Deciding when to leave Billings in February for points south is more of an art than a science. Regardless of what direction, I have to travel at least 500 miles to get out of winter weather and risky driving conditions. This year has been particularly challenging in that Billings is in the middle of an unusually severe winter (so far at this point in February the most snow EVER this early in the season) with no end in sight. As I monitored the weather conditions it became clear that a one day window was going to happen soon, with a forecast for a break in the snow and reasonable road conditions on I-90 heading south. With a roll of the dice, we hit the road, headed for Texas! This year’s plan is to explore central and western Texas. The weather window down there is also a factor. I have to be late enough to miss blizzards in the west and early enough to avoid thunderstorms, hail and tornadoes in the north/central area. After lots of research and hopefully some good guessing I develop a tentative plan. I will dash down interstates I-90 and I-25 through Wyoming and Colorado in two long days and be sitting pretty once I get to Texas. At least that was the plan…
Billings, MT to Waco, TX (I-90, I-25 south to Denver, Hwy 287 to Fort Worth, I-35 to Waco)
The plan set, I get the motorhome out of storage and bring it home to load up. That night Mother Nature decided to bless us with an unexpected 8 inches of snow.
I waited a day for roads to get plowed and treated and then head out early in the morning. The roads were snow packed and icy until Sheridan, Wyoming, but then cleared up. Unfortunately just as the snow and ice cleared up the wind began to blow. Driving essentially directly south on I-25 through Wyoming and Colorado means that you’re driving perpendicular to the winds that rush down the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains. Driving the motorhome when winds are pounding the side means that it’s a constant struggle to drive a straight line. I couldn’t stop because, even though these winds were going 25-35 mph, a wind advisory was in effect for later that day for winds to be 65+ mph, which would create totally un-drivable conditions. I pushed on and drove all the way to the northern Denver suburbs before stopping for the night, nearly 550 miles. What a difference a day makes!
But it paid off in that the really strong winds stayed to the north and, while still windy, the remaining drive through Colorado and the Texas Panhandle was do-able.
Once into Texas the land evens out and the road laces across a plain of grass and brush.
One of the anomalies of the plains in the Panhandle is that any sort of “crumpling” of the plains indicates that road is approaching one of the rare rivers that meander across the plains from west to east. The Canadian River flows north of the city of Amarillo and as we approach the city you can see the tall buildings faintly on the far left through blowing dust (yes, the wind blows incessantly in the Texas Panhandle).
Heading southwest of Amarillo towards Wichita Falls the prairie is dotted with small towns, each home to one or more “prairie skyscrapers”, or grain elevators, piercing the sky and visible from miles away.
The highway begins to skirt the southern drainage of the Red River and juniper forests begin to blanket low hills on either side of the road.
One of the first surprises of the trip begins to unfold. The soil turns red and the hills flatten into acres and acres of cotton. The harvest has been over for some time, but cotton remnants litter the fields and cling to the barb wire fences. This is cotton country!
Wichita Falls is scheduled to be my first stop on the trip, founded in 1872 on the southern bank by a small falls on the Wichita River. A flood destroyed the falls in 1886 but a facsimile of the falls has been built into the river bank just north of the downtown area. Unfortunately the falls have been turned off for the winter so that freezing temperatures don’t cause havoc with the waterworks (that’s an omen of what’s to come!)
It’s a balmy 76 degrees with light winds as I pull into the RV Park, wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Let the fun begin! Then I tune into the news and learn that an extremely unusual weather situation is about to descend upon my bucolic spring trip. A cold front is bearing down from the north, meeting moisture rising from the south, and mingling right over Wichita Falls. Freezing rain and ice is in the forecast for the next day. Temps that night stayed in the 60’s and when Joey and I went for our morning walk it was again shorts and t-shirt weather. But the weather forecast had gotten even gloomier. I quickly unhooked the utilities, dashed to the local Walmart to stock up on groceries, and filled the gas tank. I returned to the RV Park around 11am. As I was hooking up the water and electricity it was as if someone had turned off the lights. The wind shifted from the south to the north and 30 minutes later the temperature had dropped 40+ degrees into the low 30’s. The freezing rain and sleet started later that afternoon and the next day the Lunch Box was transformed into an igloo.
That’s not snow, that’s sleet and freezing rain piling up on the ground and every surface. My water pipes froze for two days and Joey and I sat inside for three days before the storm lifted. Not a great start to our trip into Texas! Unfortunately we couldn’t stay longer in Wichita Falls so it remains unexplored, our road heads south to Waco, TX. The roads were wet but not icy as I head south with the remnants of the ice storm framing the view forward.
About an hour south of Wichita Falls the ice melts and the road clears. The weather is still unsettled as I approach Waco with thunderstorms looming on the horizon, but at least it’s warm! The Lunch Box nests along the shore of Lake Waco (just north of the city of Waco) and it’s time to get this trip underway!
Next up: “Ice Age to “Price Age”
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