A Winter Trip is a Different Animal

It’s no surprise that snow and ice are possibilities if you plan a winter camping trip that starts in Nebraska. And yes, a winter storm did delay the start of our trip, but just by one day. What we hadn’t anticipated, however, was how cold weather affected our ability to load the camper in advance—who knew what might be damaged by below-freezing temps? The TV? Liquids such as laundry detergent and body wash? Soups and spaghetti sauce? 

And what about all the foods intended for the refrigerator? Due to the outdoor temperatures, which were as low as -5 degrees F (-20 C) the morning we left home, the refrigerator in the Escape was also well below freezing, so the trick became how to keep the cold foods warm enough! All the foods which would normally go into the refrigerator instead had to start in coolers in the car just to keep them from being frozen. At one point the temperature inside the refrigerator was just 13 degrees F (-10 C). And the back of the car was stuffed with items that would normally have been travelling in the camper.

Because it was so cold at home, we were also unable to do the normal sanitizing of the potable water system for the first trip of the year. That had to wait until we reached the relative warmth of the first two campgrounds.

Another surprise was how bad our mileage was in the bitter cold weather, 11-point-something miles per gallon at the beginning of the trip. I guess the poor Flex and the camper were both feeling as stiff and miserable as I do when it is so cold outside.