Weather Challenges

When we left Florida last spring, we traveled north through Alabama up through the Midwest to Indiana and Michigan. Since it was spring, we had a risk of storms coming through and in a couple places in Alabama, we had tornado watches. Luckily we never experienced a tornado warning or an actual tornado. It definitely seemed to us that taking a slightly western route first to head north has an increased risk of severe weather in the spring. So this year, we decided to take a more eastern route and head north up the East Coast. That may not have been the best idea!

Since we travel slowly, we scheduled stops in Georgia and South Carolina in early April so we could enjoy warm weather along the coast. We had some signs of potential bad weather for our trip before we even left Florida. Initially our weather apps were predicting heavy rain for April 1, our first travel day. We discussed leaving a few days early, but the weather in Georgia looked risky with high winds on those days. We decided to wait and leave on our scheduled day. Luckily, we got packed up and hooked up to the truck before any rain on March 31.

We really lucked out; it started raining after we finished hooking up and stopped raining by 8 AM. We ended up with a slightly cloudy day with no rain and minimal wind for traveling. Perfect for us! When we arrived at our stop in Brunswick, GA, the sun was shining and the sky was bright blue. It was absolutely gorgeous day in Brunswick. So we decided to have a leisurely late lunch at a local restaurant situated on a marsh. We sat outside on their deck and enjoyed watching the birds and enjoying the lovely weather while we had a terrific lunch. Definitely a perfect way to spend the day.

This bridge over to Brunswick really highlights the beautiful blue sky.

Sitting on the deck by the marsh was quiet and peaceful.

Since it was our first time in this area, we stayed 2 nights and spent Saturday touring Jeckyll Island. What a beautiful place filled with an interesting history. The island was once a millionaire’s retreat and is now owned by the state of Georgia and open to the public. Some of my favorite stops were Driftwood Beach, the Cottages in the Historic Section and the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. It was a cloudy day but no rain so we have no complaints. Unfortunately, Faith Chapel was closed so we couldn’t tour it. i think they were setting up for a wedding. We’ll put that on the list to see the next time we stop in the area.

Driftwood Beach is very unique and beautiful

The cottages in the historic section were gorgeous.

Faith Chapel. As you can tell, it got more cloudy as the day went along but still worth the trip out to Jeckyl lsland.

After our weekend in Georgia, we headed north to The Oaks at Point South, near Yemassee, SC. This is a Thousand Trails park that we stayed at in the fall. This is one of our favorite Thousand Trails parks, so we booked an 11 day stay here. The plan was to visit some areas that we didn’t get to see when we stopped here last fall, like Hilton Head Island and Charleston, SC. We spent the first two days settling in at the campground, getting laundry done, and enjoying nature at the campground.

Trent and I enjoy walking around the lake behind the campground. There are a couple alligators in there but we haven’t seen them. We did hear a big splash on our last walk which I think was the alligator going into the water. Good thing he went that way and not towards us!

Touring the area has gotten delayed, mostly because of some very bad weather the last couple of days. We had 2 days of severe thunderstorms and tornado watches. Unlike last spring, this time, the watches were upgraded to warnings and our weather radio was telling us to take shelter now! Not good news when you are staying in a trailer in a very wooded park. This park does not have a storm shelter and the manager said that the area’s shelter is at a high school about 12 miles away.

The first set of severe storms came through the area around 5 PM on Tuesday. We were really torn about what to do. We watched the Weather Channel and could see where a tornado had touched down at a town about 20 miles away. The projected path was heading northeast and appeared like it would go north of our location. We stayed where we were but packed an overnight bag and put it in the truck in case we had to leave in a hurry. Tornadoes are one of our biggest fears about living in an RV. Definitely a stressful and scary time!

Around 6 PM, there was another warning and this time a tornado was reported at a town about 12 miles south of us. Since the tornadoes were both north and south of us, we headed over to the McDonald’s that is right off of the I95 exit. The building was a newer block building with large windows. The bathrooms inside would offer further blocked wall protection, and protection from glass if needed. They also informed us they had a generator available if needed. The crew working were extremely polite and welcoming. We thought we could hang out there for an hour or two. We played cards during that time, with neither of us being able to claim bragging rights as we went about 50/50 win/loss. We figured if a tornado came close, we could huddle in their restroom and it would be safer than the campground. If the warnings continued, we would go to the Best Western right across the street.

A strong storm came through but lucky for us, no tornado. A little after 8 PM, it was apparent that the storms had passed through our area and were now north and east of us. So we felt safe to go back to the campground. Unfortunately, the forecast for Wednesday afternoon and evening was the same; a risk of severe storms and potential tornadoes. This time, it looked like the risk was going to be later into the night. so around 6 PM , we packed up and left again.

We decided to just go ahead and get a room at the Best Western. Even though it was only a half mile from the campground, we felt that the building (another block building) would be safer than the campground. We ended up having a fun evening at the hotel. The manager and staff were really nice and they had a little bar off of the lobby. We hung out there for a couple of hours, had a few drinks, good conversation with the manager and bar tender as well as other guests. We ordered pizza and wings from a local place that the bar tender recommended and the food was great.

All in all, it was a good way to spend our time during a stormy evening. I took our weather radio with us and we had 3 more alerts for tornado warnings after we went to bed. Even though we were lucky that none touched down near us, it was good that we were not in the trailer that night. Most of the others in the park stayed in their RVs. They are braver than us. Our neighbors were just like us; they spent both nights at the Best Western. I saw on the news that numerous tornadoes touched down across multiple states from Texas across to the East Coast. Traveling in the RV in the Spring is definitely risky. I don’t know if there are any safe routes to take!

We have another week here at the The Oaks, and right now the weather forecast looks really good. Sunshine and no rain although it will be a little cooler the next couple of days. Our next post will be about the fun we have touring around the area.

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