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Dear Jim

Yesterday at about 4:00 p.m. there was a massive power outage in the southwest. All of San Diego County And other parts of Southern California were without power for almost 12 hours some still are.

I learned a few very good lessons from this experience. I do consider myself a prepper but am limited to how much I can store because I live in an apartment. I had concentrated on food, water, and defense measures for the long run, but had completely ignored some more immediate short term supplies.

First and foremost, I overlooked cash. I have been buying silver but bartering wasn’t necessary yet because this crisis didn’t last that long. I know some people think ATM’s have a “magic” power source but they don’t. Every single one I went to was not working, and convenience stores were cash only. They did have great deals on ice cream 2 for 1.

I forgot to mention this power outage was in the middle of a heat wave. Southern California as you know is a desert with all of its water coming from other places. This outage happened because of one worker who removed a safety device in Arizona. That is what the news is saying, anyway. Another key element I missed was lighting and batteries. We had some candles but I don’t like using them because I have a four year old who thinks that they would be fun to play with. I couldn’t buy batteries because I had no cash. A friend gave us some batteries and we were able to listen to the news. We have some several media devices in our home that became very expensive paperweights last night. We did still have water but they had issued “boil water” orders for several cities. Remember that this whole deal lasted only several hours. Imagine if this outage had lasted for several more days.

One piece of technology we did have was a Verizon mi/fi wireless card, which was great until it ran out of power. We were able to surf the net and find out news, and go on Amazon to complete our emergency kit. A lot of people who like to run their cars all the way to empty found themselves sleeping at a gas station and some almost spent the night on the freeway. Keep your tanks full or at least enough to sit in traffic for a few hours. Headlamps were another thing we ordered they make life a lot easier than having to tote around a big flash light. We ordered a new radio that can be solar charged.

I don’t believe there was any sort massive criminal activity just some people stealing liquor. San Diego is a very conservative city and with one of the cities with the largest veteran populations per capita. Civil unrest would be a bad idea. Our local nuclear power plant went offline because of what happened in Arizona. Our grid is very fragile and one person in another state was responsible for millions losing power, and it was an accident. Imagine what could happen if there was an intentional attack.

I learned that your frozen foods will be alright in the freezer if it is full [and kept closed]. Luckily we had just gone shopping and didn’t have to throw anything away. Yesterday most of us in San Diego County were taken back to [the technological level of] the 1930s with the exception of a few Blackberries and other media devices. Had this lasted any longer those devices would have died.

In conclusion don’t forget that not all scenarios are TEOTWAWKI situations and don’t overlook the small stuff you keep putting off buying. It was the cheapest and easiest to get comforts that would have all the difference in the world. – C.R.

Jim:
You called it. I can’t find the post at the moment, but I believe that you raised this issue recently. I was on the University of California San Diego (UCSD) campus when we lost power yesterday along with the rest of San Diego County. The electric eye-activated toilets and urinals in the new buildings were all nonfunctional, whereas the older models (with actual handles) in place in the older buildings worked fine. Exclusively installing toilets that don’t function without electricity in new buildings just seems like a bad idea. Thanks, – Robert B.

James Wesley:
Well, I finished my preps at the mountain retreat about a month ago (I fine-tune little things, but the bulk is done.)  And with the roller-coaster ride of the stock market, the Fed debasing our currency, one natural disaster after another, and everything else, I find myself resigned to the fact that something big is coming.  So I am growing slightly impatient.  I mean, this slow grind down is killing me.  I wish things would either get dramatically better, or just collapse already. 

Then something interesting happened at 3:38 PM on September 8, 2011.  My wife, our tenant and I were about to walk out the door to get a late-lunch / early dinner.  All the sudden all the lights went out (We live in Southern California.).  I immediately looked down at my cell phone.  It was still on.  I looked out the window and cars were still going by.  Okay, no EMP.  I assumed it was just a neighborhood blackout.  The little lady walked to the next property over to check on the preschool we run.  As she was making sure they were okay (they were), I hoped in my truck to run an errand or two.  The radio began to announce all the areas that were experiencing power outages.  In less than 5 minutes I was able to determine this outage was huge. 

I walked next door to the preschool.  All was well there.  The wife had set up a radio, and had had the same realization as I.  Since the facility closes at 6 PM, and it was now 4 PM, we only had about 10-to-12 kids left to go home. 

One note of interest was the fact that we had radio information, as did the entire county.  This made a big difference in how we (and the county as a whole) handled this situation.

I said to my wife that I wanted to go ahead and travel to the retreat after all of the children and staff were off property.  My lovely bride said, “I don’t want to leave the school.  It’s all I have.  You can go to the cabin if you want.” (She has owned and operated our main facility for 33 years.)  I explained to her that I meant after the children and staff had safely departed. 

Her statement put me in an awkward position.  Do I stay behind and pass on a great opportunity to do a dry run?  I really would like to see how well the battery-backed solar at the cabin worked with the grid down.  Not to mention the fact that while things seem reasonably calm at the moment, what if things spiraled and got worse? 

Or do I go ahead and go alone and be a jerk that leaves his wife behind? 

I went out back to freshen the chicken’s water, while thinking about what to do.  Fortunately when I returned, she had reconsidered. 

So once the children were gone, the last staff member informed me that she was a little worried.  She had enough gas to get home under normal circumstances.  But if she got caught in traffic, she was afraid she might run out on the road (most gas stations were down because no power equals no pumps).  Because my wife and I both had 75% full tanks in each of our vehicles (we fill up at 50%), I was able to give her two gallons of the ten gallons spare I had on the property.      

My tribe engineer had been in touch during this.  He decided to head up to the retreat as a dry run, as well. 

As I was casually packing the wife’s suburban for travel, my neighbor and favorite employee called me.  She informed me that the grocery store that was still open was getting cleared out (they had a back-up generator).  She was a little spooked, and said if I was going “up the hill”, I might want to do that sooner rather than later. 

So we hustled and got the dogs and the G.O.O.D bags in the car. 

I called my engineer (My back-up electrician was on assignment in Houston.  So had this been a real event…?) and said we were leaving.  He asked if any gas stations were open.  He was on empty.  Arrrrrrrr.  So I headed 6 miles in the opposite direction and took him a five gallon can of gas.  Traffic was light.  Many people were noted just walking around, walking dogs, that sort of thing.  I think the fact that information was readily available helped keep everyone calm.   

About ten miles into the journey, I realized I didn’t have one of the pistols I keep in the safe for just such an occasion with me.  Dang, I never in a million years would have guessed I’d forget something so basic.  I have a printed list of things to grab, but didn’t look at it.  Lesson learned on that one. 

I also realized later that I didn’t even think to grab the thousand dollars in cash I had.  That might have been actually useful.  Fortunately I didn’t need it.  But if I had, boy would I have felt dumb. 

Our 40 mile journey goes through a smallish rural town about 10 miles into it.  Traffic was very light.  Signals were out and we did brief stops at every intersection.  My engineer reported difficulty getting through that town two hours later.  A head-on collision had snarled things up.

The rest of the journey is a two-lane mountain road.  I was very relieved to see that almost no traffic was on the road.  This kind of makes sense, as nobody really lives out there.  But I wasn’t sure how that would pan out. 

Once at my cabin, I reached to my belt-loop for the retreat keys.  No Keys!  I forgot the keys to my retreat!  This really brings home the point that when the pressure is on, the mind can really go south on you.  Fortunately, thanks to the JWR philosophy of redundancy, I had a spare front door key hidden on property.  Once inside, I had a spare set of the rest of the keys. 

Our solar system was working like a charm.  Dinner was cooked, fans were running.  A neighbor below and one far above he generators going and their houses were ablaze with light.  The rest of the valley was dark, other than a candle or lantern here or there.  I kept our light signature low, just for practice.  I wanted to give my wife enough light to cook by, but not much more.  The five solar lanterns I picked up from Harbor Freight work very, very well.  I have let their batteries run down in the past, just because it is good to do once in a while.  They will run non-stop on a full charge all night, every time.  They did the same on this night. 

The tribe engineer arrived a few hours later.  It ended up being a late night, but we were all very pleased.

Power was restored during the night, and we returned home a little before dawn to resume our normal duties. 

After-action reports showed crime to have been almost non-existent during this blackout.  I attribute a lot of that to readily available communication.  Also, for the most part, San Diego County is still a fairly peaceful place.  I monitored all my Facebook friends’ comments about the event.  They all reported that neighbors got together, barbequed, drank a little wine around improvised camp fires, that sort of thing. 

All-in-all, aside from losing a little sleep, it was a great experience. 

I would highly recommend other tribes do a dry run just to see where your weaknesses are.  You’d be surprised. – L.B.