Winter RV Trip Cut Short – The Rush Home

Sadly, I had to cut my RV trip short when COVID19 hit with full force in mid-March 2020. I was in New Orleans enjoying my 7th month of an absolutely glorious RV trip when I had to decide whether to head home or not.

Why I Cut My RV Trip Short

Cutting my trip short was a really hard decision. I ultimately chose to head home because I was worried if I waited any longer states would stop allowing travelers to come and go and I’d be stuck somewhere away from family. I made the decision to set out for home and broke camp immediately.

Along the way, I avoided large cities and people in general as much as possible. I used copious amounts of hand sanitizer especially after filling my gas tank.

Emergency RV Trip – Day 1

After checking weather forecasts and coming up with a tentative route, I hitched up and we were on the road by noon. We drove 333 miles that day.

Our first night was spent in Shreveport, Louisiana. After getting the utilities hooked up, the owner drove by and warned me there were tornado watches in the area and where to go in the event of a tornado. Fun times!

Murphy and I went for a walk then went back inside to wait the storm out. What a night. We had high winds, pounding rain, small hail, and very little sleep.

Emergency RV Trip – Day 2

After checking the weather forecast, I decided we had to change our route. There was a big winter storm moving across the Rocky Mountains and the chance of getting caught in winter weather was a real concern. We stayed on a southern route and headed across Texas.

After driving 401 miles, we stopped for the night in Sweetwater, Texas.

Emergency RV Trip – Day 3

On day three, we continued our drive across Texas headed to El Paso.

We stayed in our usual El Paso park. They are right off Interstate 10, have long pull-through spaces, a fenced dog run, and really easy in and out access. Day three was a 431-mile drive.

Emergency RV Trip – Day 4

From El Paso, we crossed the border into New Mexico and again into Arizona. We had two time changes and there is no daylight savings time in Arizona so I really didn’t know what time it was when we departed.

We stopped for the night at a little campground between Tucson and Phoenix, AZ. We managed to get 349 miles under our belts that day. We were both getting really tired and generally disagreeable.

Emergency RV Trip – Day 5

We headed into Nevada on day 5. Parts of Nevada are very remote, and unless you’re on a major interstate there aren’t many places to buy fuel. With that in mind, I planned for a long day.

We traveled 485 miles, stopping in Beatty, NV. It was windy and frigid in the high desert that day.

Emergency RV Trip – Day 6

Continuing our trek through Nevada, two-lane roads with a lot of truck traffic were on the menu.

This rest area stop was beautiful. It was warm and there was nobody else around so I was able to let Murphy get in a good run.

As always, I was taking pictures. Note how clean the truck and trailer look. They were absolutely filthy. Silver for the win!

There aren’t many places to camp with hookups out this way so I decided to stop for the night in Winnemucca, NV. My aunt who is in her late 90s lives there but I didn’t make contact with her because I didn’t want to risk spreading germs to her. We drove 350 miles on day 6.

Some of my supplies were running low so I unhitched the truck and trailer and went for groceries and gas. This was the first time I unhitched since we left New Orleans. After I returned, I immediately hitched up again so I wouldn’t have to do it in the icy cold of the morning.

Emergency RV Trip – Day 7

Throughout the trip, I was in contact with family and friends in Washington and Oregon. I’d also been watching the news. Shortly after I left Winnemucca, I got a text from my son-in-law telling me Oregon was shutting down all RV parks in the state immediately.

I contacted the private RV park in Oregon where I had a reservation for that night. At that point, they didn’t have enough information to give me a firm answer so they said they’d call me back.

As it turned out because I was only staying one night and the rule went into effect that night at midnight my reservation would stand and I could come on in.

We spent the night in Culver, Oregon. Our drive on day 7 was 384 miles. It was COLD in Culver and I’m so glad we had electricity for heat.

Emergency RV Trip – Day 8 – Final Day

On day 8 we were up with the birds. It was our last day on the road. I started looking at route options while enjoying my coffee. Things were not looking good. Every route I checked had a high mountain pass with snow and ice on the roads

In the end, I decided to go about 100 miles out of my way so I could avoid the possibility of snow and ice. Our final day was 320 miles. We pulled into my brother’s place at around 3:30 in the afternoon. They came out and helped me get parked and set up.

Murphy is over the moon happy to be home. He was a trooper but it was a long hard week for both of us. We drove 3,050 miles (50 hours) in 8 days. Towing is much slower than driving a car so it just takes a lot out of the driver.

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