I Tried To Escape The Texas Ice Storm In My Van And Here's What Happened (spoiler I failed)

goodness it's cold outside it's like 37 feels like 29. I'm headed to the Gulf Coast right now I'm so excited because it's gonna be a lot warmer than it is here in Dallas this week it's supposed to be that freezing weather again ice in a couple of days so oh it's a good time to go to the sunny Gulf Coast I'm gonna meet my friend Danny down there you saw her in one of my last videos when I was in Burlington Vermont and I actually met her there she has her own van that she has built out so I'm super excited to see that so let's get on the road we're about halfway down now maybe a little bit more than half just outside of San Antonio filling up at Bucky's again a little bit more expensive down here by about 15 cents a gallon that's kind of interesting because it's still Bucky's and it's still Texas I normally see that difference maybe when I cross state lines I'm pushing on to South Padre Island good news is it's a lot warmer here it's 78 degrees right now which I guess I don't really need this he's sure does a lot of Tesla superchargers over here too look at this huge line a lot we're almost there there's the oh Bass Pro Shop I can stay there or I can stay at Cracker Barrel [Music] there's Bass Pro Shop stay there it doesn't look like anybody's really there which can be good or bad or there is Cracker Barrel turn left then turn left so here's our lovely Cracker Barrel and it's also right by the highway it's Photoshop might be better from a quiet standpoint here's the Bass Pro Shop so I don't see anybody here which I mean it's good and bad the thing is is sometimes it's you know it's a safety number thing and uh I've stayed at these places before by myself but I just don't really know this area very well so I'm a little bit hesitant even though I think it would be quieter Cracker Barrel won I forgot to bring the tool to open the skylight almost brought it and I didn't I wasn't even thinking that it was for that I was like oh no I won't need that I've got tools inside the van except my Skylight you know the handle broke years ago and the only way I can get it open is with a specific tool so it's kind of nice opening and it's 75 degrees outside and humid I've got the fan going if you can't hear that and I've got some windows open so that should hopefully do the trick I also have to make the bed beds not made yet got to do that I have new sheets which I haven't washed because well this whole thing was just kind of last minute so they're going on they're unwashed so sheets mattress cover onto my mattress [Music] um yes if you can tell this is a new mattress but you'll see that in the next video I'm gonna go do that now and get this show on the road here because I'm tired I just want to call in bed I got it off to South Padre Island now it's a bit Misty outside the beautiful day I love the day I wish you were here with me baby girl good morning there my friends I stopped by Starbucks this morning before I got moved it drove about 45 minutes from Harlingen to South Padre Island because it's gonna be 85 degrees in Harlingen today phone ring it was 85 degrees over in Harlingen so I had to absolutely move over here to South Padre Island which was actually our destination but I really needed to get out of there sooner than later because it was gonna get hot it was already hot at 75 degrees when I went to bed it's beautiful over here [Music] see what this beach is all about up here we'll slide in tons of humidity oh sea turtle nesting habitat foreign [Music] Texas humidity here oh my God it's cold out there I am not in South Padre Island anymore change of plans I was miserable there um first of all you know I don't do humidity and heat well and it was horrible wet but most importantly what I didn't tell you this morning is I did something to my back last night it was really killing me so much pain had to go get a back brace put that on and then I told Danny I was like probably shouldn't come out here because it was really hot so I came to meet her in Corpus and here we are in her beautiful new van she didn't actually build it herself but she had someone build it and so she designed it she did architect part of it right to figure out like what you wanted the colors and I don't know so we're gonna do this isn't gonna be like a van tour but we're just gonna do a quick tour whatever she wants to show us so you can see how beautiful she did this whole thing first you can see I'm literally the only person I know that can actually walk through this door four foot nine yeah there's nothing wrong with that so it's amazing I chose to have the partition um mostly for the heating and cooling but also so that when I do have the door closed it feels more like a little apartment it really does actually yeah I've got a closet here with a mirror oh yeah I love that that's a space jewelry and things I've got some outlets in there for things like my dustbuster you already saw my Cosmetics my favorite drawer of the entire van can you believe this sorry I'm just gonna look just on her a little bit look at all this makeup she has in here and cosmetics not even a lot I know I probably had the same amount I just didn't have it as organized as you down here we've got the Ogo toilet um on this on a slide so like once I take the little um things out I can slide it out I didn't even realize until it was done how much drawer in cabinet and cupboard space I was going to have before I moved into the van I was having what I was calling cognitive dissonance I was like what am I gonna put in all these drawers and then I'd look at all my stuff and go where am I going to put all my stuff yeah that's so quickly doesn't it yeah the pantry is um my favorite also second to the uh cosmetic I love it it's a good sized fridge and it happens to be super full right now Was preparing for camping have a little freezer in the top there are cute little plants over here my fake succulent garden uh my air fryer was one thing I wanted to make sure that I had you know the battery power to be able to use an air fryer and it's been fine I can toast I can bake I can broil a little sink here yep I liked it it's not too big one deep sink and okay let's talk about your Berkey okay I've ever seen I didn't realize yours was called the travel yeah so mine's called the micro travel I don't see that is so tiny so she only has one filter up here and then when she wants to drink out of it she has to raise this up and then just pour from it and so I do but it's a nice little size I do fill it two or three times a day yeah yeah I'll just fill a water bottle and put it in the fridge and then rotate them I love your cabinets here and look at that wallpaper Isn't that cool yes yes um I chose these I know these are controversial these um these drawer pulls but when it's laundry day I can hang everything that isn't you know isn't for drying hey if it works for you that's all that matters yeah so I won't go through all the drawers but she has like plenty of hot water heaters under here um I have an S Bar heater um which runs off the gas tank it's supposedly just barely sips uh gas you're not allowed to run it if you are below a quarter of a tank show us how the bed works so if you look at one can you explain the whole bed situation so it's like couch slash bed yeah like I'm calling it futon style um so when it's in this couch position I can literally I'm short enough I can sit up there and my feet don't even come over the edge I have a monitor here that I can pull down to work but I can also turn it to watch Netflix or whatever do you sleep with your feet at this end over here I sleep no I sleep this way so technically you don't even have to pull the bed off and two two of the first nights I was in the van I didn't I was so overwhelmed I didn't I just slept on a couch mode so you have a chair here yep and a chair here and then you work off of your Lagoon table I do storage in the back of each of these benches oh nice I like to go pocket storages there is Storage in this bench all the pillows that I actually sleep with are in there we do have to tuck the cushions down I made them A Little Too Tall Unfortunately they get caught when I'm trying to open the bed so just tuck them down and this is so cool this guy my bed slides all the way out and grab a hold of the mattress and it comes right down I love it in the morning it's a little trickier to get it back up there but I've got it I've got like a routine down can you just push the mattress nope you have to grab a hold of the mattress fold it over then push it then fold it back yeah unfortunately it is a custom mattress it does have a hinge in it um right where it folds but it's still beefy enough that I can't just push it I mean it's so spacious in here it was I knew I was going to be sleeping side to side because I'm not very tall um and I this this way I figured it gained me some space because I did lose some space with the partition you do lose most people actually sleep how you're sleeping because in a van like let's say you're parked on the street you're usually your passenger side is next to the sidewalk and so you're leaning into the sidewalk because it's always leaning a little bit for water right so you always want your head to be taller or higher than your feet so that's yeah there's been a couple times only a couple times I've parked on the street and that I did I swapped I have a level that I use and I'll set it down and be like okay how bad is it you know for me to sleep you've got my garage space under the bed um and as you can imagine I need this to get in and out of bed which is a little bit hilarious I thought I was short at least I got it um my water tank is under here which uh I just learned I can't overfill and my batteries are actually under this bench here so all of my electrical system is under that side so everything is self-contained inside the van it is how do you know that you're not supposed to overfill your water because it's sweet inside the van like from the garage it was leaking I had to pull everything out and it's not still leaking so I have to assume it was I overdid it uh but I will be texting my Builder to find out where that might have come from so so for dramatic scanner was here because she was like okay great where to look what to do I was about to say for dramatic effect for the camera I showed me coming in the door but in reality I had been here for like 30 minutes talking to her and flashlight in her phone yeah we were in here I saw water the floor was like oh my God what's happening there's water so anyways so her uh water tank is inside apparently you can overflow it and you can't see that you're over filling it so she's gonna talk to her Builder about that and see I should show you my little monitor system here for example right now the water the water tank is at 92 percent full oh that's how I can see what how much solar's coming in the load uh where my batteries are at so maybe on the water I mean is that pretty accurate you think I don't know it said 97 and it did overflow out the back of the van like out this water spout so maybe you just filled a 95 percentage or something even 90. yeah but I'll still I'll still check in with him but yeah and this is the this is the heater yeah super I love it here it's nice and cozy in here too and it's like I think it said 48 degrees we're in Corpus Christi by the water we're getting ice all the way I know from at least Dallas where I was at to um Austin they said ice oh it says 45 and feels like 33. that's cool but it's nice and thirsty in here it feels good good yeah my van doesn't feel like that actually we can get it in there Danny orders some Chardonnay here at Cracker Barrel look how it's brownies I tell you what I am so thankful to have my 70 my Terra 1000 portable battery system here with me because it is really foggy outside it's raining it's cloudy it's cold and my battery system inside the van will not be able to get enough solar power coming into it so I love that I have this with me and I can charge up all my electronic devices and still have everything completely powered and be able to work on the road it is surprising how cold it is outside I've got all of my blankets and everything on the bed oh my goodness great time to go on a van trip isn't it right when all that winter weather is hitting Texas oh gosh it's even colder up in Dallas right now they're getting major ice storms and super cold and there's been precipitation so there's ice and stuff on the road I'm down here on the southern coast and now I'm just hunkering down in Corpus Christi with my friend Danny who's parked out next to me over here in the Cracker Barrel parking lot and uh it's also it's time to go to bed I'll see you guys in the morning and um hopefully it's a little bit better tomorrow warmer weather we'll see you never know it's Texas I always say that in the blink of an eye the weather can change in Texas well good morning it is cold 37 degrees outside right now pretty chilly last night but I say covered up with all my blankets that keep me warm but um I don't have propane so I cannot keep this place heated during the day and it's only supposed to reach 40 today so we're headed up to the Corner Bakery and there's Danny um she's about to hop in here but we're gonna head up to the corner bakery to do some work and I don't know we'll see what else we can get into but at least we'll stay warm in there and have some breakfast and coffee she's all bundled up a great sticker there Danny beautiful story chasing sticker which isn't permanently mounted I have more stickers that's true well Danny and are gonna finish working inside the Corner Bakery and getting some work done but this is where I'm going to close out the video we have so many other more things we're gonna do and stay tuned because in some upcoming videos I think I'm gonna head over to Village Farm in Austin and do a tiny home Community tour over there I'm very excited about that because so many of you guys have actually told me about this place as always thank you so much for watching this video if you haven't already subscribed hit that subscribe button and the notification Bell to be notified every time I come out with a new video and also just remember to make sure you're out there story chasing as well this channel has been all about my experiences and encouraging you guys to get out there and build your own stories and moments in your life that will allow you to live fully and be happy and that is what story chasing is all about no matter what you are doing in this world alright guys I'll see you in the next video bye

Channel: Amber Baldwin

Views: 38,693

Keywords: texas ice storm, texas ice storm 2023, texas winter storm, van life, van life winter, van life winter camping, tiny home on wheels, van life build, van custom build, promaster van custom build, tiny home on wheels build, story chasing, van life travel vlog, van life vlog, how do you live in a van, van living, living in a van, solo female van life, winter van life, winter storm, Rv life for beginners, 70 Mai Powerstation, 70 Mai Tera 1000, More Power on the Move

Id: QFPVfZ4vXtI

Length: 16min 50sec (1010 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 05 2023