We’ve been
home for about a month. In that time
there have been three wildfires in the area.
The last one was less than one half mile from our property. My husband and I had been out shopping and we
could see the smoke from I-30. It was in
the general vicinity of our property but we didn’t know how close until our son
called and told us that the main road was blocked off. Of course, we went directly home, in case we
had to evacuate. The good thing about
living in an RV--we should be able to save the majority of our “stuff”
including the RV. We’d have to get it
away pretty fast though.
By the time
we got there, the fire was out but it did put a fear in us since this fire and
the last one were only one week apart and so much closer than the first fire. We decided to get everything put up in the RV
to make it ready for pullout, like when we’re traveling so we’d be able to
evacuate quicker.
My husband
has rearranged our shed. Putting what he
considers important in the bottom storage area of the RV while putting bigger
items near the opening of the shed so we can load it into my truck if we do
have to evacuate.
The one
thing I consider fortunate—our smaller local wildfires aren’t making the news
nationwide. It keeps my parents,
especially my dad, from worrying. I
swear he’s the worrier in the family, not Mom.
He gets upset with me when I’m traveling and don’t call and check in
with him every night. Of course, he doesn’t
say it, instead he bugs Mom about it and she tells me. He expects to hear from any of his kids or
their families who are traveling whether it’s for work or leisure.
So, imagine
what he goes through when a hurricane hits South Carolina where my sister lives,
or DC where her son works. Now, not only
is he worried about tornadoes where we live but hurricanes for my sister and
her son and now we’ve added earthquakes on the East Coast. No way am I mentioning wildfires to him.
We fled from
Hurricane Ike when it hit Houston. We
packed up the RV and went to San Antonio for a few days (love that city and the
bagpipe player). We didn’t have to worry
about losing anything. Dad didn’t have
to worry either because we left with the advance warning. Okay, okay, we did go RV shopping and bought
the 5th wheel we have now.
I grew up in
an area where we got the occasional blizzards, thunderstorms, and floods but no
earthquakes, tornadoes, or hurricanes.
Sure, we’d get rain from the hurricanes but overall, the area I grew up
in was calm.
You’re
probably wondering why we moved. The
cold and our two story house, with a full basement and attic were getting to be
too much for us to handle. The warmer
winter weather and smaller RV are easier for us, less pain and more fun in our
lives.
So, do you
live in a different area from where you grew up? Is the weather very different? Did you consider the weather when you moved?
