The experience of a simpler way of life this week, courtesy of mother nature, was unexpected and frankly, unwelcomed. I like my computer, wi-fi, fax machine, air conditioning, washing machine, dishwasher and food refrigeration thank you very much. Television I can do without.
The funny thing is I have three TVs in the house; one in my home office, one in master bedroom and one in the living room. A bit much for just one person don’t you think? I cancelled my satellite service at the beginning of the year and have only one antenna. I can’t recall the last TV program I watched at home. I did just get Netflix (2 week free trial) so I will be using the living room TV to watch videos, (or just use the new 20″ iMac in the office). Still, I don’t see myself watching many movies at home.
Interestingly, my first Netflix DVD arrived on Wednesday, the day the electric went out. The title I selected on Tuesday? Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. So Thursday afternoon I’m sitting at Hartford Coffee with my laptop and headphones watching this documentary tale of corporate corruption and energy manipulation. How poetic. I knew I’d get angry the first time I saw this film but as my home was without power I could relate to those in California who were without power during rolling blackouts as Enron’s traders exploited power plants and electric availability for a buck (ok, thirty billion bucks).
I spent Wednesday night at home in the heat. A breeze would have helped but my old storm windows and older wood windows just don’t operate as well as they should. If more would work property I could have gotten a slightly better breeze. My house, a 1917 corner storefront, never had a sleeping porch but many houses of the era did. A sleeping porch is something I’ve wanted for a long time and may seek out in my next property.
After finishing the Enron documentary on Thursday I accepted reality that I’d be without electric for days, not hours and thus sought out a hotel. It seems everyone else came to that conclusion long before I did as no rooms were available in the entire region. All the hotels either were booked or without electricity themselves. Many friends were without electric and I didn’t want to inconvenience others as well as give up personal privacy. So, I decided to look upon the outage as an adventure and check out a place outside our region. Looking over a map I considered Jefferson City, Columbia MO, and Rolla but settled on Mt. Vernon, IL. Roughly 90 minutes east of St. Louis on I-64 heading toward Louisville KY I thought this would be a good choice.
The Days Inn promised a king bed, indoor pool and wireless internet. It delivered that in a highly suburban setting just off the highway along chain hotel and restaurant row. As it was late I went to Chili’s for dinner rather than seek out a local place. Local flavor would have to wait until Friday.
With the exception of high humidity Friday started out great. Unlike the night before, I sleep great and awoke refreshed and ready to explore. I checked the map on Google before leaving the hotel and knew what to expect: the main drag, Broadway/IL-15, became one-way eastbound through downtown with Main St. to the north serving as one-way westbound. As I approached downtown the one-way street began and drivers were encouraged to quickly make their way through, not stop and linger. Big mistake, big.
Downtown Mt. Vernon was once quite charming with the attractive stone courthouse occupying the center square bounded by Broadway on the south, 9th on the east, 10th on the west and Main on the north. Today two of the four sides of the square have been bastardized with horrible buildings. Another side is half urban with a dreadful bank ruining a prominent corner. Still, much potential exists in the fabric that remains.
I enjoyed lunch at a new upscale restaurant open downtown (9th St. Grill) and as I finished I began to see the clouds approaching. Walking around getting photographs it began to sprinkle then rain. I made my way to a local country & western clothing store on the square (Main & 10th) just as the rain really began coming down. As I shopped the music on the store radio stopped for an urgent notice — Mt. Vernon was under a tornado watch (or was it a warning?). The wind and rain soon picked up and it was clear I would not be leaving the store until the storm passed. I finished my purchase (they were having a sale!) just before the power went out leaving me, the owner and her young son in the dark. The storefront windows began to shake as the wind continued to pick up speed so in the dark we made our way to dressing and storage rooms behind the counter. Thankfully the windows didn’t break out but it didn’t look good. During this time I talked to the owner about Mt. Vernon.
Turns out she is on the board of their downtown development group (website). So as the winds downed trees and ripped awnings off nearby buildings we talked traffic control and other things they are examining. This woman (I didn’t get her name in all the commotion) is untrained in urban planning but she had a keen sense of what it takes to create a friendly and thriving downtown. An architect whose office is in the a great old bank across the street is president of the group.
After the storm passed I drove back toward the hotel. Trees, signs and awnings where down the entire way. Areas of streets and parking lots were flooded. Traffic signals were out. This looked way too familiar! I kept hoping that somehow the hideous suburban area with mostly underground electric service would still have power. But no, the entire area except for a single gas station and an Arby’s were without power. The gas station a few doors from my hotel sustained substantial damage to the canopy over the pumps. I figured I’d have better luck being in St. Louis without electric so I packed and returned.
A friend had offered me her couch and I arrived at her downtown loft just as she was getting home from work Friday afternoon. Downtown, it seems, is pretty immune to such outages with only 9 customers in 63101 without service per Ameren’s map. The next morning we headed from the 10th Street lofts to Printer’s Lofts for an early breakfast and to watch the final stage of the Tour de France before Paris. If you hadn’t heard, American and Mennonite Floyd Landis won this year after helping Lance Armstrong for the U.S. Postal Service team 2002-2004.
Another downtown friend left for a week in Florida on Saturday afternoon so I moved my things over to her loft in the Railway building. Ah, privacy. And internet. And a big shower. And a nice gas range in the granite island. Today I decided I was going to cook as I had been eating out a bit too much. I had called my home fax around noon and still no power. Later I started cooking and at 2pm decided it was time to call home again (about every two hours seemed right). It worked, starting a pot of beans did the trick as I got the high pitched sounds of my fax machine.
I may spend another night in the loft, giving my A/C time to cool off my house after I go and get all the windows closed. Also, I need to check the internet service to make sure it is working OK before I take my computers (yes, plural) home.
I was talking with a long-time friend and Seattle architect today and we discussed if I’d learn from this experience or return to mostly oblivious power user. Hard call at this time but that manual mower I bought a year ago after Katrina hasn’t seen much action this year. My Honda scooter, however, has taken me nearly 2,000 miles in local traffic.
This week I was shopping for a new George Forman grill or similar. I of course checked out local stores like Casa Semplice on 10th Street but I wonder if I want yet another electric appliance. I already own nearly every electric kitchen device known to man so will another make my life better or simply more dependent upon the power grid? The computer and fax are not going away but I can certainly get a nice grilling plate for my gas range rather than an appliance to do the job. Yes, this assumes the continued availability and relative affordability of natural gas.
What have all of you taken away from this experience?
– Steve
