everywhere and we just put the skirting up on the bottom. You also risk all of your pipes freezing up in transport, and we just got our precious water back. So we waited for something to happen until my mommy hormones kicked in again and I declared we were leaving. I just can't wait for something bad to happen , you know? So my husband didn't protest, he packed up everything and we got to a new park. The whole time Ian was helping older couples get their stuff all packed up and moving people rigs for them. He's quite a stud muffin my man. So it's no surprise that Fox news wanted to interview him. He told us about it but we didn't think the clip would be so classic. I don't know if it's because I love pictures so much, or it's my husbands love for facial hair or if it's just that my knight in shining armor got me out of there. I got such a kick of the interview and I'm so proud of my man. Here's the YouTube complete with family commentary in the background. Enjoy.
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| This was Friday morning when the water started to thaw. Who knows how this weeks weather will affect it. |
