Lessons Learned from the Derecho

[Redmanfms]

I departed on what was supposed to be a two-day motorcycle trip on back roads through areas of central West Virginia from my home in the Shenandoah Valley early last Friday. I did make it home as scheduled on Saturday, but obviously the trip didn't go as planned. I will split what I learned into two segments, one about what I learned being a traveler during a SHTF event, and another about being in an extended power outage during a heat wave upon returning.

Traveling

1. Cash is king.

While the power was out for the entire state of West Virginia (and remains out in large areas of the state as the time I'm writing this), many gas stations, especially of the truck stop variety, had generators capable of running the pumps, however; because of the widespread nature of the power failure, the phone lines and even some of the satellite relay systems with ground stations in affected areas used for credit cards were dead. As such, one could only purchase gasoline with cash. I suppose I'm lucky that I always price motorcycle trips in cash and withdraw the money before leaving, with a surplus to spare "just in case."

2. Group cohesion and unity is vital.

Our group had 11 members (including myself) and we stayed together. While sometimes inconvenient (as I actually had just enough gas to make it home after refueling early Sat. morning in Summersville), staying together and looking out for your friends is vital to everyone making it back safely. A couple of the bikes had smaller tanks and/or were less fuel efficient, so by necessity a mid-range fuel stop would be required. Certainly I could have ditched, but I'm glad now I didn't. My engine and battery lights actually came on Friday afternoon. My bike got me home, but when I got on it to take it to the shop to have it checked on Monday, it wouldn't start because the battery was nearly dead. Turned out both the voltage regulator and the stator were toast. Has they crapped on me during the trip, I'd have been in deep do-do had I been riding solo.

Also, while at a gas station two of our group noticed an open pump that had no lines behind it, for whatever reason. They went and fueled their bikes. While there they were verbally accosted by a man and woman who were very far back in line. They backed down when the other 9 of us walked over to see what the commotion was.

3. Rumors abound, believe at your own risk.

We modified our plans to get home immediately after the storm to taking the most direct route along major highways. We chose to avoid some roads that we still major and more direct (like US 60 through Rainelle) because we heard from some people who knew some people who had talked to some other people that the way was blocked by a lot of fallen trees. I still have no idea if this was true, but it lead us to taking 19 all the way to I-64. This path was at least 30 miles longer. We did have free travel though, no traffic jams and open roads.

In White Sulphur Springs we stopped for gas. None of the stations on the west end of 60 were open, but people were saying the Exxon on the other end of town was open and had gas. This lead to us sitting in stop and go traffic for several hours, overheating bikes, and burning up precious fuel starting up and shutting off motorcycles. I pushed my bike much of the way in the traffic, which was a REALLY bad idea in that kind of heat. We ended up ditching the effort and traveled onward to Clifton Forge, which amazingly hadn't lost power at all. The rumor of gas had made us pay dearly both in time and frustration.

Home

1. Have Generator.

It was miserably hot and the power didn't return to my home until Tuesday night. Luckily I had a 17.5KW portable. I have a switch and was able to run the central A/C, the fridge, a couple fans, and a couple lights. Sadly, my range is electric, and that (I felt) was just a bridge too far for the genny, so we ended up eating a lot of raw stuff, straight out-of-can stuff, and stuff cooked on the charcoal grill (cooking with that is misery)

2. Have gas.

Pumps might not be on and you might have to wait for hours at the stations with functioning pumps. For practical reasons I have quite a few 5-gallon cans, most of which are kept full. I use them to buy fuel when I have a discount through the grocery store I shop at, and I buy the max (30 gallons) and use it in the motorcycle which saves me a great deal on gasoline. I was very glad I was already doing this and had much gasoline on hand when this went down.

3. Cash is king.

Same reasons as above.

4. Water is something you'll miss.

While it didn't happen to me, the people in the Crozet area experienced a water shortage because the back-up generators used to power the water treatment plant ran out of fuel, but the roads were so blocked by debris that fuel deliveries could not be made.

And those on wells who didn't have generators were obviously SOL. Cool water to drink, and periodic sponge bathing with cold water make life sort of bearable in the heat.

[docsherm]

Good info. It is the little events that we learn from that make us ready for the big stuff. Thanks for sharing.

[Moose-Knuckle]

Yes, thanks for sharing your experiance with us.

[cinco]

Thank you for your sharing your experience. First hand accounts are always the best for education...

Regarding travel by motorcycle. What sort of advantages/disadvantages did this present? I have a dual-sport (street legal dirtbike, for those that don't know), and I'd think the ability to maneuver in tight spots (i.e. lane splitting, weaving around debris, and riding offroad) would be a huge advantage during shtf. Can you share something from your experience?

Thanks and glad you're alright.

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

The 'group' thing is something that I think really has become more apparent to me lately as I go thru scenarios in my head. The 100,00 rounds, a rifle, my family and a cabin on the woods ain't going to happen. You are only as safe as your twenty best friends are vengeful.

My wife still rolls her eyes at some of the things I do and pack. She grabbed one the bags I packed for our 1600mile western trip and almost couldn't pick it up. She looked at me and I said "Don't ask."

Glad to hear that your trip ended up OK.

[GTifosi]

Regarding travel by motorcycle. What sort of advantages/disadvantages did this present?

Unsolicited 2 cents:
You can push one. For miles if neccisary.
Vehicles of the 2000lb+ 4 wheeled variety, not so much.

Downside is they are exceedingly uncomfortable to ride in excessive cold, though doable.
Nor do they offer a place of protection from elements.
As in you can't climb in and roll up the windows in a wind storm.

Good mileage equals less space occupied to carry extra fuel if that is the desire.

Even one stowed emergency gallon on a well maintained bike, even an ancient 1960's vintage carb'd model will go much further than a gallon in a car, as well as or even better than a super modern fuel sipping econobox, and definitely a truck.

Hit a tree, roadblock, hole, etc. at low speed with a car and likely drive away with little more than a dent or two.
Do the same on a bike and you might be there a good long time even if you didn't mangle yourself.

You can potentially fall asleep at the wheel and survive a drift off road that wakes you up. This is not true with a motorcycle.
(for those who say they'd never press that far/hard on a bike and would stop beforehand to rest have never truly been pressed hard and far on a bike...)

A bike can ride in the back of a truck, and with creativity, towed with the front wheel in the trunk of a car.
A bike will neither tow nor carry a car or truck.

You can fix a flat on a bike with *minimal tools, presuming tube type and actually carrying patches and those tools, odds of same in a auto tire are somewhere between slim and none unless driving some archaic tube tired split rim job.

*In regard to airing up that tire after patching, if on a multicyindered 4 stroke bike, a run of hose long enough to reach from a spark plug hole to both wheels that's been fitted with a tire valve on one end and a fixture that will screw into a plug hole will take about 10 seconds to fill the tire.
Sometimes even without actually firing the engine if using electric start on a high displacement engine. If a single cylinder, cranking starter or running the kick start (everyone has a kick starter just in case, right?) will still move air.


Sorry for jumping in.
The above are based on some past experiences and observations, and I thought worth sharing in this thread an effort to condence the information.

[rkba01]

Here is my take on living without electronic juice.

https://www.m4carbine.net/showpost.p...7&postcount=36