Saturday, July 19, 2014

Wintering at Clear Creek in 2013



 Going into the winter, we knew deep in our gut that it would be brutal.  We had planned (or hoped that it would happen) on being in Houston for the winter.  But, alas it was was not to be due to internal politics (that never happens...). 

 With much trepidation and faith that we would survive, Clear Creek RV Park became our semi-permanent abode until May 2014.

Right away, we knew it would different from any other winter we'd ever experienced.  The flooding that occurred in September (while the kids and I were in Indiana) only happened once in a century. 

Notwithstanding the very small space we now inhabited as an active family of five (~250 square feet), the outside temperatures fluctuated into the very cold rapidly.  We combated that by creating red-neck skirting using inch-thick styrofoam and white duct tape.  I regretted the ghetto look, but was grateful for the ten degree increase internally.  We first connected to an electric only spot and then were able to move to a full hook-up.  That meant removing and re taping the skirting.  Very tedious.


 Our spot backed right up to the creek.  It was a beautiful spot.   And not much foot traffic behind us due to the cold temperatures. 

We figured that we could handle November, December and probably January.  But getting through February would be our challenge.

The skirting and a heat lamp underneath helped keep the floor warm.  We properly winterized our water hose and kept two electric heaters running at all times. One in the front and one near our bedroom.  We maintained an ambient internal temperature of 65 degrees during the day and about 55 to 60 at night.  With layers of blankets and bundled up in warm pjs, our family did just fine. We frequented the rec center next door and tried to get the kids outside playing with the rv neighbor kids as often as possible.  We made several good friends!

Bill wearing his X Wing costume in the Golden parade!
The creek froze over by Thanksgiving and we settled into surviving (and hopefully thriving) through the winter.  We had the kids involved with Awanas and by December, Bill had started a pilot program creating training videos and other digital media related stuff for his work.  This was his big chance to create a position within the governmental department he worked for doing the stuff he was most passionate about.  We were very excited about this opportunity and about the places (hint, hint) that it could take us.

Little did we know about the extreme challenges that were ahead...



















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