Traveling in snow

[Lt Keefer]

The power is out all over Texas. ERCOT, the folks that run our grid, say they lost about 1/3 of their generating capacity due to the wind turbines freezing up and some kind of transportation issue with natural gas. Well, there you go, when you need it the most renewable energy sources will leave you in the lurch. What we need is some good old fashioned coal power or some nuclear generating capacity.

[Bob Denman]

I heard on the News that the anti-freezeup technology would have cost $2000 per turbine...
The plant owners took a chance that it wouldn't get this cold...

[Lt Keefer]

Well Bob, I bet they will run the numbers after this storm and see if they were right. Hopefully, the tech will be in the next batch but I'll not hold my breath.

[powerboatr]

i dont know who to believe
but texas wind energy is sold to off state


and the gas fired generating stations, did nto loose natural gas. the pumps for the plant were not ready for winter and shut down because they froze...


but commanche creek nuke plant also throttled back from freezing pumps not related to cooling the reactor


and i know this first hand, commanche peak plant has the electricity it needs to OPERATE come from the main grid..not from in house so when power fails it trips all sort of throttle down actions.....crazy as a bat in a tunnel

[Pete'sMH]

Just north of Corpus Christi. Lost power again Monday afternoon and got it for about two hours Wednesday morning and finally back Wednesday night. Park couldn’t sell propane and, of course had no cable, WiFi or cell service. And the park shut off the water on Tuesday. But our generator worked a treat and kept us warm. I’m on my third book since we got here! Getting better. It’s an adventure. Might even get a shower tonight!!

[saddlesore]

Originally Posted by Pete'sMH

Just north of Corpus Christi. Lost power again Monday afternoon and got it for about two hours Wednesday morning and finally back Wednesday night. Park couldn’t sell propane and, of course had no cable, WiFi or cell service. And the park shut off the water on Tuesday. But our generator worked a treat and kept us warm. I’m on my third book since we got here! Getting better. It’s an adventure. Might even get a shower tonight!!

Just south of You in Rio Hondo... Got power back 10:00 hrs.Thursday.. Still have the "Boil Water" restriction but are hopeful that will be dropped tomorrow or Saturday..
Thankfully we have a 112 gal fresh tank so not hurting for water..yet

[Pete'sMH]

Originally Posted by saddlesore

Just south of You in Rio Hondo... Got power back 10:00 hrs.Thursday.. Still have the "Boil Water" restriction but are hopeful that will be dropped tomorrow or Saturday..

It’s an adventure for sure. Not what we expected when we left Indiana to escape winter. But the RV is working fine and it’s all good. Stay toasty!!

[Beau388]

Well, after 80+ hours of living in an RV (Hurricane Hazel) in San Antonio, TX, we are back home with heat and hot water. Living in the RV was due to the lights and heat going out in west San Antonio with temps as low as 9 degrees. We are not out of the woods as 100,000 SATX homes are still without power. We expect rolling blackouts tonight when the temperature hits 20 F degrees. I will never brag about the winter's heat again. I can only hope "Global Warming" will save me from another State-wide power failure.

[Lt Keefer]

I agree with you Beau. I have often bragged about how nice it is in Central Texas during the winter. Fishing, golfing, no leaves to rake or snow to shovel, but in the last 1o years I'm beginning to question my choice of homesteads. 10 years ago we had the Bastrop County Complex Fire. We had to evacuate our home as the fire got pretty close to us. Then in 2015 we had a freak storm on Halloween that dumped over 10 inches of rain in a couple of hours. The creek rose and flooded our property. Being a responsible homeowner, I have flood insurance and it paid to rebuild the house. Now this week of weather reminiscent of an ice age. It seems like Mother Nature is telling us to get off her lawn.

[GaTripster]

@Pete's MH - Bless y'alls hearts. Been following your adventure and my heart goes out to y'all. Should've gone to FL. ������

[GaTripster]

Originally Posted by Pete'sMH

Haven’t seen the dog since yesterday.....

Poor poochie!! Bless y'alls hearts. Been following your adventure and my heart goes out to y'all. Should've gone to FL. 🤗🤗🤗

[Bob Denman]

Originally Posted by Beau388

Well, after 80+ hours of living in an RV (Hurricane Hazel) in San Antonio, TX, we are back home with heat and hot water. Living in the RV was due to the lights and heat going out in west San Antonio with temps as low as 9 degrees. We are not out of the woods as 100,000 SATX homes are still without power. We expect rolling blackouts tonight when the temperature hits 20 F degrees. I will never brag about the winter's heat again. I can only hope "Global Warming" will save me from another State-wide power failure.

Glad to see that things are starting to get back to "norbal" for you.

[lwmcguire]

Many folks will be paying off ridiculously high gas and electric the next 12 months

Sure a bad situation all around

Springfield had to use propane storage to augment the natural gas service to keep it online

Lots of big diesel power generation normally used for peaks on line for several days

The gas lines freezing should a wake up call

Glad it is over and 13 days in SW MO below freezing is a record

[Beau388]

The Village is getting there. The towers have 59 apartments with some water damage (most from broken refrigerator water pipes) or no heat (hydronic heat). The dining room is back open after ServPro removed 8" of water from the carpet and the six contractors are repairing plumbing problems. The snow and ice are completely gone and it is bright and sunny 39 degrees out. I still got to take the golf cart out to Hazel and empty out the frig and get the dirty clothes, empty the tanks (the RV lot has a dump station). Damage to the house was limited to one broken hose bib. A couple 80+ year olds with 3 cats have been very fortunate. Happy to state that the cell phones (CC) and Internet (AT&T) have never let us down.
I was really worried about our house staying dry without heat. The hill we live on is part of the Texas Blackland Prairies (black clay), so the houses are all built on post tension slabs that float. That means the water pipes (PEX) are in the unheated attic and I have a water softener in the unheated garage. We feel really blessed to be alive, warm, dry and well fed. We lived in the very northern part of Maine (Limestone) for 10 years and never went through anything like this. Of course, I was 50 years younger then.

[Pete'sMH]

Originally Posted by GaTripster

Poor poochie!! Bless y'alls hearts. Been following your adventure and my heart goes out to y'all. Should've gone to FL. [emoji847][emoji847][emoji847]

Thank you. We went there last year and we’re planning to go to Arizona this year but DW had a chance to be an extra in a movie near Dallas last week so here we are. Fortunate in many respects and glad to be out traveling. Looks like we’re back to near normal Texas weather just in time to begin making our way home. Oh well. Life is what you make of it.

[Machinetools1]

We left on February 4th to see my daughter who lives in Austin from California. We stayed at the Lone Star RV Park outside of Austin. We had to stay an extra week as the roads were to icy to move. The park was out of power and water. After 3 days the power came back on but no water. I am glad we had a full tank of fuel and a full tank of propane as this got us through the cold spell.

I was not prepared for the cold and the pipes froze in the coach but later thawed out so we could use them. We left out of there on the 19th and the carnage on I35 was immense. Big rigs scattered all over the interstate. made it just outside of Fort Stockton for the night.

Texas has some beautiful rest stops and Pecos West Rest Area is no exception. It was an excellent trip and the snow just added a little adventure. looking forward again next year.

[Machinetools1]

Here are some pictures.

[Machinetools1]

Originally Posted by Machinetools1

Here are some pictures.Attachment 28750Attachment 28751Attachment 28752Attachment 28753

These pictures were from the California desert coming home.

[DubeGrpArchitek]

Originally Posted by Machinetools1

These pictures were from the California desert coming home.Attachment 28754Attachment 28755Attachment 28756Attachment 28757Attachment 28758

Glad you made it home safely. Great pics...how does your coach handle boondocking?

[Machinetools1]

This was the first time we have ever stayed in an RV Park. Before the 29m we had a 40 foot toy hauler and all we ever did was boondock.

We love bondocking as we mostly camp by ourselves away from mainstream traffic. We have a 200 watt Renergy portable solar panels with a 30 foot lead that we place in the sun while the motorhome is placed in the shade. This charges the batteries more than enough during the daylight hours. In the morning if the batteries need a charge we run the generator a few hours to replenish the batteries from the previous night.

The only drawback we see is the 50 gallon water tank. After 3 days of taking showers the tank gets low of water. We usually fill the tank up with local creek water or be more skimpy with our showers. When we bring our dual sport bikes with the trailer we load up more water in the trailer so water is never a problem. So far we love the 29m and it's serving us very nicely.

Here is a picture of what we used to have when our kids were home.