Former Bedford Resident in the Eye of a Storm

April 4, 2022
Bedford’s Liz Creason talked with reporter Bill Waddell in Round Rock, Texas, shortly after a tornado struck, flipping her van into the air. Video, Accuweather (c) 2022 all rights reserved ~ Editor’s note: After launching the video, check to be sure the audio is not silenced.

 

We often joke in The Citizen’s editorial meetings that there seems to be a Bedford connection to everything if you look hard enough.  That obviously is an exaggeration, but at times it sure feels true.  Still, a Bedford connection to a tornado in Texas?  Meet Liz Creason, Bedford High School graduate of 2013.

Creason is a freelance writer who was on her way to Sedona, Arizona when fate put her in the path of a tornado.  On March 21 she found herself in a Walmart parking lot in Round Rock, Texas, just as her life literally was turned upside down.

She was driving when she heard the tornado warnings and decided to be safe she should find a sturdy structure to take shelter.  She pulled into a Walmart parking lot to ride out the storm in her van.  When she looked up and saw a tornado heading straight for her, she quickly grabbed a few things and sprinted into the store.  The van took a direct hit and was hurled into the air.  Her security cameras in the van showed she left just seconds before the van was airborne.  Creason was fine but the van was totaled. 

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Check another local news reports. as well as a YouTube video showing the tornado in the parking lot.

How Creason ended up in a parking lot in Texas is an interesting story in its own right.  After graduating from Northeastern University she was working for a public relations firm in Boston as a writer, mostly in the biotech field but decided it was not what she wanted to do for the rest of her life.  She started freelance writing for blogs and various other clients and decided it was a job she could do anywhere.

Creason decided to buy a van and embrace a nomadic lifestyle much like in the movie Nomadland.  She was inspired by the blog Bearfoot Theory.  She purchased a van last February and spent a year building it out. She had just finished it and was heading out west on its maiden voyage. Her first destination was visiting a friend in Sedona. 

I asked her if the pandemic inspired her to take this path.  She said, “Honestly, not really—I had this dream for many years before the pandemic.  Covid has actually made it much harder because of material shortages, shipment delays, and price increases.  I was very lucky when I bought my van because it was just before the vehicle shortages started and it became hard to find new vans.  The increase of remote work has made it easier for me to work remotely on the road, however.” 

Back home in Bedford now, Creason is working through the insurance issues and salvaging what she can from her van.  She said that there really is a nomadic community, where she is now a bit of a celebrity—a lot of people reached out to say that Liz had lived through their worst nightmare.

She hopes to get back on the road very soon and is looking to rebuild. If you would like to help out, she has a  GoFund me page. 

In spite of the setbacks, Liz Creason remains very positive and anxious to get back on the road and continue her adventure. 

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