Winter camping in Amarillo, TX in freezing weather

[K Kumar]

Hi all.

This is a long post.

I wanted to share our experience with the TM community in case someone is curious on how things work out or have general advice.

My son & I recently moved to Amarillo, TX and are living in a TM at an RV resort. I have never camped in freezing weather before, and didn't expect that in Amarillo. But have learnt after moving here that it can be rough in the winter.

Anyway, two weeks back when both of us were in CA, the weather turned bad in Amarillo. Upon my return, noticed the showers had a leak and kitchen faucet would not work (no water). Fixed the leaks. Working on the kitchen faucet. Learning a lot in the process about the TM.

This week it is going to be snowing and temps are below freezing at night with wind chills going into the negatives. We have two electric heaters. With both heaters in the living area, I can raise the inside temp to 60 degrees (outside is 10 degrees) with out a problem. Trying to avoid using the furnace since it uses up the propane tank in 3 to 4 days!! I didn't expect that.

Hoping that if we live inside the trailer with the heater, the water pipes won't bust up. Plan on adding some RV antifreeze into the toilet so nothing goes wrong there. Noticed that if I have the 2 heaters and the overhead heater (mild heat) in A/C on, the 30 Amp circuit trips. Can only have 2 on at any given time. Have water in the 20 gallon tank for use. Shut off the outside water line at night. Have the water hose covered with thermal heat cable & insulation tape so water doesn't freeze in it. Resort people said it is ok to hook the sewer hose and leave the drain valve open, it would not cause any problems. This way I don't use the grey holding tank.

We have 3 in. memory foam padding on top of the mattress. That helps significantly. The top is cold initially, but after a few minutes, it settles to our body temperature. The edge close to the back wall is cold. Need to figure out if I can do something about that. I read in the forum you can put swimming noodles to solve this problem. Need to try this. Also plan on using an electric blanket to see if that would help (think this would get the circuit breaker to trip). Keep the small heater at the foot of the bed, and it keeps the sleeping area warm without a problem at night.

Use the resort facilities which are excellent for showering, restroom, etc.,.

Took out the Marine battery yesterday as I was working on the tub faucet. Going to get it tested and see if it is any good at Walmart. Don't know how old it is and whether it works, since I got this TM used 6 months ago.

We have actually lived in this TM full time for almost 4 months and adjusted to it well. It helps we travel on work, so we use the TM as our base camp.

Look forward to comments and advice.

Thanks.