Natural Disasters and Van Life

[Jack]

I was re-watching the movie GeoStorm on my computer.  I love natural disaster/end of the world flicks!  Even the cheesy ones!  This got me wondering...  

Has anyone experienced a natural disaster while living in their van?  Been woken up in your van by an earthquake?  Felt one as you were on the road?  Have you ever been parked somewhere and had to high tail it out of there because of a fire?  Had a tornado get too close?  Seen a sharknado overhead on your way to Cracker Barrel?  Almost caught in flash flooding?

I honestly think I'd feel more "prepared" for a disaster by living in a van.  I wouldn't have to pack anything up or anything.  Just get in the cab and start driving somewhere else without having to worry about coming back to check on the house/belongings.

 

[lenny flank]

Tornado warning in a Walmart lot in Kansas. No tornado appeared, though.

 

[MrNoodly]

Tornado warning in a Walmart lot in Kansas. No tornado appeared, though.

That's because tornadoes only hit trailer parks, right?

 

[MrNoodly]

Been woken up in your van by an earthquake?  Felt one as you were on the road?

As a former Californian, I've felt many earthquakes. Since vans are on springs, an earthquake wouldn't feel much different than being blown by strong wind or going over a lumpy road. Unless it was a rare, really strong one.

The sensation that freaks me out a little, though, is being stopped on an overpass or bridge and feeling the road flex up and down from traffic coming the other way. I know bridges are designed to flex a little, but it still feels like things might collapse.

 

[rvwandering]

MrNoodley, Lenny has a van but we have an RV so if we're parked in a Walmart lot with other RVs does that count as a trailer park? 

 Seriously though, tornados have been the most common hazard for us. Fortunately, all of the incidents have just been warnings. A few times we have retreated to a store to wait out the storm. Other times we just kept a close watch on the weather reports.

 We almost had to make a quick escape from a forest campground when a drunk camper set a tree on fire. His friends put it out but we were concerned enough beforehand that we got all set up to pull out quickly. Another time we backtracked because we came to an active forest fire. Firefighters had arrived - this was not a prescribed burn. Someone was waving people through but when the trees right next to the road are ablaze that seemed like a stupid idea. 

 We've parked on high ground at campsites or boondocking spots when there have been reports of imminent storms rather than the more scenic spots near the water. We've left campsites located down clay roads, which can turn as slick as ice when wet, if rain was forecast.

 No earthquakes or sharknados yet!

 

[QinReno]

I know bridges are designed to flex a little, but it still feels like things might collapse.

Remember the Nimitz (freeway) and also 1971 San Fernando collapses. At one time I commuted on the Nimitz everyday. Closest thing in van life has been the forest fire smoke this year. Respiratory problems, no real disaster.

 

[Jack]

As a former Californian, I've felt many earthquakes. Since vans are on springs, an earthquake wouldn't feel much different than being blown by strong wind or going over a lumpy road. Unless it was a rare, really strong one.

The sensation that freaks me out a little, though, is being stopped on an overpass or bridge and feeling the road flex up and down from traffic coming the other way. I know bridges are designed to flex a little, but it still feels like things might collapse.

I was living in California, 15 miles away from the epicenter of the Northridge earthquake.  I've been through a few but that was the biggest.  I had just gotten home from having hernia surgery, too.  Not.  Fun.  As for bridges, I wouldn't say that I have a fear of them, but I am definitely cautious of them.  I don't like being in stand still traffic on them.  This comes from watching too many natural disaster films, I think!  Also, I live in Minneapolis and the 35W bridge collapse hit the city hard.

 

[MrNoodly]

Remember the Nimitz (freeway) and also 1971 San Fernando collapses. At one time I commuted on the Nimitz everyday. Closest thing in van life has been the forest fire smoke this year. Respiratory problems, no real disaster.

I had been living in San Francisco, in the Marina, up until three months before that quake. The building I used to live in was damaged and I would've been homeless. But I had moved to Huntington Beach.

 

[Jack]

Tornado warning in a Walmart lot in Kansas. No tornado appeared, though.

Same thing, aren't they?  I haven't been in Walmart (i.e., The Chinese Consulate) for many years.

 

[Jack]

I'm sure this must have been discussed on this forum at some point, but this topic brings to mind the need for emergency weather alert radios. What do folks here have along these lines?

 

[lenny flank]

That's because tornadoes only hit trailer parks, right?

Or, as we called them in Florida--"hurricane magnets".

 

[lenny flank]

Same thing, aren't they?  I haven't been in Walmart (i.e., The Chinese Consulate) for many years.

They're my go-to parking place. They have everything I need--food, water, a bathroom, wifi, and a place to sleep. And a tornado shelter when necessary.

 

[Dingfelder]

Our Walmart here has dozens of employees, oodles of customers, and only two toilet stalls which are only occasionally cleaned. Going to the bathroom if you intend to poop is a big problem.

Nice enough for the other things, but no panacea ...

 

[QinReno]

Well you can still poop in your bucket for cleanliness, and then Walmart has garbage cans in the parking lots where you can deposit your little treasures. Best of all possible worlds. Solutions for both ends of the spectrum.

 

[Dingfelder]

Yup. The bathroom part is out, but it's still Walmart for everything else.

When using my car, I've had to drive off in a panic on finding Walmart's toilets taken. I rarely seen stingier accommodations for the number of employees + customers who might use a place.

Last time was an office building I worked in which held about a hundred employees each floor and had two stalls. If they were filled, you had to wait for a very slow elevator to come get you and take you four floors down for another hope, because all other floors' bathrooms were locked. That was it for a more than 20 story building. Four toilets.

 

[Moxadox]

I got to watch a tornado form in Wyoming a couple months ago! Driving West on 80, just west of Laramie, outflow winds from a super cell were whipping back and forth and my 24 foot Sprinter van was having a hard time staying on the road so I pulled over and watched the show. Later I checked NWS on Twitter....4 tornados in Wyoming, 3 in Colorado from that cell.

I ran from forest fires the summer of '17, all over the Pacific NW. I have photos of so many beautiful pristine places that are now blackened by fire, including the spot I had chosen for watching the eclipse! Had to abandon it the day of, because my only escape route was being cut off! Then had to jockey around fire equipment blocking the road. Got my van scraped up a bit but at least got out safe.

Got stranded when an enormous flash flood totally wiped out the bridge on a road in Utah near Bryce Canyon. Almost bought the farm on that one too, since I was horseback riding in the canyon (gorgeous blue sky day) when I noticed a trickle in the bottom, turned around and hauled ass for the trailer, just barely made it when the wave came down and blasted the bridge. Three days later a bulldozer showed up and opened a makeshift crossing. That was the closest!

The Dire Wolfess

 

[QinReno]

MX, now we know what the Dire in your name stands for, don't we! This may help you feel better.

 

[LivGolden]

LG: Sat through a thunderstorm, last night. Electricity was out for over an hour.

MX: Here, hold my horse.

 

[Firtree]

Have read a few headlines about people in Houston a year after the hurricane living in shelters, trailers their home still unlivable. Cleaning up and getting rid of the tons of mess, well I don’t understand where they find a dump large enough. But the living and surviving in a van we are trained for.

 

[Jack]

They're my go-to parking place. They have everything I need--food, water, a bathroom, wifi, and a place to sleep. And a tornado shelter when necessary.

Great points!  Thanks for shaking up the way I think.  WiFi?  I didn't know that.  And the thought of them as a shelter for bad weather is something I didn't think of either.