I am a Refugee . . .The Big Freeze of 2009

So anyways, I know a lot of people have been wanting to hear about Washington D.C but in the days since my return it took a while to calm back down and be ready to see people again. Then there was Australia Day and now there are even bigger things going on. Which I want to talk about first. Seeing as its going to be at least another 35-40 hours before I leave my current location for good, I figure that'll be ample time to take the time to write about my adventures up north. In saying that, let me begin with why I'm a refugee.

Currently it's Wednesday evening around 6pm. So Monday was Australia Day. We went out to Outback Steakhouse for dinner. It was very depressing to learn that an Australian themed eatery didn't have anything happening for Aussieland's special day. Anyways, there was talk in the afternoon of a storm coming through and people were madly buying supplies like they were going to be trapped in their houses. This was generally met with disbelief because apparently the Weather people are in the same class as Frosty, they tend to lie a lot. Monday night I had trouble falling asleep and it was gone 2am before I finally nodded off.

At 7:30am George comes knocking with extra blankets. Apparently the power went off at 6am and hadn't come back on. The central heating had been off. So he was making sure we were warm enough. Well by the time that was all over and he was curled up in bed sleeping, the rest of us were awake, so got up. Well, what an interesting site greeted us Tuesday morning. Everything was frozen. Seriously, everything. It was so weird!! Needless to say we spent Tuesday inside. Preying the electric would come back on so we could get the heaters running again, cook and just generally have electricity to see and what not. Thank goodness for an outdoor camping stove which provided the means to boil water and make soup. However, with Erin's allergies to the cold and Nancy being sick, staying in a house which was getting progressively colder was not going to be an option, regardless of how many torches and candles we had.

Thus began the challenge of trying to find a hotel. Which was hard. Lots of people were out of power and doing the same thing. Eventually we came across a place in downtown Richmond that would fit us in. Last available room. So around dusk we were finally set to leave the house and head into town. It had been 12 hours since the power went off. The were trees down, wires down, and ice everywhere. Earlier in the day I'd been outside and in the silence of the world, you could hear trees falling and popping as the weight of the ice made trees snap and it echoed across the silence. It was so eerie. I am now well acquainted with the sound of popped and shattering trees. We got to the hotel, parts of Richmond were out of electricity too, with shops closed and traffic lights out. There were trees down over roads and it was still raining.

After getting to the room, cranking on the heater, I decide to head out to Taco Bells to get some warm dinner for us. I've never driven in that kind of weather before, man it's certainly been a challenge and a very tense experience for me. So I head out to discover that in the time we'd been at the hotel, even more electricity had gone out, more traffic lights were down and pretty much all of Richmond from what I could see was out of power. So I drove to the other side of town and found that Mc Donalds near Kroger was open. And every person in Richmond was there. The curious thing is that everyone wanted to go through the drive through, no one was parking and going inside! Which being a Non-American I did. God forbid they have to walk anywhere!! I think I was in McDonalds for about 45 minutes and all I could hear were people complaining. I mean think about it, there are now hundreds, if not thousands of people without heat and power, all needing food. If you get a double cheeseburger instead of just a standard cheeseburger, deal with it and just leave, don't cause a scene!!

It really kind of annoyed me. And the staff weren't helping. I think they were doing their fair share of complaining too. Thus, finally armed with food, I got back into the car, back out onto the crazy roads (I had not a lot of vision, both side mirrors were frozen over!). So I settle back in to the hotel, were eating and then watching property shows when suddenly, after 9pm, the power goes out, the heater goes off and we're blanketed in darkness. Yes, the rest of the place had lost power. After much discussion we decided to stay put. The house had not had any heat since 6am that morning, at least the heater had been running in the hotel. So we stayed, rugged up, and slept.

George came knocking at 7:30am again, then again later at 10am. Finally we ventured out of the hotel into a white world of snow and ice and still no power. Anywhere. Once again we headed back to McDonalds in the hope it was open and working. It was and it was full again. But warm and had food. They even extended the breakfast hours until 11:30am. One guy was talking he'd heard on the news that 60,000 people in Kentucky were without power. And I'd believe it. A change from the night before was that everyone, staff and customers combined, were much nicer and happier and couldn't do enough for each other. Everyone was in the same boat.

From there we headed back to the house with the intention in mind of packing better and trying to find a hotel further afield to house ourselves for a few days. The roads back to the house were crazy. More trees down, more power lines down with lots more ice. It was so beautiful, yet kinda scary. We got back eventually, tucked Nancy up on the couch and hunted around for some hotels. We found one in Lexington, though the room we were trying to get was booked in between us hearing about it and the time we actually booked it. No big deal. We have a room with a King bed and fold out couch. We're all warm and safe and have a place to sleep. Plus, we've power and Internet access!!

We left the house around 3pm and headed up to Lexington which is where we are now. On the way up we were listening to the radio. It could be days until we get power again. Malls and shops are out of gas products and cookers, places are without water and power and no school is happening for the rest of the week. Its crazy. But like I said, as long as the power holds up, we're fine where we are. Might go a little stir crazy being holed up in a room together, but we'll be warm and safe! Plus there's a big plasma in the room so that's kinda cool too.

So here we are, 36 hours after losing power. Who knows what the next few days have waiting for us.