The Day of Reckoning Has Arrived (As the world stopped spinning and the howling died down, we was able to hear other sounds, very much non-typical sounds!)

You’re sitting in your recliner enjoying your morning coffee, it’s Saturday and you have no obligations, it’s your day off and your job is the furthest thing from your mind. As you sort through your morning emails the signal goes down, you try to reboot Explorer but there is nothing – that’s odd you think. Oh well you can come back to it later and then the power goes off, the computer shuts down, the air conditioner buffering you from the 85 degree morning heat outside stops and you realize things are not right.

That’s right… the Day of Reckoning has arrived and your worst fears are realized.

There is no bright glow or mushroom cloud from a nuclear blast when you walk outside to look. Your neighbors are slowly moving about the parking lots they are also wondering what’s going on.

You remain as casual as possible, you’ve rehearsed this scenario in our mind a dozen times, have driven to your “safe zone” a couple times and now it’s time to load up and get the hell out of town before the panic starts.

You pull your van into a vacant space near the front of your apartment building. You grab your dolly and take out the cases of water you have stored, then the cases of food carefully distributing them in the vans interior to avoid too much weight shifting and the cases toppling over. You coolers and ToGo bags are next and then the important items your “personal protection” you hope you never need to use.

You’re ready to go and forget the gates to your complex are electric and the power is off – what next? You remember that a few weeks before two section of the fence near the road were down and you decide it’s time to take a section out so you drive to the parking area near the road, up over the curb and across the grass and slowly you push a section of fencing down and move out onto the roadway.

People are always slow to realize what is going on and your Grundig M400 shortwave radio that was stored in your Faraday cage comes right on and you listen for the news you know is forthcoming. Your drive is almost normal, the cars on the highway are still moving freely so an Electro Magnetic Pulse was not the source of the problem or you would be traveling on your motorcycle or bicycle toward your destination.

You are headed east toward the center of the state your destination just over 50 miles out and your shortwave transmission is heard, you turn up the volume as to not miss a word.

“A terrorist has taken out the Tampa electrical transmission station with an explosive device interrupting power to over 250,000 homes and businesses. Please stay tuned for further information as the damage is assessed and provisions made to reroute power to interrupted locations.” The announcer says.

You give a huge sigh of relief knowing you were ready, you loaded up as planned and hit the road and that you didn’t panic. You saw our neighbors milling around wondering what’s going on.

If it were a major disaster you would be on your way like you were today so you hope that day never comes…