Lifestyle

An 81-Year-Old Solo RVer Set Off From the Jersey Shore for Home in Las Vegas With Her Dog. Then the Storms Hit: “I Just Didn’t Want to Become a Statistic”

By Erica Coleman · November 5, 2026

Fran left the shore at Cape May, New Jersey, alone in her RV with her dog, Miss Riley, heading west toward home in the Las Vegas area. She is 81. On her channel Somewhere in Time RVing (@franlittle1171), she said the trip had already turned rough. “I have had horrific horrific weather,” she reported after leaving Cape May.

She walks through the storm stretch in her video on YouTube.

The plan had room for Route 66 stops. The weather did not cooperate. She described days of rain and flooding in Tennessee, then more trouble at an Elks Lodge in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Overnight, she opened the driver’s door and found water “underneath the entire RV.” The next thought, she said, was blunt: “I just didn’t want to become a statistic to find myself swimming in the morning.”

So she acted. “I decided to unplug,” she said, and “made a decision that I had to get out,” moving the rig rather than waiting for the water to rise further. Later, on the road in Texas, she hit what she called “White knuckle wind,” canceled plans, and kept adjusting. By the time she recorded an update, she sounded worn down. “I’m totally exhausted,” she said. The brighter line came next: “Miss Riley and I are safe.”

She also named a quieter cost of the detours. “the financial burden of the gas prices have been [um] devastating,” she said, measuring a long westbound haul at high pump prices. Looking ahead, she said, “I know I won’t be back this way.”

Her choice to leave standing water matches long-standing flood safety advice. The National Weather Service’s Turn Around Don’t Drown campaign warns that people underestimate flood water, that more than half of flood-related drownings involve vehicles driven into hazardous water, and that it is never safe to drive or walk into flood waters. NWS notes that only 6 inches of fast-moving water can knock an adult down, about 12 inches can carry away most cars, and about 2 feet can move SUVs and trucks.

Fran’s video is a travel diary, not a safety class. What stands out is an 81-year-old solo RVer who treated rising water as a reason to leave, not a reason to wait and see. She unplugged in the rain, moved, rode out wind on Texas roads, and checked in that she and her dog were safe.

A few points from her trip and from the weather service that travel readers can use:

Treat floodwater as a stop sign. NWS says never to drive around barriers on a flooded road, because the pavement may already be gone under the surface.

Have a backup overnight plan. Fran left a flooded lot at night rather than hope the water would drop by morning.

Watch high-profile vehicles in strong wind. Her “white knuckle” stretch in Texas is a reminder that RVs catch crosswinds that passenger cars barely feel.

Budget for weather delays. Her gas-cost comment is her own figure for this trip, and storms that force reroutes can stretch any road budget.

Fran is resting and recovering from the miles. The story she tells is not about daring the flood. It is about deciding not to become the statistic she had already pictured.

This article is for general information and is not financial or legal advice. This article was produced with the assistance of AI and fact-checked against the sources cited by LightWave Reports.