FLORIDA — With weather conditions in Texas improving, many people are still recovering from a winter storm that also left a Florida couple stranded in their RV for several days in freezing temperatures — without power or water. Lauren Davenport and Daniel Fernandez say preparing for the winter storm in Texas was much like what they experienced living in Tampa Bay and Central Florida.

“It was very similar to how in Florida we prepare for a hurricane, you just had madness — everybody scrambling to grab every last bottle of water, every last drop of gas,” said Fernandez.

The storm left them stranded in their RV south of Galveston, Texas.

“We woke up to seeing our own breath in bed,” said Fernandez. “The temperature fell within the RV from 60 to 40 and it just started plummeting below that, and we quickly ran and just started layering ourselves and putting on whatever we could find.”

“The storm moved so much slower than expected, and we ended up being without power or water for seven days, which is insane, and similar stories like that happened across Texas,” said Davenport.

Two years ago, the couple took their health care marketing company on the road. They were able to work from anywhere, so they took the opportunity to travel all over, including abroad. But when the pandemic hit, they were in Morocco and needed a U.S. rescue flight to get back to the states.

“That was almost a year ago we were stuck in Morocco and now we’re dealing with the Texas thing, so I’m thinking this time next year we’re going to stay in a bunker and let that time period pass,” said Fernandez.

When hotels shutdown last year, they got the RV and began traveling the country working from the vehicle. They were working their way through southern Texas, which is supposed to be a warmer spot this time of the year when they found themselves in a life-threatening freeze.

“It got sticky, to be 100% honest with you,” said Fernandez.

They say despite warmer temperatures now, the state is still struggling.

“It’s still quite a mess,” said Davenport.

“Dealing with a burst pipe is definitely an issue everywhere,” said Fernandez.

But despite it all, even both of them getting mild cases of COVID-19 at one point, they have no plans to get off the road.

“We have seen so much more of the beauty our country has to offer than when we were just jumping from Tampa to Orlando to another city in the state,” said Davenport.

The couple says they have been able to get access to power and water, but it’s sporadic and boil water advisories are still in effect in much of the Texas due to so many burst pipes during the storm.