2/1 How to Stay Warm in an RV?

I am currently in a state park about two-thirds of the way from south to north Florida, and it has been horribly cold here.   Normally, freeze warnings are seen only in the north of Florida, but lately, Florida has been seeing freeze warning as far south as Miami and Naples!  

The newspapers printed out information yesterday that iguanas were likely to fall out of trees or become cold-stunned on the ground and appear to be dead.  Since these are an invasive species, The Florida fish and Wildlife Commission passed an order that allowed each resident to collect and turn in up to five stunned iguanas without a permit during this cold weather.  This is seen as an opportunity to easily get rid of this invasive species 

Where I am, north of Daytona, it dropped down to 26 degrees last night and is expected to drop to about 30 degrees tonight. Rangers said they had never had such cold weather and were really not sure what to do, but the told us who were checking in to unhook water hoses and turn their outdoor faucets to drip when the temps got down to close to freezing.   I have noticed a lot of empty spots in this normally full campground and several people leaving earlier than expected.  

Anyway, I live full time in a 32' long Class C motorhome, and while I try to avoid the kind of weather I left in Michigan when I bought my rig and headed out for adventure, occasionally it catches up with me.  Mostly, I have been frustrated at not being able to get to Ohio and start moving into the condo I recently bought and closed on!  I started to pack just before the weather turned really miserable, so am having to constantly move boxes and look for stuff that I already packed that I need now. 

So, here is some advice for staying warm in an RV and at least partly avoiding frozen pipes and shivering under a lot of blankets at night. Note that these tips can help keep you warm but are not guaranteed to prevent bad things happening in really cold weather.  

I know it is probably too late, but one thing you might consider in the future is to buy a motorhome instead of a trailer if you plan to do a lot of traveling.  Most motorhomes have several storage compartments under their main floor.  This double layer means that your floor is likely to be warmer than without these "basements."  Also, a lot of motorhomes, like mine, have one of those compartments as a utility compartment that might be heated to help prevent frozen pipes.  

In the photo below, you will notice that I store my sewer dump hose here because it hooks up to the dump valves inside this compartment, and then it passes though the bottom of the compartment through a hole.  I am not using it to dump my tanks right now, so I have put the electric cord through this hole and covered much of the opening with a board and some bubble wrap to prevent cold air from coming in.  

 

 

In this photo, you can see the dump pipes and valves.  (I opened it to show you the inside. I do not leave it open, because for one thing it attracts raccoons looking for new homes!)  On the top of the inside of this compartment, you will see a weird-looking contraption, which is covering the vent that comes from my rear furnace and pumps hot air into this compartment.  Unless it is really cold outside, I usually keep this hot air vent blocked with duct tape.  A few days ago, I undid about half of the tape so it could get hot air down there, but then discovered in the middle of the night that it was 70 degrees inside my motorhome living area and a whopping 79 degrees down here---a huge waste of propane.  The next day, I decided to cut up a paper plate and punch a few holes in it so it would get some heat, but not too much heat.  It is 32 degrees outside as I write this, and with the rear furnace running occasionally, it is staying around 52 degrees down there.  (I have a remote thermometer that tells me that so I did not have to run out every hour in the middle of the night.  $23 at Walmart.)    

Most people buy their first RVs on the basis of appearance and comfort, but those of us who have lived in one for a few years consider things like surviving freezing weather and the ease of doing all the little things you need to do to keep your RV operating and comfortable.  

OK, now for one of the negatives of a Class C motorhome.  The dealer and some mechanics have tried to convince me that absolutely NO cold air comes through the engine area into the living area of my motorhome.  Ha!  Then why do i get such drafts from up there?  I do have a short privacy curtain that snaps to the area between the upper bunk and the cab area, but it is too short and does nothing to prevent drafts.  The following solution looks awful, but it really and truly does work!  

The grey thing is that short privacy curtain, and on top of it, and tucked under the top bunk mattress is a heavy bedspread I have.  I don't need it right now because i have another heavy bedspread and a down throw on my bed right now, so I arranged this one so it covers the top all the way to the floor and tucks behind the seats where major drafts come in.  When I put it on each night, I feel around with my hand to see where drafts are still coming in and rearrange it until the area is draft free!  

I suppose I could get energetic and just make a thicker and longer privacy curtain that would reach all the way to the floor, but I am too lazy to do that.  

Also, the boxes are the result of my starting to pack for my move into my condo as soon as the weather gets less cold in Ohio and i can drive there safely.  

Finally, it was really windy last night.  As you probably know, these RVs are built poorly and are not made for cold weather, regardless of what the salesman will tell you.  Windows leak air, as do slides and unidentified cracks.  Last night i had trouble getting to sleep because I could feel cold air blowing on my face and head.  Basically, I have two big windows in my bedroom, as shown here:

At around 2 am, I got out of bed because I was convinced that somehow my AC was on and blowing cold air while the furnaces were running.  Nope. Just windows that were not very wind or water-proof. 

I have the very nice MCD shades that consist of a mesh layer you can partly see through and heavier vinyl shades that keep the sun out completely.  Running my hands around each one, I could feel substantial drafts, so I dug around and found some masking tape and packing tape.  (I know I have some duct tape around somewhere, but I think it is outside and was not in a mood to go searching for it.)  

I first opened the vinyl shades and carefully taped the sides of each shade to the vinyl wallpaper with the masking tape. I also taped the bottom of each shade down to air could not come through that way.  Then I pulled the heavier vinyl shades down past the mesh ones and repeated the process with the packing tape.  It really helped, but it took me a long time with my painful shoulder that needs to be replaced, so I did not get back to sleep until after 4 am. 

In past years in cold places, I covered the rear windows with that insulated clear shrink stuff that you taped on and then used a hair dryer to make it fit tightly.  However, I tried to get some a week ago, but apparently Florida carries snow boots and mittens, but hardware stores have never heard of this window insulating stuff!!   

One thing you can do is close your slides until the wind abates, but I really did not feel like starting up my engine at 2 am last night to put my slides in.  Here is some of the detail showing one set of blinds taped shut.

One thing the rangers asked us to do, other than filling our water tanks and unhooking our water hoses, was to go outside before we went to bed and set the campsite water faucet to drip.  I could not get mine to drip, but I did get a tiny spray of water that I figured was OK.  I forgot to go out this morning but at 2 pm, this is what is looked like:

One last comment: Other than a week in Ohio one November, the two coldest places I have ever camped at were Death Valley and Las Vegas, both in January.  I have photos of Furnace Creek in Death Valley with ice on it to prove how cold it can get there.  Also, one day in Las Vegas I got tired of the cold weather and decided to leave.  When I put my slides in, ice fell off the slide toppers, but unfortunately I never took a photo of it!  

I also once camped in Eugene, Oregon, in January when they had a freak storm that deposited 18" of snow, but the temperature was not as low as the Death Valley or Las Vegas stays.  The big oak trees around the campground near Eugene had never had more than a couple of inches of snow on them, so lots of huge branches were breaking off and causing serious damage to some of the RVs parked under them.  Luckily, I like satellite TV so always ask for an open space.  It melted fairly quickly, but here is a photo of my rig with 18" of snow on it.  

 

If you look very closely at the next photo, you will see a man in a red jacket on top of his small trailer trying to figure out how to get the large limb off his roof and the smaller branches that had gone through it.  (The Class A rig next to him was not damaged.)

 

And his rig was not even directly under any trees!  

Anyway, hope you are all staying warm, even in Florida!   

 

2/1 Kissimmee Prairie Preserve SP

Actually, I visited this place before Christmas, but forgot to post it.  Oops!  It was an interesting place, and even though I only spent one night there,  I want to post about it. 

I did not know until recently that there were several large dry prairie areas in Florida.   Basically, a dry prairie as it exists in Florida is a subtropical community of low shrubs and grasses.  This type of grassland was once very common in Florida but most of it was replaced by grazing land or farming, and now a lot of it has become developed land for housing.  It usually consists of land that is poorly drained and is kept as prairie though burning.  

In any case, the few dry prairies in Florida are large tracts of land and enjoyed by stargazers because they are dark sky areas.  

This is the simple entrance to Kissimmee Prairie Preserve.  No fancy visitor center or even a gatehouse to welcome you, though there is a gate that closes at dusk.  

 

 

An information sign and a pay deposit box for day use visitors.  Campers do not have to pay here as their fees are prepaid online.   

This road was a surprise.  It is probably good that I did not know I had to drive for five miles on a gravel road to get to the campground or I might not have chosen to stay here!!

 

 

Funny to find an osprey nest in a dry prairie, but there was a lake not too far away. 

 

 

A lot of nothing but grass in this area, with a very few trees in the distance.   

 

 

This clump of trees seemed to have had a ranch house in the middle at one time.   

 

A sign warning you that this is a dark sky area.  

 

 

 

It was getting dusk as I got to the campground.  

 

 

And a lot more of nothing as I left the next morning.  I wish I had had more time to explore on this brief visit, but I had to get to the next place this day. 

 

1/31/2026 Changes to My Life

 Yes, I have not posted recently.  What has happened is that I found a condo, put in an offer, and closed on it three weeks ago.  I had decided last summer that a couple of things made it clear that it was time to settle down after over 13 years on the road:

• The first and most immediate was that my left shoulder has been bothering me for the past three years.  My pain level on most days has been manageable, but on bad days it was so bad I could not even sit in my recliner to rest my arm without serious pain.  I have been adapting to this pain by pretty much becoming one-armed, and doing things like closing my driver's side door by reaching far over with my right arm and hand.  Turning sharp corners and backing my 32' rig into a camping spot has been a lot harder because I am mostly having to do it with one arm, by holding the steering wheel with my left hand at about 7 pm and using my right arm to do all the turning while letting go with the left hand and putting it back on the wheel when my right arm had turned the wheel as much as it could.  There have been other adaptations such as going through a difficult process to get into and out of bed, and such things as having difficulty taking off and putting on clothing.  Anyone who has had shoulder pain will know what I mean and the pain involved.  I visited a new orthopedic surgeon last summer and was shown x-rays showing that my shoulder was bone-on-bone and needed to be replaced.  
• I started motorhome full-time at the age of 69, and I am now 82, so things having been getting a little harder each year.  For example, I had to give up my electric bike a couple of years ago because my balance was causing me to feel unsafe.  Other than my shoulder, I am in excellent heath for my age, but at my age, you cannot tell what is to come, so I decided I would keep my rig, but spend most of my time in something a little more stable and was not so hard on my aging body. 

Anyway, after looking last August and September, and having difficulty finding what I wanted near my younger son's home, and with no basement or second floor, I headed to Florida figuring I'd keep my eye out on Zillow and use the services of an Ohio realtor who knew what I wanted.  

I had to go back to Ohio in late December and early January for some dental and medical appointments, and I was surprised to find what I wanted.  Normally, I am a person who visits something multiple times and takes along friends and family for second opinions, but I had lost two other condos in September, so I ended up having my realtor putting an offer in after seeing it only once for 30 minutes!!  I did not want to lose this one because it had almost everything I wanted and did not want to lose it.  I had flown into Ohio and left my motorhome in the airport parking lot in Florida, so flew back to pick it up and drive it back to Ohio.

Unfortunately, Ohio ended up with one of the coldest Januaries in their records, so I have been hanging around northern Florida waiting for it to warm up.  Ha!!  With lows below 0 degrees and highs in the teens, I knew it would be a difficult drive through mountains in Tennessee and Kentucky, and so cold in Ohio that my pipes and tanks would freeze.  And then even Florida got really cold, to the point where tonight it is expected to be 27 degrees.  I have a heated and covered utility and tank area, but even though I have been at a beach for the last week, I had no desire to go for a beach walk, to say the least.  

Instead, I have been sorting through stuff and deciding what to leave and what to move into my new place.  I am leaving a lot of the basics and even some clothing in case I want to take a short trip up into Michigan to visit some relatives in May.  I am at least at this point not selling it.  I am planning on my shoulder being replaced in June, but it will be quite a few months before I can drive it, but there is a real possibility of my returning to Florida for a month next winter.  

So, while I will not be posting about campsites for a while, I will be writing about my adventures camping in below freezing weather and getting to Ohio to move into my new place.  (After 13 years on the road, however, I have no furniture other than a couple of pieces the previous owner left me.  I need beds, tables, recliners and a couch or two, bookshelves, and a credenza in the den to store documents, a new printer that actually works all of the time, and a lot of other things.  I am leaving my old pans and most of the kitchen things in the motorhome, so need new ones of those.  At my age, I want new stuff, not to use all my old stuff I have owned for decades!!  

One nice thing is that the seller replaced all the kitchen appliances with brand new ones, so I am looking forward to having space to cook something bigger than chicken pieces and room in my refrigerator/freezer to actually store SEVERAL large tubs of ice cream!!!  I plan to go out grocery shopping and buying at least two of everything!!     

Anyway, please feel free to ask any questions you have about my life on the road, and I will answer them.  In the next week or so while I am waiting for Ohio to melt, I also plan to write about some of my favorite places on the road.  Hope you enjoy that.   

 

    

12/26 W.P. Franklin North Campground, Alva, FL

This is a Corps of Engineering (COE) campground on the Caloosahatchee River in southern Florida.  There are three such campgrounds on this navigable waterway.  They are from west to east:  W.P. Franklin Lock & Dam, Ortona South Lock & Dam, and St. Lucie South Lock & Dam.  (If you go to one of these places, make sure you are approaching it from the correct side of the river as there are not very many bridges available.)  The COE builds and manages dams and locks in 2,400 places in the U.S., and wherever they build a dam, they are also required to build recreational facilities.  Nearly always these include campsites with electric and water hookups, and because these are federal facilities, seniors like me get camping spots for half-price or $15 per night for a maximum of 14 days within 30 days for these sites.  

 These campgrounds tend to be in good shape and well-taken care of.  They also usually have electric and water hookups, plus paved spots, which many state parks do not.  AND, they are priced well for seniors.  I have paid as little as $8 per night at a COE campground, though $15 is most common.  You will need a federal senior pass, however, to get these cheap rates.  And, of course, you must be 62 to qualify for the senior pass.   

The Okeechobee Waterway on the Caloosahatchee River is unusual for Florida because it goes through Lake Okeechobee and changes level with dams. Okeechobee was once a natural lake, but farmers and sugar cane growers wanted a larger lake to help control droughts and flooding, so the lake was raised 20' by creating a large levee around most of the lake, creating a lake that covered 730 sq mi.  This caused rivers entering and exiting the lake to be raised with dams and locks, creating a navigable channel that is a favorite with boaters and fishermen.  Boaters on the Atlantic side of the state, now have a pleasant and easy short-cut to the Gulf of Mexico.  

Warning:  Lake Okeechobee and the rivers that enter and exit it are FULL of alligators, so no swimming and no wading, and frankly, I would not be waterboarding anywhere on the lake. Today, I watched a hang glider take off from the day use area across the river, and I hoped he was not going to land in the river!!  There are also rumors of bull sharks and piranhas in Lake Okeechobee, and they got there somehow, so just enjoy the birds and fish from one of the piers along the river.   

Anyway, the three COE campgrounds along this river are some of my favorite places to stay in Florida!!  And here are some photos from my recent stay at W.P. Franklin:

 

The campground and fishing pier of this state park is in an island in the river, and it is accessed from the north shore by a causeway.  Right now my campsite is on the east end of the island, facing the main part of the river.  The lock is on the far side of the river from me, so it is not possible to get up as close to it as you can in Ortona or St. Lucie.  

This is my site--nice and big with electric and water hookups.  All sites have a view of the river or the quiet water areas on the north side of the island.  

 Some views of the campground:  

 

 

This shows the area on the non-river side of the island.  Nice homes here, and most own boats.  

View of river side near the fishing pier area.  

Some weird ducks that I think are mixed breed. 

  

 These are white ibis.  You see them often following cattle in ranch land.  Here, I call them the cleanup crew as walk go about in little flocks eating bugs and worms as they go. 

This is a common gallinule.  It swims like a duck, but it does not have a duck beak or duck webbed feet.  It does have very long toes on its feet that do allow it to walk on floating vegetation, however.  

Just a parked boat.  

The boat ramp.  

The walkway to the fishing pier.  

View up-river from the walkway.  

The pier itself.  It has two levels, so it is longer than it looks in this view. 

This guy was waiting for someone to throw out extra bait or to pull their line out so he could steal bait.  At first, because of the stripes and shape, I though he was an American Bittern, but Bitterns don't have stripes.  Did some research and decided he is a young Black-Capped Night Heron.  He has the correct black cap and has some of his juvenile stripes, but is missing the long white breeding feathers on the back of the cap, so he is probably almost-but-not-quite-mature.  I saw him there for three days, so his technique of hanging around people fishing must work!  

 

 

  

This is the far end of the pier, which is at a lower level.  

The dam is now dumping a lot of water.  For one thing, right now there is only a couple of feet of water level difference between the sides. 

Hard to see from this side of the river, but this telephoto view shows a boat coming out of the lock on the far side. 

View of the west end of the campground from the pier.  

And the dump station is always last!!!

 

 

 

 

12/21 More Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary Photos

I can't resist.  This is one of the most beautiful places in Florida, or anyplace else for that matter.  There is always something new to see in this quiet and peaceful place.  I had to go back to return a couple of two-small t-shirts, so of course, I had to go through the boardwalk again.  I did not have a lot of time, so I did take the shortcut which cuts the 2.5 mile walk down to a 1.5 mile walk, but it was well worth it.  

I will come back on a cooler day in February when the swamp will have more plants flowering and possibly more birds because the water level will be lower. 

Started off this walk with this alligator next to the boardwalk, just as you get into the bald cypress tree area.  I took photos of its feet, also, which i think were interesting.  

 

  This is a front foot.  

 

 

Back foot.   

Just some beautiful views:  

 

 

A lot of people see the green stuff floating in swamps and think it must be slime.  In reality, it is a tiny plant with round leaves and a root system floating in the water.  It is called duckweed because ducks love it!! 

 

 

A lot of the plants in the swamp live on other plants and trees.  This dried up stuff is actually a resurrection fern.  When it is dry, the plant dries up, but when it rains, the leaves turn green in just a couple of hours!  It is very common living on tree branches, so look for it as you walk or drive.   

 

 

This is a lovely swamp lily.   

 

 

And this is a tree that probably fell a hundred years or so ago.  It now provides a home for young plants to get rooted.   

A turtle sunning itself on a log.  

 

 

Air plants and some more resurrection fern.  

 

 

The Corkscrew is the largest patch of virgin bald cypress in the United States.  This one seems to be leaning on its neighbor.  

 

 

Just fishing.... 

 

 

Another alligator taking a nap.   

 

 

A white ibis fishing.  You can tell it is an ibis instead of a heron by its curved-down beak.  

 

 

 I had never seen one of these Painted Buntings before, but there were a couple of them at the bird feeder at the visitor center as I was leaving. 

 

 

Nice collection of packs and carriers just outside the gift shop!  

 

 

As usual, I had to park far from the visitor center, but the bus and RV part of the parking lot was empty so I got a good, shaded spot!!