The Rubin family left the rodeo on Friday when the gasoline shortage started to look ominous. We hadn’t had power since the Frankenstorm Sandy hit on Monday. Unlike last year’s freak Halloween storm and it’s 5 day blackout bonanza, there was no dry ice available from Con Ed anywhere close by. Rumor had it that the dry ice line in Yonkers, 30 minutes away, was over a thousand people long. I was feeding my fridge and freezer “wet ice” from a Walgreens in a nearby town that had power, but things were getting a bit stinky, dry ice does a much better job!
Ultimately it was the gas lines that made us think it was better to get out while the getting was good. Suburbia depends on huge amounts of gasoline to keep thinks humming along. With gas guzzling generators all over the place, (not at the Rubin Rodeo), the demand for gas was getting bigger than could be supplied. Ports in NY and NJ had been damaged from the storm so gas was running low everywhere in the tri state area.
Walter enjoying the ivy in suburban Delaware
After we made the decision to leave town, we cleaned out both refrigerator and freezer thoroughly and brought our remaining melting food to the emergency garbage location at the train station. We filled our gas efficient Prius with food that was still safe to consume and headed south to Delaware, home of Mimi & Poppy Rubin, AKA the in-laws, just 3.5 hours away.
This is what Bugging Out looks like for us.
Bugging out is a term used among prepper and survival folks and it refers to leaving your home and getting to a safe location. You can learn more about Bugging Out by visiting this webpage http://www.survivalnewsonline.com/index.php/bugout-central-everything-you-need-to-know-about-bugging-out/
As we drove the 180 miles through NJ on a half tank of gas, we saw gas lines that were up to a mile long on the NJ Turnpike. We made it to DE with 1/8th of a tank to spare. Here in Wilmington DE, storm damage is non existent, gas and food are free flowing.
I feel guilty about being here in Delaware where it is warm and dray and not being up in NY helping out.
Occupy Sandy
Occupy Sandy is a coordinated relief effort to help distribute resources & volunteers to help neighborhoods and people affected by Hurricane Sandy. We are a coalition of people & organizations who are dedicated to implementing aid and establishing hubs for neighborhood resource distribution. They seem to be doing a better job than the Red Cross or FEMA at this point because they are working from the ground up instead of top down.
Check in on their website if you’re in the NY area to see how you can be of assistance. You can donate to this people powered effort by visiting here: https://www.wepay.com/donations/occupy-sandy-cleanup-volunteers
