Luck Favors the Prepared
Updated: May 27, 2021
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My wife and I are in the process of moving from the PNW down to West Texas. We flew down to TX for the weekend to look at some potential houses and to check out the city. It was a good experience for sure... on the first 2 days. We checked out some houses, ate out to some of the local restaurants and made the best of it since PNW is on lockdown while Texans roamed freely.
We were supposed to leave on Monday but the winter storm front kept us in TX for an extra 2 days. This is why luck favors the prepared. I'm grateful my wife listened to me and brought with her extra meds that she needs to take daily. I'm grateful to have checked out the weather because if I didn't we would have froze to death. I'm grateful to have set aside extra cash for unforeseen circumstances.
Being prepared is not just about prepping for doomsday scenarios. It's about prepping for crazy circumstances. In this case, it was weather. It was in the single digits... in Texas! We were stuck because ALL flights were canceled. And, luckily we were prepared.
Lessons Learned from this:
Keep your phone at 100% at all times. My phone was hooked up to the charger but woke up to only 43% because the power went out in the middle of the night.
Have cash on hand!! Power and internet was out for an entire day. It was cash only to buy anything... food, coffee, gas, etc. And don't wait to go to the ATM at your destination because they were down too.
Don't rely on your GPS. With cell service down we couldn't use google maps. Somehow, we were able to use the app but not get turn by turn directions. So get a good lay of the land.
Bring your charging cables and plug in everywhere you go.
Bring extra meds that you may need.
Bring a CC for emergencies. We had to stay an extra 2 days which meant extra food, an extra 2 days in our Airbnb and an extra 2 days on our car rental.
Check the local news, radio stations and local traffic advisory. I was ready to drive to another city to get on a flight back to the PNW but if I hadn't listened to the traffic advisory I probably would have gotten stuck in a ditch somewhere because the roads were condition black.
Having done a real assessment on what type of vehicle we had, how bad the roads were, how long it would have taken us to drive and how stretched thin local first responders were it was a no brainer to just bug in.
Again, luck favors the prepared. Be prepared beforehand and don't panic during the chaos. Gather your wits and use your head.