Frozen water hoses

They said we were to have a "hard freeze" last night - and I said, what's a hard freeze? Well, we found out. Not only did everything look like it had snowed - so very white! - but the truck looked like galvanized steel (my former steel life came out) - kinda burnished buff looking ice on the windshield - the ice was so thick! Dave had disconnected the water hose and filter and put it away the night before. We lived out of a bucket of water again - dipping into the bucket to get a cup or two of water to put into the toilet to flush. Using bottled water to brush our teeth, etc. Since we are both morning shower kind of people, we felt that after the sun had come up and Dave hooked up the water again, all would be fine. Dah. Not so. Dave should have put the hoses and filter inside the RV - in the shower - to keep warm, not stored inside the truck.

The hoses and the water filter had also frozen up. Once the sun came up and Dave was able to put the hoses and filter in the sun to warm, and once he got the water spigot going - it also being frozen - it was kinda funny to see and watch the ice come shooting out of the end of hoses when water started running. We had planned to be on the road by 9 am to go into Baton Rouge to do sightseeing, but didn't get out of here until almost 11.

So, tonight, another "hard freeze" warning and we are doing things differently. Dave filled up the water tank to about 1/3 full which is about 20 gallons of water. The tanks are inside the belly of the RV, well protected. And the hoses are also disconnected, inside the belly, with the heater on it and also on the water tanks. We will use normal pressurized water during the night, and can heat up this water we brought on to take showers in the morning. Fortunately, we think this is the last night of cold - 27 is supposed to be the lowest. Tomorrow supposed to be near 60 and Wednesday in the low 70's. Finally. We have been running the 2 space heaters only at night and not using the furnace, the space heaters keep it to about 55, and since we are in bed, under covers, no big deal. As soon as the sun comes up, it warms nice inside to 75 and we have to open the vents to let in fresh air. Lessons learned.