Flaming Gorge…A Quick Escape

As if the beach shenanigans weren’t enough for our very simple over-nighter in Flaming Gorge, the next morning provided us with a whole new adventure.

Knowing that a storm was heading in, we had planned for an early-ish departure between 8 and 9 am. Brian hadn’t slept much after the adrenaline rush from the night before, so when I got up at my usual 5am, he decided to give up on hopes for more sleep and just fire up the generator so we could both have the ever-necessary cup of coffee. I started washing dishes from the day before (normal chores had been put off to conserve water once we had gotten stuck) and the morning began pretty much like any other. However, in the amount of time it took to make our coffee, the weather outside took a turn. The wind started coming in gusts…big gusts, and the RV was seriously rocking in those gusts. The first couple of times the wind ripped through, neither Brian or I said anything, but the third time, the time that actually sloshed the water in the sink and I felt I had to brace myself against the kitchen island…that time, we both stared at each other wide-eyed.

Our rig has slides that go out on both sides. This gives us amazing additional living space and until that moment, it had never caused us any sort of concern for stability. With the winds steadily picking up even more, and us being able to feel every push, we didn’t feel the need to test our confidence-level in what the rig could withstand. The storm wasn’t even forecasted to roll in for another couple of hours and if this was the precursor, we were in trouble. It wasn’t just the risk of sitting there in the high-winds, we also needed to consider how those winds might toss us around once we were hooked up and trying to drive out. After the previous few days of driving on I-80 with high-wind advisories everywhere and seeing reports of RVs being tipped over on the highway because of it, we were already on high alert. We formulated a quick and dirty plan that boiled down to this: pack this rig up and get out of here, now.

We immediately pulled in one of the main slides and I hustled to get the dishes done (can’t exactly drive down the road with a full sink of water and dirty dishes). Brian high-tailed it outside to start getting the rig ready to hookup to the truck. Rain was pelting hard and the winds were unmerciful – things were flying everywhere. I dragged the still-asleep kiddos out of bed and we carried them to the truck with their eyes barely open. It would have been impossible for them to walk that small distance themselves against the wind and rain. (The poor dogs weren’t even allowed to go to the bathroom – we just rushed them to the truck as fast as we could.) We packed up, hooked up and hauled out of that gorge faster than I’ve ever seen us move. By the time we started to drive, the snow had begun to fall. Once we got back into cell range, we learned that the wind advisory had been escalated and was going to impact the majority of our drive into Salt Lake City. Although we weren’t exposed in the gorge any longer, we decided the best thing for us to do at that point was just to keep moving forward – slow and steady.

I’m sure we looked a sight rolling into the Costco parking lot that day, fully opening up our rig and piling out of the truck, all of us still in jammies to go make breakfast, but honestly, that’s also a part of what this journey is about. Brian fired up the stove and made a huge scrambled egg brunch for the kids while they jabbered on about the “life-threatening” storm and how we all narrowly escaped… I spent that time in the store, loading us up on all the essentials (whoever said that you can’t shop at Costco once you move into a RV was CRAZY). Big picture, it was a great start to the day.

And we lived to tell the tale, because by the time we were done in that parking lot and ready to head out, it was almost as though the past 24 hours had never happened. It was now just another serious of insane and almost unbelievable things that we had experienced on this epic adventure and now we were on to see what was coming next.