What would you do without Electricity?

[crashdive123]

Good deal Duke. Sometimes all it takes is somebody showing them how. Kind of like the teach a man to fish and feed him forever......

[Sam]

As I read this thread it is refreshing that every post does not start with ' I loaded my ....., and then'. It kinds renews my faith in folks.

[Beo]

Well since I started this thread I'll give my two pennies worth, If the electricity went out I'd sleep in cause my alarm clock wouldn't work.
Actually got a small generator in case that happens.

[crashdive123]

You've got a generator just to power an alarm clock?

[Beo]

Yeah! And man is it bright

[crashdive123]

Now that's dedication to getting up on time. Me......not so much. Where's my bacon sandwich?

[fitfisherman]

I was involved in the blackout of 03. thankfully we had enough gas in my wife's car to get us to northern Michigan. We have some acreage up there with a cabin. Wood heat, propane lights, trout stream 100 feet away and lots of game. The only thing I'm concerned about is getting up there. I live in the city and it was total chaos around here. I wanted to get the hell outta dodge.

I could live forever at my place in the north. The one thing I learned is you have to think sustainable. You can't rely on propane or gas generators because one day that will be gone.

thats the scariest thing to me is being in the city and watching anarchy reign. You have to get out in order to have a chance at surviving any type of disaster situation. These people are nuts around here.

[tsitenha]

Our hunt camps have no electricity, so we just adapt to whatever we have handy including torches and grilling our food. We would just "camp" at home instead.
Reality we have so many power outages here that we are self reliant without power in all our aspects of day to day life.

[Rick]

fitfisherman - There have been several posts on "Bug Out" or "Bug In". You might read through some of them and get a different perspective on how to survive in the city (and why you would want to!).

[Catfish]

A month or two ago, our power company had to take the electricity down for a few hours to perform some major maintenance on a transformer. It affected a fairly large area but they scheduled it for 6am to 11am on a Sunday morning, advised everyone by mail and TV ads, and used those warning signs above the roads. All the local businesses were given flyers so pretty much, everyone knew it was coming.

OK, so 5 hours without power on a Sunday morning in summer. No biggie. I brought in my camping stove, just in case, made sure to keep the fridge door closed as much as possible and...that was it really. I usually surf the web first thing in the morning, but I decided that it would make a pleasant change to sit out in the back yard and read my book.

I was up around 5:30, had my coffee made and was already out of doors before the power went off. But I knew when it happened because on the stroke of 6am, the neighborhood was rent with the sound of portable generators firing up.

It would appear I was the only one who was able to go even a few minutes without electricity. We're not even talking a survival situation here, just a Sunday morning without power. Kind of sad really.

Footnote: So rather than listen to the generators, I went out on my bike instead. At the first hill, I had one of those old-fashioned power outages.

[Rick]

Now that's funny. That would make an interesting Sunday Morning feature for CBS. Ooops. Forgot. No power.

Wouldn't our grandparents have a good laugh at us?

[laughing beetle]

I was on the road during the rolling blackout in '03, but I was in Central New York when the Labor Day Storm hit in 1998. We were without power for about week. Being summertime heating wasnt a problem. I had access to plenty of ice and coolers so I was able to save most of my freezer contents. I had a Coleman campstove, flashlight, candles and a couple of lanterns. I just read a lot of books and played a few boardgames with family and friends.

[fitfisherman]

fitfisherman - There have been several posts on "Bug Out" or "Bug In". You might read through some of them and get a different perspective on how to survive in the city (and why you would want to!).

I'll read them but I think I would do much better at my place in the great north woods of Michigan.

[Rick]

I'm not saying you wouldn't. It's just the act of getting there and all the masses moving in that direction with you. And what happens when you get there and someone is already using it? The threads just offer up some thoughts and ideas about those types of scenarios.

[fitfisherman]

I'm not saying you wouldn't. It's just the act of getting there and all the masses moving in that direction with you. And what happens when you get there and someone is already using it? The threads just offer up some thoughts and ideas about those types of scenarios.

You got a valid point there.

Can you point me in the direction of those threads?

[Rick]

A really good post by Vika:

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...surviving+city

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...ead.php?t=1538

Remy actually had one of the best responses for staying put but it looks like it has been erased. Perhaps he'll post on it here.

[Ray]

I was on the road during the rolling blackout in '03, but I was in Central New York when the Labor Day Storm hit in 1998. We were without power for about week.

I was on the road, too... just outside of Manhattan during the Blackout of 2003. The traffic was a complete mess, because the traffic lights weren't working. No one could get gas, because the gas pumps wouldn't pump. When I eventually got into Manhattan, the whole island was completely pitch black.

I heard some people got stuck in the subway tunnels inside a train car. No lights and stuck in a subway car with strangers. I can't even begin to imagine what anyone would do in that sort of scenario...

_____
The Survival Hiking Blog
http://www.survivalhiking.com/

[canid]

in that circumstance ray i would recomend being conservatively friendly. wait a min; that's my usual subway protocol.

[Rick]

That's why I always carry a micro light in my pocket. I've used that thing soooooo many times.

[fitfisherman]

A really good post by Vika:

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...surviving+city

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...ead.php?t=1538

Remy actually had one of the best responses for staying put but it looks like it has been erased. Perhaps he'll post on it here.

good info. Thanks Rick, but I'm still of the opinion to bug out. After seeing the choas and lawlessness during the blackout I think it would be far safer getting to the woods. Case in point Hurricane Katrina, you had all those people looting, shooting, and waiting for the government to come save them. The police were going door to door taking guns away from everyone.

The other thing I noticed is many of these solutions are temporary. In the event of a major disaster we need to think sustainable. Your canned foods and the neighbors canned foods will eventually run out. If I even lived on the fringes of the city I could be convinced into staying depending on the situation. But I live right in the heart of the friggin zoo. LOL

I agree that everyone and their brother will be heading to the hills but if you know many routes to get out of town one would be in good shape.