Arnold, CA…When we stopped for gas in Angels Camp a guy got out of his vehicle and asked if there was a “Zombie Apocalypse” here? He hadn’t heard about the planned power outages and was coming to our area to camp for the weekend. All he saw were people frantically foraging for supplies ahead of the power outage and impending doom.  Now that the outage is underway and the hum of generators is filling the air it has taken on a bit of a surreal feel. The PG&E Hospitality tent in the Meadowmont Shopping Center looks straight from a movie set. It even has a security guard scanning the refugees who have so far survived for a little over an hour off the grid.  One was even heard shrieking “Quick, my battery is at 20%”

The orange and red locations on the map above indicate a lack of electron flow..

There are millions of us now searching for an open gas station, hording fuel for generators and thinking “Do those survival meals they sell on TV really last 25 years? I bet Kraft Mac n Cheese will too regardless of what the package says. I mean why would the cheese seasoning go bad in the foil pouch?”

I reckon that most of us will survive the next 24 – 36 hours living like human civilization did for thousands of years. Many of our castles will be lit by candles and our grub heated with an open flame. I guess if we called it Glamping we could charge for the experience.

Our lot is still better as with a decent sized generator life can continue on as before. For those of us with slightly smaller generators we will have to “gasp” exist for a day with a few less luxuries and in this electric house a cold shower as our generator would give up the ghost before heating 50 gallons of water.

I do however need to use the milk in the frig so Cheerios will be my first survival meal. I mean I don’t want to go into a caloric deficit….maybe I’ll just go get a pizza at Round Table.