If you said, "Dolly Parton, 1977," you are probably from my generation, and get 50 bonus points. If you said, "Demi Lovato, 2009," get off my lawn ya damn kids!
The power went off for a while in the middle of the night, but came back on. I got up about 6:20, and we had glorious power: TV, phone charging... it was nice. I fed the furry boy and started with my morning routine. Just as I was getting ready to make a cup of hot chocolate, the power went off again. And, didn't come back on after a few minutes. A check of the AEP outage map shows our island and some of Port Isabel again. Just as folks are about to take on their day. Estimated return of power - 11:30.
While I will be missing my hot chocolate, one of us is going to need coffee. ;-)
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Update: Drove into town for a Whataburger breakfast (and a large coffee). The outage in PI seems to be resolved, and our new power on time is 10:30.
Life at the edge of the country.
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And, the power is back on; 9:48, ahead of schedule. It is a lovely sensation when the ceiling fan starts up and you hear the reassuring hum of the air conditioner.
I remember back in the "olden days," when we came here for winters in the motorhome: when the power would go out, we would turn on the inverter and be back to watching satellite TV and cooking. A lady once came to the door of our coach and asked, "How do you have power when the rest of the street is out?"
"An inverter."
Quizzical look... "We're running on our batteries."
Lights in most RVs are 12 volt - you run off the batteries rather than the need to be plugged into electrical power. A big enough inverter can run most of the appliances, other than the A/C or washer/dryer... and then you can run the generator. Ah, yes, the "good ol' days"... it was really dark in the house when the power went off before sunrise this morning. ;-)
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This afternoon, we were feeling like Burger Fi for a late lunch. We know that Padre Blvd, the main road on the island, is still mostly closed; you can get to Gulf Blvd or Laguna Blvd (the other two strees that run a good portion of town), but most of the main road is closed. Taking Laguna Blvd up the bay side of the island, we turned on the street where Burger Fi is located; pulled into their parking lot and... they are closed; dark inside. An employee came out and said he didn't know when they'd be open again. The damage is more than just power poles: that gray thing coming into the photo below from the upper left is the sign that was on their building...
And, in the background, you can see the bucket truck crew hard at it...
Pretty much looks like it will be the weekend before they clear Padre Blvd. We opted for another place for our burger and chicken sandwich needs. Businesses at the south end of Padre Blvd seem to be open for business as usual... even though there weren't many customers.
Joan heard that there was a tornado off-shore from the island. No idea how much other damage there might be, since you can't get to a lot of the main drag. Fortunately, this is the quiet time of the year for tourism here.
2 comments:
Hi Cap'n-- Just for Sh*ts & Giggles I Googled Padre Island Sat. View..
I'm just guessing where you two are on the Island-- I think I now know how Izzie got her name.. You might also Launch your Boat at W & C Boat Launch? I don't want to be to specific as to where I'm talking about..
Your Blog with Coffee every Morning-- Thanks for the read..
PS: I also follow other Blogs I enjoy with my Coffee..
Good morning, HRB. BIG difference between Padre Island and South Padre Island. Padre Island access is at Corpus Christi, about 175 miles north of us. South Padre Island is the town (and island) at the southern tip of that 140 mile long barrier island. There is a cut at Port Mansfield that separates the two islands. Yes, our sweet little Izzy's name was partially inspired by the Isabel part of Port Isabel, the small town that is immediately off our island. There is also a distinctly different feel about life in Port Isabel vs South Padre Island; they compliment each other. There is a great boat ramp on our island - private, owned by our owners association. We'll be ready to use it again by next week. Probably.
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