Back at the Stix & Brix

Sunday, 1 July

The Phaeton is back in storage and we’re back at the condo.

With no other way of finding out if the power was back on, we made an early morning trip back to the stix and brix.  Seeing traffic lights operational when we entered our neighborhood was a good omen.  When the garage door opened with the remote, we knew that the power was back on for sure.  To be on the safe side, we went up to the condo to make sure all was well there too.  The LCD display on the appliances blinked 4:39.  We don’t know if that was a.m. or p.m., but we didn’t really care.

Our plan had been to use the cooler morning hours to finish packing for our upcoming trip before returning to the A/C comfort of the Phaeton for the rest of the day.  Cooler is debatable, of course.  It was already a steamy 80F (27C) at 6:30a; by noon the temp was up to a boiling 96F (36C) with sticky, sticky humidity.  Anyway, with the power on, we switched gears to return to Bull Run to check out before 11:00a.  There are no refunds on reservations at BRRP, but we did get a raincheck for the second night’s stay, which we will apply to our September reservation.

On the way home, we detoured to the Tysons Corner Mall to pick up a few things for our trip.  The scene we encountered inside underscored how lucky we were to have power restored so quickly.  The whole place was crowded with so many people that you’d think it was Black Friday.

Young and old, people were sitting on every available bench and chair reading newspapers, listening to iPods, chatting with others who were in the same predicament as themselves.  The tables at the food court were filled with families eating breakfast; the ice cream shop was doing brisk business.  Every available electrical outlet had something plugged into it — a phone, an iPad, a laptop; one man even had a multi-outlet power strip to charge everything at once.  Gadgets were being charged by the hundreds, their owners sitting on the floor despite any discomfort.  The stores were still closed, but people didn’t care.  They were there because the mall offered two things they didn’t have — electricity and air conditioning.

(It was funny to see Gotügo honey-buckets lined up in twos and threes on the sidewalks outside the mall building, with trailers stacked with additional units at the ready to replace those that needed to be removed.  Smart thinking on the part of the mall management.)

We’re thinking that two things worked in favor of getting our power restored so quickly.  One, there is a metro station across the street from us.  Two, the Inova Fairfax Hospital is maybe a mile or two from where we live.  Whatever the reason, we’re grateful for the restoration.  There are still nearly a million people waiting to get their power back; it might be a week before they see any light at the end of the tunnel.

And yes; we put the afternoon to good use.  Our bags are packed; well below Delta’s 50-pound (23 kg) limit for checked bags.  Where are we headed?  I’ll tell you tomorrow, but if you want to play along, there’s a hint here.