If you live in a wildfire-prone area or a tornado-prone area, you may own an RV for the sole purpose of having a safe escape route and a place to hunker down if need be. Even if you don’t live in a natural disaster-prone area, maybe you like the comfort of knowing your RV is there in case something else happens to you. House fire? Medical emergency? Hey, an RV can come in real handy…
How important is it to you that your RV is available in case of an emergency? Is it the reason you own it? Is it not important at all? After you vote, please leave a comment and explain your answer. We’re curious to hear your thoughts on this topic. As always, we appreciate your time and contributions!
I chose not important. I’ll use the example of the flooding of a town. I live close to the Susquehanna River in PA. Should the water get to my house, I wouldn’t have to worry about anything. Harrisburg would be totally covered and now imagine the rest of the surrounding area.
Living in Southern Miami-Dade County, Florida, our motorhome is our escape vehicle in event we have a mandatory evacuation due to hurricanes or other disasters. It is also our emergency electric and water supply plus air conditioning if the power is out.
Hurricane Andrew was a wake up call for us. Having been through several hurricanes, over the years living here, we had become complacent and did not leave when hurricane Andrew was approaching. We had sold our previous motorhome and was looking for a new rig, not really knowing what we wanted or needed. After hurricane Andrew, we realized that we needed another motor home with generator and a large fresh water reservoir just in case we had another hurricane.
Yes, we have went through several hurricanes where we did nothing special, but we have evacuated several times when it probably wasn’t necessary. Just don’t know.
We have our TT parked in the driveway and had a 30 amp outlet conveniently installed. It has been used as “emergency” housing when family comes. We have discussed how handy it would be if we have to evacuate for some reason. So far that hasn’t happened but it’s nice to have the option, just in case. . .
Depends on the time of year. Currently it is snowed into the barn and could not be moved out. That being the case, all I could do is use the furnace to keep warm. Last fall I could not get the generator to run and as it is a propane Generator, I would not use it if I was trying to keep warm. In the summer, it sets next to the garage and is full of water and the reefer is kept on and basic items inside, so we could be underway in a few minutes if needed.
RV stays packed and ready to go, non perishables are stored and we just need to grab some clothes and a few odds and ends and we are gone in 30 minutes.
Stow RV in open-sided barn 1/4 mile from us. Do not keep any food in it because of field mice. Can load and depart in less than 70 minutes, including attaching towed vehicle.
We live in an area of mixed ranches & forest. During fire season we make sure it is ready to disconnect & go. We’ve had too many big fires quite close to us to not be ready to go.
Our home is not in an area prone to most natural disasters. We do have storms that knock out power from time to time for 1 to 3 days. Our motorhome’s generator has saved the day to run a power cord in for the refrigerator, freezer, and a few convenience items.
If we did not have the motorhome, I would certainly have a backup generator.
Traveling or not an RV of some sort is my security blanket, has been my whole adult life.
Living in Louisiana, having the RV to escape hurricanes is a calming and necessary option. We will also be making a permanent move to Kentucky in the near future with the real possibility of a few month gap between move out and occupancy on the new home. RV living during this gap period will be cost effective and relatively stress free.
I am former law enforcement with experience in search and rescue. Our RV is a part of emergency preparedness. We include things on our rig in case an emergency evacuation ready to go!
Our trailer is ready to go. Problem is, during the winter we don’t have water in it like we do in summer.
Same potential problem here .. We keep a 5 gallon collapsible jug full as part of our ‘go’ kit.
Same here because of N Nevada weather. Took several 1 gallon jugs of tap water for washing and flushing for last minute funeral in AZ. Didn’t have to de-winterize and re-winterwize, just dump tanks back at home.
I spent several nights in my RV in the hospital parking lot after my Wife had to be admitted for a kidney stone related UTI. I have used it intermittently for that purpose. We live on 50 acres, 7 miles from the nearest town and 30 miles from the nearest hospital. We keep the RV (22′ 2017 Minnie Winnie 22R) “at the ready” in case of extended power failures.
We live in Oklahoma which is “tornado alley” of the nation. Though we are on the road 6 months out of the year we are home during the “season” for tornadoes. If our home or our daughter’s home was damaged or blown away we know we have the motorhome to go to for shelter.
We live within visual distance of three volcanoes, all of which have the wary eyes of the USGS on them, and begging for more monitoring resources. When we built our home, we looked for a site that was defendable, stable (no known fault lines) and higher than the majority of the surrounding area. We also had to worry about prevailing winds (ash) and water/power supply. Our RV is our lifeboat, and we can use it when needed, or hook the generator into the house if we lose power for an extended period (and we lose it for about 12 hour stretches most years during windstorms).
We occasionally have power failures. Our RV is a lifesaver. It was especially helpful during our rare Texas “snowmageddon” last winter when the power was out for several days. The cold was especially brutal to those without an alternate heat source. If the house a/c or power goes out during the summer, we just walk to the RV parked beside the house until the problem is fixed.
Amen. Our area suffers high winds and power outages. And there’s always the spectre of the “big one” — earthquake event. Our truck camper is always topped off and ready as a refuge or escape.
Last summer we were on Evacuation Alert for 2 months and Evacuation Order for 16 days. We live off grid, no grid 20 k, 10 miles from Kamloops. The RV was ready to go. We even scouted out in-town parking. The Kamloops reserve Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc was opened to evacuees and our first choice for services and hospitality. Fortunately as on the fringe of the evac area, we did not evacuate. Steve Barnes, Kamloops Rural
I keep the tank full, all the slides in, and all non-perishable items stocked at all times. We even have extra clothing inside. We can be loaded and on the road in around 10 minutes.
Its not important, because we are full time rvers, so its always with us!
We have ours all hooked up in an enclosed MH insulated garage. We could definitely use it but would have to open up the garage doors to run the generator. When the freeze hit north Texas last year, we have a propane generator for the detached guest room. Thank god it worked so we and 4 dogs and a parrot stayed out there, but our 2nd backup was the MH. So between the guest room and the MH we would have been warm about 10 days. If it lasted more than 10 days we would have moved to a RV park temporarily
It wouldn’t take much to use it as I keep the batteries charged and the gas tanks and propane are at least nearly full just in in case. There is a little non-perishable food but no water during the winter as I live in a cold climate.