No one likes to drive a big rig in the middle of a thunderstorm, heavy downpour, snow or ice - but wind is a huge factor as well. There was a recent case where a wind gust knocked a truck pulling a travel trailer off an overpass; the truck hung on for dear life with it's passengers inside - held on by just the trailer hitch! Luckily, they were saved! Wind can be a big issue when you are parked as well. Besides putting away and securing all your outdoor living furnishings, closing up your awning, and sometimes even pulling in your slide-out, in really severe winds, staying in your RV may not even be the safest place to be. It's nice to have trees around for shade; the last thing you'd want is one of those nice big branches to come through the roof of your trailer or motorhome. While these are the same issues you may have with a brick and mortar home - I can tell you that it's a lot more unsettling to be inside a trailer during a wind storm! There is a lot more movement, rattling and shaking.
No way you can sleep through that! In one situation in our past, Charlie and I left a parking area in the middle of the night and went to lower ground where we were surrounded by higher land to cut the wind.
Cold is another big issue for an RV. Most of these units are not insulated well enough to handle below freezing temperatures. While our unit is insulated and has very nice heat, a big concern is freezing our water pipes and hose. (When we are home, we winterize our unit by blowing out the pipes and adding RV anti-freeze) When camping, all our "utilities" are exposed - water, sewer and electric. Monitoring the weather gives us an opportunity to prepare. If a freeze is in the forecast, for us it means filling our tank with water and disconnecting our water and sewer hoses, closing up all our exterior openings except electric. At that point, we need to run our trailer as if we are boondocking. We need to keep all the cabinets with water pipes exposed opened, to allow heat from the main cabin to flow in. We even brought an extra portable heater for our outdoor kitchen, which has a sink. If an extended freeze is in the forecast, at that point we will use the parks facilities (showers and maybe toilets) to help conserve our own water.
So how did we learn all this stuff? YouTube is a fantastic resource. It is important to join RV groups on FB and follow other RVers on YouTube. Not only is it interesting to connect with others enjoying the same lifestyle, but you learn so much from each other - and it is important to keep on learning!
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