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.

Evacuated to the Rolling Condo

Saturday, 30 June

We should be at home packing for our trip — we’re leaving on Tuesday for a non-Phaeton adventure.  Instead, we self-evacuated to Bull Run Regional Park (BRRP) this morning due to a power outage we’re experiencing — along with about a million other people in the DC area.

We’d normally stay home to ride out a power outage.  But with temps forecasted to reach into 100F (38C), being without A/C was not an option.  The funny thing is that Mui and I separately concluded that the Phaeton was the solution to our dilemma.  Great minds think alike!  So, bright and early, we called the BRRP campground office.  When they confirmed that the power was on, we reserved one of the 50A electric-only sites on the outer loop.

The wide-spread power outage that is plaguing the area is a result of a very scary storm that passed right over us around 11:00p last night.  We knew a severe storm was forecasted when we went to bed, so we weren’t surprised when the weather radio went off with an alert right on schedule.  Good thing that radio has battery back-up; the power was already out by then.

The storm was like nothing we’ve ever experienced before.  This article describes it as follows:

The severe storms, which began pushing through the area at about 10:30 p.m. Friday, is called a "derecho," which is a very strong, widespread and straight-line band of thunderstorms that mostly occur during the summer.

At the height of the storm, the rain was coming down in a thick sheet, driven and made worse by strong winds that shook the building.  Trees were swaying like crazy, making us glad that they were too far to cause damage to us should one — or more — topple.  To top it off, there was non-stop — and I mean non-stop — thunder and lightning for about 15-20 minutes.  The lightning was so strong, so constant, and so bright that one would have been excused for thinking it was mid-day instead of the middle of the night.

But that was last night; back to today.

We worked on chores at home until we could no longer stand the increasing temperature.  That was around 9:30a.  Throwing a few food items into one bag, and a toothbrush and comb into another, we headed out to BRRP around 10:00a.  Getting to the freeway was a bit of an adventure since there were no traffic lights operating, and people were driving like they’d never heard the rule about treating intersections as four-way stops under such circumstances.  Grrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

Anyway, we made it to BRRP safe and sound and settled into Site 21 for a quiet afternoon, with a run into nearby Manassas — unaffected by the storm, by the way — to take care of our pre-trip grooming needs.  I’m not one to just walk into any old place to get my hair cut, but I figured I needed to start practicing since that’s exactly what’s going to happen when we start full-timing.  I’m happy to report that the hairdresser did not scalp me!

The news tonight is filled with stories of damage to life and limb and property.  Nine people have lost their lives.  In the end, we got off easy.  From what’s been reported, seven major transmission lines are down, and the power companies that service the area are all affected.  We finally managed to get through to Dominion Power to report our outage around 7:00p.  They are unable to provide a repair forecast at this time.  According to the talking heads on the news, it might take as long as 7 days to get everyone back on the grid.  I hope not, but so be it if that turns out to be the case.  We’ll just have to make sure everything is unplugged if we’re still powerless when we leave for our trip Tuesday morning.

In the meantime, we’re sitting pretty at BRRP.   There was the potential for some severe storms tonight, but the warnings have been lifted.  One good thing, the park volunteers came around to the sites this afternoon with a note warning campers about the potential for storms.  The note included radio stations and local news stations to tune into, and a reminder to evacuate to the bathhouses if necessary.  Good to know that the campground management has an eye on the weather ball.