The Ice Storm on the First Day of Winter 2013

Winter came in like a lion on December 21, 2013.  The rain came down and down and down and froze all over the trees.  Although it was pretty and didn't have a huge affect on the roads (except bridges and overpasses) it was horrible for the trees.  In the RV park we stay in near Blanchard, OK it devastated probably 80% of them.  So very sad.  The good news is that it doesn't appear that any of the RVs

or vehicles were harmed.  The few vehicles that had tree limbs come down on them, had them come down softly rather than cracking and falling several feet.  

The owner of the park told me that she has seen it worse one time and that was about 2006 or 2007 and that the trees actually recovered.  It just takes so long.

I assume we will see and hear lots of chain saws once the ice has melted.  Most will have to be cut way back if not all the way to the trunk. There are a few that will have to be sawed down completely.  

When the storm started it dawned on us that we had not topped off our gas tank in the RV the last time we were on the road and we only had 1/4 tank of gas in it.  Ugh!  The generator will not run with only 1/4 of a tank and if the power goes out we are in a bit of a jam.  We certainly did not want to have to winterize the RV in the dark and freezing temps and have to find a place to go until the power came back on.  So off to Walmart John went to get some gas cans and gas.  He arrived home safely with 15 gallons of gas if we needed it.  We then found out from the park owner that they typically do not lose power in the park in ice storms and that she had lots of gas for us to use if needed.  She has it for all their heavy equipment they use in the park.  In the end the power only blipped off and on twice and for a very short time so all was good and we didn't need to fire up the generator.  

I wonder what is in store for us the rest of the winter.  Hopefully not more ice storms.  Snow is not a problem but I sure hope the ice and these bitter cold temps we have been experiencing are over.  Looking forward to sun the rest of this week and warmer temps.  They are predicting 60 degrees in a few days.  Awesome.