Florida Panhandle Freeze in March

[Harvester]

This coming weekend (3/11/22), we're headed from the Houston area to the Florida Keys. Along the way, decided to reserve a couple nights at Falling Waters State Park, about an hour north of Panama City Beach, Florida.

Decided to check out the weather forecast, and it looks like during our first night at the campground it will drop to about 26 degrees from this big artic blast moving through the Midwest eastward. From about 1am till about 8am the next morning, the temps will be below freezing. It then warms up to about 55 degrees that afternoon.

We have a Minnie Winnie 22R, and this is our first time using the rig in weather below 32 degrees. I've searched through some of the previous threads, and have noted the following:

1. Only use the onboard water (i.e. don't connect the city water line).
2. Run the heater - we usually keep the inside heater at 75 degrees.
3. Leave the hot water turned on all night.
4. Cover the front windshield - we have one of those vinyl wrap-arounds.
5. Leave all the cupboards, and bathroom door open.
6. Turn the tank heaters on.

Don't want to leave anything to chance. We also have a small 1500W space heater, that we could place outside maybe under the RV in the vicinity of the dump handles.

Is this enough preparation? Overkill? Should I just enjoy my time, and look forward to the frosty temps in the morning?

[creativepart]

Disconnect your fresh water hose. Set your furnace for a comfortable sleeping temp and rest easy. Your RV’s water system and pipes take days (plural) of constant below 25 - 30 degrees temps to begin to be effected by low temps.

We camp in overnight temps in the teens followed by temps in the mid to high 30’s multiple times a year without any problems.

On our last trip home from Tucson in mid-Feb we saw 17 degree nights two nights in a row followed by low 40’s the next day.

The only thing that will freeze will be your fresh water hose if you leave it attached to your RV.

[Marine359]

Tanks, including water heater will not freeze during your trip because they have enough thermal mass to avoid freezing for several days. If you don’t have hookups, you’d need a lot of battery to run tank heaters. To conserve propane see if you can be comfortable @ 65F. If you’re Harvest Host member, Golden Acres Farm near Tallahassee on your route is a delightful boondocking one-night free stopover

[Harvester]

Thanks - Creative Part and Marine359! My anxiety level about freezing/bursting water lines has dropped several notches with your helpful posts!

Actually I am a Harvest Host member, and didn't think about utilizing their offerings for this trip when I planned things out last July. With the exception of the Falling Waters Florida State Park, all the other stops will be at a KOA campground. The number one issue I had was getting reservations anywhere near Key West between December-March. I was pretty lucky to get the KOA Sugarloaf Key spot (with patio near the water), and that was due to an apparent cancellation. Also in this case, I've got to stay on a pretty rigid schedule. When I finally retire this coming June, I plan to start using HH much more often as I'll have more flexibility with my time.

In any case, we're going from The Woodlands, TX - Baton Rouge KOA- Falling Waters SP - Tarpon Springs KOA - Naples KOA - Sugarloaf Key KOA - West Palm Beach KOA - Starke KOA - Milton KOA - Lafayette KOA - The Woodlands. For this trip, gas price increases are turning out to be the biggest surprise. I'm estimating to spend about $400-$500 more than originally planned. March freezes and gas price increases aside, I'm really looking forward to my visit. I was stationed on the Naval base Key West in 1975 for about 6 months, and interested to see what's changed in the last 47 years.

[Gordiegaffer]

if you are retired military check with the base the may have camping

[Wakullabob]

We live in the Big Bend of Florida and will have the same weather Saturday nite , for the last 15 years we do nothing and have never had a problem . Even the hose bibs on the house are not protected in the Tallahssee area . Falling Waters is kinda unique ,seeing a waterfall in flat ground !

[Harvester]

I just wanted to follow-up on my trip experience. On the third day of the trip, those predicted freezing temps made their way to the Florida Panhandle (near Chipley, FL) on morning of 3/20/22. It got down to about 25 degrees, (F). Simply did not connect the city water line and experienced zero issues. Ironically there was another (older) Minnie Winnie in the next camp site, and they left their city water line connected, and apparently had no issues either.

The big news on this trip was sudden gas price increases that occurred the week or two prior to this trip. From Houston to Key West and back, we paid a range of $3.85 to $4.60 per gallon regular gas. The overall average was about $4.05. We used the Gas Buddy map to find cheaper gas, but that was a mixed blessing. We would get to that gas station, and several times we found them sold out, and our only choice was premium. We're Costco members, and these places either had very long lines, or were out of gas. If we were willing to pay 10-20 cents more per gallon, then no wait or hassle. In Baton Rouge, there were police managing the gas lines at a Sam's Club gas station. In the Florida Keys, everything was basically $4.60/gallon, but was widely available.

Aside from the gas price issue, we had an amazing time - and this will probably will end up being in the top 3 of my all-time favorite trips. The Sugarloaf KOA campground was super nice!

[Ray,IN]

That night in the panhandle was 25; the same night in Ft. Myers Beach it was 31° with frost on car roofs. Two weeks earlier there was a tornado in Iona, 2 miles North of us.

[202235f]

Harvester, I was wondering about the Navy Base. Did you get to go by there?

My Dad was stationed there from 1956 to 1958. He was XO on the USS Sauffley. I was 10 when we left there in '58. Loved it there. Great place to live back in the day. I still remember my address: 1613 Catherine Street. DW and I have been back several times. Didn't get to the base.....