We are outside Austin in a new subdivision and the houses and services here fared much better than the average. I got stuck twice but managed to get moving again each time. Power was on and off like you described, I kept the one at-risk pipe thawed with a blow torch each day. The thing is though that we also read the weather report, despite being from California originally I knew this was going to create a mess. We stocked up at HEB and Costco, topped off both cars tanks, bought lots of water, etc. I didn't have a generator but I had a deep cycle car battery and an inverter, which kept the critical stuff running.
Driving was another story entirely though. I've been racing for the better part of 15 years, done rally, hillclimbs, etc so I'm no stranger to car control. That kept me on the pavement at least, albeit with some Initial D worthy drifting. But the tollways were littered with pieces of cars and derelicts. I saw a Honda Pilot sitting on its roof, obviously having been there for quite a while, and a few other cars that had been crashed and abandoned. Pickup trucks didn't fare well, lots of the people here think their brodozers have magic tires and the ice proved them wrong. Saw several on their sides or stuck in ditches.
Just like everything else in life you have to prepare for the possibility things won't go well. I saw footage of thousands of people in Austin lined up for fast food, people who clearly didn't think through what was going to happen. I couldn't help but think "well, there are all the Californians and democrats in a food line." In a slightly perverse way it seemed to make sense to me.
It's back to getting ratioed. I see 13K dislikes on several videos, which I guessing is a lot of you guys doing this the old fashioned way (good job BTW)
We are outside Austin in a new subdivision and the houses and services here fared much better than the average. I got stuck twice but managed to get moving again each time. Power was on and off like you described, I kept the one at-risk pipe thawed with a blow torch each day. The thing is though that we also read the weather report, despite being from California originally I knew this was going to create a mess. We stocked up at HEB and Costco, topped off both cars tanks, bought lots of water, etc. I didn't have a generator but I had a deep cycle car battery and an inverter, which kept the critical stuff running.
Driving was another story entirely though. I've been racing for the better part of 15 years, done rally, hillclimbs, etc so I'm no stranger to car control. That kept me on the pavement at least, albeit with some Initial D worthy drifting. But the tollways were littered with pieces of cars and derelicts. I saw a Honda Pilot sitting on its roof, obviously having been there for quite a while, and a few other cars that had been crashed and abandoned. Pickup trucks didn't fare well, lots of the people here think their brodozers have magic tires and the ice proved them wrong. Saw several on their sides or stuck in ditches.
Just like everything else in life you have to prepare for the possibility things won't go well. I saw footage of thousands of people in Austin lined up for fast food, people who clearly didn't think through what was going to happen. I couldn't help but think "well, there are all the Californians and democrats in a food line." In a slightly perverse way it seemed to make sense to me.