Here we are parked at the Woods-N-Water Kampground, in Columbus, Indiana. With more snow to come, we waited in the comfort of our Motor Homes for the snow storm to pass through.

Who would have guessed that we would drive into the worst winter storm of the year?

For more than 30 years we have had a booth at the Motor Home & Trailer Show in Toronto, and we spend a fair amount of time telling everyone about our upcoming RV adventures. Most years, this would be the last RV Show of the season for us and at the close of the show we would be quite happy, because it would signal the end of our “show season” and the beginning of our annual winter vacation.
            This year, along with our friends Stan and Betty Arkwright and Bill and Isabelle Clark, we headed for Florida, looking forward to a well-earned vacation. We have travelled this route many times, but this year we decided to do things a little differently. Instead of following Interstate 75 all the way to Florida, we took I-69 to Indianapolis, then took I-65 south to I-20 and I-59 and ended up in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Several of our “snowbird” friends have told us that I-65 is a better route than I-75, as there are fewer trucks and less traffic overall. It is about 200 miles farther, depending on where you are going in Florida.
            We thought about the route, and decided that since M.B. had to work the RV Show and would not get home until the evening of March 2, it would be appropriate for our mini-caravan of three motorhomes to head south on the morning of March 6. This would give us time to get everything together, and by leaving on a Thursday, we could be in Nashville, Tennessee Friday evening.
            Thursday morning, bright and early, we started up the motorhomes, hooked-up our cars, and set course for Auburn, Indiana and the KOA campground. It was an easy drive with just a trace of flurries in the air. We stopped mid-way at Wal-Mart to stock our cupboards and refrigerator. The reporters on the evening newscast seemed intent on telling us about this huge snowstorm heading northeast out of Texas, and they predicted that it was going to follow I-75 through Ohio, Michigan and right into Ontario. We heard that in some places it would drop a foot or more of snow. Now whenever there are reports of this nature, we have learned that it is a good idea to get a second opinion… to balance the doom and gloom forecast. In this case, the weatherman broadcasting from Fort Wayne, Indiana, said that the storm would stay east of I-69 and we figured, based on this report, that we would only see 1or 2 inches of snow and it would not come down until late in the afternoon on Friday. The newscast showed a weather map, indicating the storm path crossing over Nashville and then heading north. Armed with this information, we decided to follow our planned route and head for Nashville. On Friday morning we started out, and sure enough, heading south on I-69 everything was great, with dry roads, light traffic and temperatures that were not that cold.
            Arriving in Indianapolis we took the I-465 bypass around the city to I-65 South. We had planned on stopping at the Flying J Truck stop at exit 95 for fuel and lunch, but just as we made our way down I-65 the snow started to come down… and it seemed to get heavier the farther south we went. As soon as we arrived at the Flying J we checked the weather and learned that we were right in the path of the storm.
            We had three choices: one, continue south on I-65 and try and get to Louisville, Kentucky or even Nashville; two, stay at the Flying J for the rest of the day and overnight; or three, try and find a campground that was open and make a run for it so that we could wait out the storm. Option three sounded the best.
            Checking our Trailer Life Campground Directory, we found that Woods-N-Water Kampground at exit 64 on I-65 was open, and after a quick phone call to find out if they could take us in, we were on our way. Arriving at the campground, we registered and slowly moved into our sites. The snow was falling faster than we had expected, and under the circumstances we were not really sure when we would be leaving. The campground had WiFi and we were able to check the weather and the on-line traffic cameras of Louisville and Nashville. Our route I-65 was getting worse by the minute. There were scores of car accidents, complicated by road closures and a twenty-car pileup. We were way off schedule, but at least it was good to be off the road, warm, and safe.
            The snow continued all night and it didn’t look very good at all for a departure on Saturday morning. We settled in and found a signal for our satellite TV, and we just sat back in the campground and watched the reports coming from back home, telling of the storm’s arrival in Ontario and all the closures – we certainly we knew what they were in for. We had just driven through the beginning of what was shaping up to be one really bad winter storm.
            Saturday morning came and went, and the snow was still coming down, Stan and Bill took one of the cars and went back out to the highway. They found cars in the ditches and I-65 was snow covered. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to help us decide to stay one more night to give the crews time to clean up the roads. The snow stopped around 3 p.m., and the campground staff started plowing out the roads. The campground manager told us that they had only had about three inches of snow all year. This snowstorm dropped over eight inches, and in some places over a foot of the white stuff.
            Of course, even during the raging blizzard, our motorhomes kept us warm and dry. We had cable TV, WiFi and lots of food thanks to our stop at Wal-Mart back in Michigan. Once they dug out the campground roads, we ventured out and went for a relaxing dinner in Columbus, Indiana.
            On Sunday morning we decided that it was time to see if we could get our motorhomes to move in the snow. With a foot of hard packed snow on the ground at the campsites, our jacks were frozen to the ground.  We persevered, and took our time digging out, and eventually all three motorhomes were ready to move out onto the campground roads.
            We hooked-up our cars and made our way to I-65 South. The highway was in great shape and we started south. We had planned on being in Nashville, Tennessee on Saturday and we had been looking forward to going to the Grand Ole Opry, but with the “snow day” we would now be driving right through Nashville on our way to Cullman Campground in Cullman, Alabama. They say that there is always a silver lining inside every cloud, and our compensation for the delay in the trip was a scenic drive that you don’t often experience… It was the first time we had driven this route in the winter, and seeing all the snow in Louisville and all along the road to Nashville was quite beautiful and very unusual.
            As we drove south of Nashville the snow started to disappear and green grass took its place. By the time we arrived at the Cullman Campground there was no snow to be found. The weather was nice and warm. The Cullman Campground is a very nice campground and only twenty dollars for the night with full hookups.
            On Monday morning we were on our way again confident that we would be in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, at the Hollywood Casino Campground, by nightfall. Yes, I said Casino – and what a destination campground this is – but that’s a story for another time - and we will talk about our stay in Bay St. Louis and our day trips to New Orleans and Biloxi in an upcoming column.
            You never know when a trip down south can lead to an adventure in winter camping. It took us five days to get to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi but thanks to our weather radios and the good folks at the campgrounds along the route, we had a great trip, and even though it was very unseasonably cold for this trip, inside our motorhomes we were safe, warm, and very comfy.

Take care & happy RVing
M.B. & Karen Wilson
Wagon Masters
wagontrains@msn.com

Campgrounds

Auburn/Ft. Wayne North KOA
5612 CR 11A
Auburn, Indiana  46706
Phone 260-925-6747

Woods-N-Waters Kampground
8855 S. 300 W.
Columbus, Indiana 47201
Phone 1-800-799-3928

Cullman Campground
220 CR 1185
Cullman, Alabama 35057
Phone 256-734-5853

Hollywood Casino & RV Park
711 Hollywood Blvd.
Bay St. Louis, Mississippi 39520
Phone 1-866-7-LUCKY-1