I hate Texas winters,

[Lakota Wolf]

If your full timing,,, the rules are,, always prepare, Which apparently I failed to do,, as a seasoned full timer. Call it a Blonde joke moment, Brain Fart, oooops, or what ever comes to mind. I had initially prepared for the cold snap heading our way. Bought a NEW tangle proof, insulated,top of the line RV fresh water hose. And for precautionary measures,, double insulated it with foam pipe wrap AND Roll wrap insulation.( Being December, I always replace my fresh water hose whether it needs it or not,,,It on the things to replace on a regular basis list).I even wrapped Gorilla tape, (extra super duper duty extra strength industrial duct tape) all around it,, making it so insulated that not even a bunker buster bomb could penetrate it. Can NEVER use enough duct tape. (By the way, its cheaper by the case),

Any who,,, as with any cold snap,, Its a common law,, (maybe even an ordenance)  to disconnect your water supply hose when the weather dips below 34 degrees, just so it doesnt freeze into a tubed block of unpenetrable ice. Well, I did disconnect it, and wrestled it to empty it out,, so I thought. When a company sells a product , as such a water hose and it says TANGLE proof,,, take caution,,,, that tangle proof just means you wont tangle your neighbor up while you roll it up,, Wise word advertising. As I finished supposidly emptying the hose I noticed it was kink city,,,, not just one or two kinks, but a whole colony of kinks,, kinks went left, kinks went right,, kinks went into circles and hexagons,, and quite possibly a trapazoid,, (have no clue what a trapazoid is,, but sounded complicated). I tuck the water connection hose on the RV neatly inside its compartment,, all snug and warm..Im standing out in the cold,, roughly 12 ish degrees,, (I know you kind folks in the North are laughing going pffffffft at 12 degrees, because to some, thats a HEAT WAVE). Im freezing my toosh off with that brisk westerly wind,,teaching myself new words that I know my mother would have made me eat at least 2 or 3 bars of soap for even pronouncing. Im trying to ROLL the hose up and take it inside,, to set in the tub to keep it nice and warm and pliable.

The rolling of the hose is not going as planned,,, it has become one long rigid straw,, along with so many kinks that it made my eyes go crossed. If you have ever rolled a COLD hose,, you probably understand, that there is no rocket science to simply rolling a warm hose, you know that its like trying to roll a sheet of plywood. So heres a visual,,( your allowed to look aimlessly away from reading this, and get the visual to laugh about.) Im out there,, freezing my fingers and nose off attempting the virtual impossible feat. I roll one way and the hose kinks want to go the other way so I spin around to spin that way only to have the following kink make me spin back around... Picture watching someone who has just walked into a big spider web,,,, its almost like that shuffle dance,,, pretty much get a good 2 months of cardio in less then 5 minutes,I finally give up, trying to roll it nicely and neat and just drag a bundle of hose into the RV and shove push and cram the hose into the shower/tub,, then notice, at each of the bends and kinks,, the insualtion is ripped exposing nice crack holes in the hose,, as I watch water trickle out... Apparently I didnt use enough Gorilla brand duct tape. So, I wrestle the hose out of the tub area,, not quite as easy as it was shoving it in there,, and drag it back out side and leave it by the front door,,(something to trip on and over as I head out in the morning no doubt). I stew a few moments then laugh,,,

I realize, Mother nature ALWAYS wins,, and the only thing you can do, is go along with her weather antics and take them with a grain of salt....   Cold temps, combined with cold winds will freeze the best hose made,,, even with extra insulation, in a very short time., So the lesson is,,, try to prepare 2 days ahead instead of 1, and know that the weather can go from good to bad to worse in a matter of hours,

With RVing,,,, we live and learn, and laugh at ourselves in the little things that throw a wrench in the gears,, but we continue to push on, push foreward,, we cuss and curse,, we laugh and cry,, But its all about the journey,,,,,,, If we didnt have these little mishaps and misadventures,, we wouldnt have anything to tell our chidren,grand children and great grand children,, and life would be,,,,,, well,,,,, Boring.   My blogs are a way to laugh at myself and hopefull put a smile on someones face knowing that they are not the only ones who go through the things that make you go HMMMMMMM.

As always,,, don't sit still and let the world pass you by,,, get off your butt and pass the world,,, one mile, one adventure at a time,, Cuz in life, you don't always get a second chance,, and nothing is worse then having to tell yourself,,,, I wish I could have or should have.

Be safe, and savor the little things along lifes journeys.

[Dawn Michelle]

This brought to mind our first winter in Denver RVing - it seemed to snow six feet every weekend for four months straight. My mistake was thinking when leaving the rig I should turn the propane off (extra cautious, right?) Well that time we got the water heater tank rewelded where it split. Two years later we put her up in storage. I was sure the better half emptied the water heater, he was sure I had. Well, that time there was no repairing it and had to replace it. That was a lovely coach but I'm sure she was glad to see our backsides. Remind me one day to tell you about backfilling the black tank to clean it....or not!

[Lakota Wolf]

Its the PERILS of the RV life,,,lol A simple rubber hose is no match for the wraths of mother nature,,lol But Ace Hardware came through with a nice H.D RV rated fresh water hose, On Sale no doubt. I had the old hose in the back of the truck to dispose of and showed the ace hardware clerk and they got a chuckle seeing an extreme duty hose suffer the winters wrath,, The clerk told me a farmer had come in earlier in the morning with an extreme weather exterior hose that suffered the same fate,, so I didnt feel so bad,

[Rich Thomas]

Sorry for your miss step Lakota but it led to some good solid advice. Something we all need once in a while.