Jesse Joyner, PhD

Hurricanes are typical for the coasts, but rare is the one that reaches far inland with strength to really damage much. I was traveling from Sweetser, Indiana to Richmond, Virginia yesterday (about an 11-hour drive). Instead, the whole trip lasted about 15 hours due to Hurricane Ike’s trek through the upper midwest. I was low on gas around Dayton, Ohio, which is when I saw the strong winds begin. So I looked for a place to get gas – but all the power was out. My cell phone was almost dead on the battery – and there was nowhere to pull over and recharge it (I did not have a car charger). After trying unsuccessfully to navigate through some back roads near Dayton to get through the storm (many roads were blocked with downed tress and/or powerlines), I pulled over into a gas station (which was out of power) and waited. I had no cash (only my debit card, which requires electricity to run through a machine). I had not eaten lunch or dinner (it was about 4pm). I was out of water (I was thirsty). I called Sarah to tell her that I had no idea when I would make it home and that I might not be able to communicate with her due to the dead cell phone. So I just sat in the car and read a book while the storm passed over. It was interesting, because it showed me just how much we rely on power for EVERYTHING in this country/culture. All of a sudden, my life was diminished to a sort of primitive survival mode. I was concerned about where I was going to find water, food, and shelter for the evening. Thankfully, I took the risk of driving further to look for a gas station with power – and my tank’s last bit of gas got me to one. There was a long line, of course, and each filling took a long time because the whole gas station must have been running on a generator. I drove again to a restaurant for dinner and ate while I charged the phone. I hit the road again and finally got to sleep in the same bed as my wife by 4am. Now I’m running on under two hours of sleep – but with all the electricity I could ask for.