Woman who lives in her car reveals the horrifying reality of sleeping outside in -33 degrees Celsius – from waking up every few hours to start her car to her contact lenses being completely frozen
A young woman living out of her car documented overnight conditions in subzero temperatures on a wintry night in Idaho, with both windchill and avalanche warnings in effect.
Rosa, originally from Philadelphia, has been on the road since 2017 and will celebrate the six-year anniversary of getting into her car in September 2023.
Last January, she ended up in Idaho in search of local hot springs, and faced a night in her car with temperatures as low as -33 F.
While sitting in her car, she captured the horrifying experience on camera and shared it on YouTube.
A young woman named Rosa revealed how she survived the night in her car in Idaho as temperatures dropped to double digits below zero
For dinner, Rosa heated up a pot of chili over an open fire in the back of her car
She gobbled down the chili with tortilla chips while sitting in her car
Rosa then demonstrated how to double sleeping bags to stay warm
She topped off her sleeping bag cocoon with a huge blanket
Originally from Philadelphia, Rosa has been living out of her car since 2017 and taking road trips across the United States
After running errands, Rosa prepared to spend the night and park her car a little higher due to the threat of an avalanche.
For dinner, she heated up a can of chili over an open fire in the back of her car, then gobbled it down with tortilla chips.
'I know the minimum tonight is around -25, but because of the wind chill they say it could be -40. But I'm in my car, so the wind chill shouldn't affect me. But if I tried to cook outside, it would certainly work!' she reasoned.
Then she wrapped herself up, stuffed a sleeping bag into a second sleeping bag, and covered herself with a huge blanket.
“Another thing I do when it gets really cold, especially below zero, throughout the night, I wake up throughout the night, turn on my car and let it warm up so everything doesn't get too hot. have a chance of freezing… just because it can be really hard on your engine and the fluids and everything when it's that cold,” she explained.
“So I'll wake up in a few hours to turn on my car and see if everything's okay. But in the meantime I'm going to bed. Good night!'
At 2:30 a.m., Rosa woke up for the first time to turn on her car and noticed that the dashboard registered an outside temperature of -26 F.
At 6 a.m. she woke up again – this time the outside temperature was a nippy -33 F.
“Oh my god, what the heck,” she exclaimed.
By 6 a.m. the temperature had dropped to a frigid -33 F
In the morning, Rosa discovered that her contact lenses were frozen solid
Her leftover coffee had also become a solid block of ice
At dawn, Rosa officially woke up and immediately noticed that “everything” in her car was frozen.
“I need to thaw my contact lenses,” she realized, holding her contact case in her hands, the liquid inside frozen.
Her leftover Starbucks coffee had also turned into a block of ice.
“So much for saving my coffee for today!” she said, chuckling.
Despite the frigid temperatures, Rosa was still determined to reach the nearby hot springs.
Rosa finally discovered that she had made it to a hot springs the next day, switching locations after finding it too cold around the first one she had wanted to visit
She spent the afternoon soaking in the naturally heated water, surrounded by the Idaho wilderness
“When it comes to snow and winter, I think it takes some getting used to changing your plans… And that's the fun of it, right?” she said
But shortly after she got there, she quickly realized, “I guess I'm coming to the conclusion that it's just a little too cold for these hot springs.”
“The thing is, I'm not worried about getting in; the hot springs are clearly hot enough; I'm afraid I have to get out,” she explained.
“Breathing hurts a little,” she admitted as she walked back to her car.
She ended up driving two hours away to another one, and enjoyed an afternoon in a naturally heated outdoor hot tub, surrounded by ice and snow in the Idaho wilderness.
“When it comes to snow and winter, I think it takes some getting used to changing your plans,” she said. “And that's the fun of it, right?”