Friday December 23rd 2022

Around 7:30 this morning the wind started to blow enough that I woke up. There was a little moisture on the windows facing the direction of the wind, but no real rain. The wind signified the passing of the cold front. This area was now in the “bomb cyclone” side of the front. Temperatures continued to drop all day.

This area will be experiencing real cold over the next few days. It is still not going to be as cold as other areas of the country, but temperatures in the twenties are much colder than Florida cold. Each of the next three nights are forecast to have a number of hours in the twenties. The daytime highs should make it into the forties.

The campground staff is very concerned. The manager and another guy visited each site this afternoon reminding people about the approaching cold weather. They wanted to make sure everyone disconnected their hoses and took other precautions. The resort club house will be open around the clock this weekend to provide a warm refuge for any campers that need it.

Before the park staff reminded me, I had already filled my water tank to about half full, dumped my holding tanks and put my hose away. I will work on my internal systems for the duration. This will probably be the longest period of below freezing temperatures I’ve experienced on the rambling road trip. I have had instances of low twenties temperatures, but only for short periods of time around dawn. The current forecast calls for the temperature to drop below freezing before midnight and not return above freezing until 10AM. Four or Five of those hours will be in the low twenties. I’ll be fine, but I have to run “Mr Noisy”. To keep the pipes in the basement warm and generally cope with the low temperatures I have to run the propane heater. It is far from quiet, thus I call it “Mr Noisy” when it wakes me up in the middle of the night. I use a small electric space heater during the daytime, but it doesn’t do anything for the basement.

I tried to venture out of the resort this afternoon, but the traffic was even worse than the last couple of days. After waiting two cycles and still not through the first traffic light, I made a u-turn and returned to my RV home. A visit to the Wetland Recharge park wasn’t worth it. My daily exercise became a walk around the RV resort. I took pictures of the blossoms on the plants near the club house. They are likely to be frozen off my tomorrow.