Where In The World Is Sum1?

Storm Damage

         Well, I finished class in Hamilton New Jersey on Friday, and headed back to Chicago.  I wanted to stop by a micro-brewery and get a couple of growlers for friends (empty, sadly), but the place in Pennsylvania I'd gone to was out.  So I headed to the West side of Washington DC to spend the night in Sterling, Va.  Along the way, I waved to Leger~ in NJ off I295, and Maryann as I drove around DC.  I stopped off and got the growlers, then had a wonderful meal at O'Failain's Irish Restaurant.  I was very tired, and in bed before 9:30pm.  I awoke sometime in the night, and realized we'd lost power.  Since I wasn't on a schedule, I left at 6am, and decided to drive the back roads to see scenic America.  Having slept through the storm, I had no idea how powerful a storm it was.  With no power in the hotel, I couldn't check the news on the TV to see what had happened.  And silly me, I didn't initially listen to news until I saw lines at a gas station at my first stop.

         True, I did see damage as I drove, but I thought it was very localized.  I think the biggest thing I saw was a tree that had fallen over a fence, destroying that section.  It also fell across the road blocking one lane.  Both lanes would have been blocked if someone hadn't gotten there very early and cut away a large part of a limb.  That was fairly close to Sterling, so it wasn't too surprising.  But as I drove further and further from Sterling, the damage continued, and I slowly came to grasp the magnitude of the storm and the damage it had caused.  There were limbs broken, trees blown over, and power was out everywhere in patches.  Some had portable generators, some weren't so lucky.  It wasn't until I got into the West Central Pennsylvania area that the damage abated a bit, but even along I-70 I would see it when I pulled off to get gas.  As a result of all this storm, hotels were along my route were booked solid, so I drove all the way last night, arriving just about midnight WDC time.  That storm was very powerful, I can see why and how it caused so much damage.  I just can't believe I slept through it! 

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Jim Dorrell