Houston, we have a problem!



Houston, TX – So, maybe we got it wrong somewhere, but I always thought being a snowbird meant you got away from the cold by heading south.  We’re not really finding it to be the case – not by a long shot!  It’s so cold here that one of the RV park staff, a resident Texan, suggested we go home and take our weather with us!  But with the nicest drawl.

Houston commuters had a nightmare this morning on the highways and byways.  Overnight rain hit below-freezing surfaces, especially those on overpasses in the region, and turned everything into a skating rink.  The local TV news stations devoted their entire morning segment to the havoc this caused, sending transport trucks into railings, cars into tailspins and tow truck owners into overtime.  Schools and businesses shut down for the day, and kids everywhere frolicked on icy hillsides using anything they could find for sleds.  University students discovered that laundry baskets were great for sliding, and some of them said they’d never seen snow before.

With no particular agenda, we decided it would be most prudent to stay put, but that didn’t mean we sat idle. To push back the cold radiating through the walls and floor of the RV, I dug out our little electric space heater. Not long after, because we had to run the furnace constantly all night, the propane finally gave out.  In order to refill the tank, we had to close everything up in the RV to travel the 50 feet to the filling tank – just as if we were preparing to drive 200 miles.  But before we could pull in the slides on the side and back of the RV, Val had to dig out our scraper and hack away at a quarter inch of ice that had been deposited on the exposed sides.  The mirrors were also coated in ice, so there was more scraping to be done there.

The person who normally pumps liquid propane at the RV park couldn’t get to work because of the ice storm, so the husband of one of the staff had to be briefed by phone on how to do it.  Another staff member who had seen it done went out with him to provide moral support.  I stood well back while the job was done!

Val had detached the hose once again last night to keep our pipes from freezing, but unlike the other times, it never got warm enough to re-attach it today, so we were without water.  The staff very kindly filled our kettle, jug and empty plastic milk bottle so we had something for brushing our teeth and making coffee.  Today’s hot shower in the main building was especially nice!  We didn’t even mind the construction mess around the restroom area, which is in the process of being renovated.

When sanity appeared to have returned to the roadways later this afternoon, we ventured out to do a bit of shopping and take in a movie nearby (Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit – a fast paced thriller with a rather thin story line).  Then we headed for a Cracker Barrel restaurant, at my insistence.  I was almost as interested in a good meal as I was to see the standard crackling fire that’s always blazing away in their big stone hearth. At last, an interlude of true warmth on a day that has provided very little of same!