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Remember the old adage, be careful what you wish for?  Well I used to say I wanted to experience winter camping.  Well, I have.  And I must say, go ahead a wish.  This ain’t half bad.  In fact its kind of neat.  Of course defining living in an RV - even a small one like ours - can hardly be defined as camping.  So here are our observations:

- thank heavens Jack decided to insulate the bottom of the RV and we have a skirt all the way round. It went down to -11 C last night. The floors are chilly, but none of the pipes froze.  John and Chrissy gave us some carpeting which helps our feet.  We do get cold feet sitting at the table, but is usually one foot and redirecting the heat from small heater usually fixes it.

- Having a supply of easy to prepare food on hand is smart, but most easy store foods create a lot of garbage: jars, boxes, tins, plastic tubs. Figure out a storing garbage for a few days plan.

- When stocking up before a storm think about nourishing he brain as much as the belly.  Reading material, some movies, supplies for your hobby.

- Clear your calendar.  If you don’t feel like you should be somewhere it’s a lot easier to sit back and enjoy.

- Have an alternate to electricity to keep you warm and to cook with.  We have propane for both if we need it.  Sure takes the worry element out of things.

- buy several pairs of cheap gloves.  It didn’t seem to matter where we were the gloves were somewhere else.  Keep some in the RV, by the dooras well as in the car.  When I head out at 6:30 am, I truly appreciate gloves.  You will be thankful when the time comes when you have to scrap the snow and ice off the car.

- If you don’t have winter boots then think which shoes you can afford to get wet, which ones will have some traction on the ice, and which will keep your feet warm.  Jack and I usually wear rubber clog things to shower but he quickly learned snow comes through the cut outs and is COLD!!

- Ice collects where you step out of your RV.  Its whereyou step, pack down snow, polish it and then water collects there and freezes.  Just is.  Having something to melt it or chip it with is a good thing.

Aside from all that - take joy in the beauty of a snowfall.  Savour the relax/down time.  How rare it is to have time to read, watch a daytime movie, or just gaze out of the window.

Julie