JoDo Chasing Rainbows

We started preparing for the arctic blast on Tuesday. We decided to use this cold blast to make sure we have everything we need to spend a summer season in Yellowstone. This will be the first time this RV will be at the park. While we did survive the blast that happened in Texas in 2021 we were in Mission. That was a different experience since that part of Texas is not set up for cold. We have a different set up where we are now in Hondo.

Here is what we have done thus far:

• Covered outdoor water spigot with a reflectix tent. The heated water hose is in place.
• Adding more reflectix to the dinette area. This is on our large deep slide. This area can be cool when it is cold outside. Inside the dinette I keep reflectix up against the wall year round.
• We have plenty of propane since we can hook up to our 120 gallon tank. It is 70% full so we should be able to run the heat with no problem.
• We have filled our fresh water tank just in case there is a freeze on the water pipes. We have added reflectix around the cold water pipes in the RV bay just as a precaution. We have ducted heat in the floor so when the heat is on the bays stay above freezing.
• The RV has a full tank of gas to run the generator is case of loss of electricity.
• We have filled all our water containers so we have 8 gallons of drinking water. I have charged the spigot so that we don’t have to hand pour this water.
• I completed grocery shopping for the week and prepared meals for a few days. We have a gas stove so it not that I can’t cook; this is me wanting to hunker down and be lazy because it will be cold.

We did not need to buy a lot of reflectix. I kept what we had from our old RV. It is not inexpensive and I knew one day the extra pieces that I kept would come in handy. We are ready as we can be. I will let you know what we think we could have done better after this cold front moves through. Four days of below freezing temperatures is good test for us. We know we are up to the challenge. How are the rest of my RV friends doing out there?

Update after storm: We survived the storm. The outside water lines never froze. Our little reflectix box around the hoses worked. We do have one flaw in the system. It is the water filter that is attached to the coach. That froze so we could not use city water. This happened even though we set the faucets to drip all night. Our onboard water worked fine. We did a few experiments and realize that if it is going to be under 25 degrees Fahrenheit for more than 6 hours then it is better for us to turn the water off at its source and use the onboard water system due to the flaw with the water filter. We stayed plenty warm. We have thermometers in the water bay area and in the area where our fresh water tank is located. Neither of those areas dropped below 42 degrees Fahrenheit. The ducted heat did its job keeping the bays warm enough to keep water working. I also realized that extra reflectix that I added to the dinette makes a positive difference. I decided to keep that piece of reflectix in place because it did help keep us warm. RVing is always about trail and error. I think we have some good lessons learned that we will be able to use again when we go to Yellowstone in May of 2023.