This summer, we pulled the plug and finally purchased the 38′ Super C motorhome that we’ve been dreaming about for years.  I’ve wanted one our entire marriage and the hubs finally jumped on board a few years ago.  We’ve studied, researched, joined forums, etc. to ensure we got exactly what we wanted.  And now, after months and months of actively shopping, we finally have our own rolling home!  Some friends of ours invited us to Idaho for my husband to participate participate in a charity dirt bike ride in the mountains of Idaho.  Since that’s a little over 1000 miles away, we decided to make our first big trip one to remember and see as many states as we could in 10 days.

So, this morning, we hopped in the rig, pointed it North, and my stud muffin of a husband said “Babe! I’ll drive you anywhere you want to go, let’s do this! We drove 584 miles and made it to CO.  After traversing eight hours across Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, the skies started getting dark and ominous.  As I started getting nervous, the television satellite went out at the same time the Severe Weather Warning popped up on my phone.   The next 3 hours of the trip consisted of us driving the motorhome pulling a 24′ enclosed trailer through Severe Thunderstorm Warnings, Flash Floods, Tornado Watches, torrential rain, high winds, and hail.  Oh yes, I said HAIL…  on my brand spanking new rig!

My anxiety was at an all time high and I was convinced we had made a bad call going on this road trip.  Just when I thought it couldn’t get worse, the Check Engine light came on and I started imagining us broken down on the side of the highway in the middle of a tornado.  However, my cool as a cucumber husband kept re-assuring me that everything was fine and we should just keep driving… into the ominous dark swirling cloud ahead… When I asked if we should be concerned about the Warning light he shrugged it off & said that it obviously wasn’t anything serious enough to shut us down.  So, we kept on trucking…

At one point, we stopped at a truck stop for fuel as the skies were the darkest, rain the heaviest, and wind the strongest.  I noticed there was a large amount of truckers pulled in here and not going back out on the road, so I suggested we follow suit.  But, Cool Hand Luke insisted we continue on.  In his words “Well, I’m not just going to sit here and wait for the tornado to hit me.”  *Sidenote: don’t try this at home kids*.

We kept on full speed ahead and made it through the storms, rolling into Strasburg, CO just before sunset and in time to see the calm after the storm.  I was so thankful to see that tiny crowded campground situated just between the interstate and the train tracks!  However, not everyone shared that same grateful attitude…. The little one’s first words were “Koa??? (pronounced kōa & not K-O-A). These are the worst campgrounds! They’re always tiny & filled with shady people!” The hubs then proceeded to follow up with “Yeah Babe, I’ve seen on Epic RV’s that there are luxury campgrounds all over the place. You should really look into booking some of those.”

I ignored the high maintenance men in my life, ate my pizza gladly, took a shower, thanked God for delivering us out of the perfect storm and laid my head down to enjoy a peaceful night’s sleep only to be awakened by the sound of what resembles a freight train barreling through a motorhome.

We woke up this morning, poured a cup of coffee, turned on the local news, and saw stories covering the 2 confirmed tornadoes… one of which we drove directly under while leaving the last truck stop.  And, Cool Hand Luke’s response was “See Babe! That rig handled high winds, heavy rain, and even a tornado with no problem!”