"What would you do if you have an emergency of some sort?"

That is a question many folks ask of full time RVers ... those of us who live full time in recreational vehicles and love to travel. And the answer is pretty basic, at least to all of us who have chosen this lifestyle. We do our best to solve problems, just as people who live in ‘stay-put' houses do.

The fact is we can have the same sort of problems folks have in any kind of housing. Health and medical; refrigerator, furnace, hot water heater, roof leaks, insect/pestilence infestation and so on are just as likely to happen to us as to people who live in one place all the time.

There are also some advantages of living as we do. For one, if we don't like the neighbors, the landscaping, the view, we have the option of going somewhere else.

We were lucky in the big January 4th 2008 power outage that effected pretty much everywhere up and down the north central valley of CAlifornia. Our new RV doesn't have a generator, but as do most trailers and motorhomes, our rig has a couple automobile-size batteries.

With a little planning and conservation of the electrical energy stored in these batteries the furnace fan was kept running to distribute the propane heated warm air and keep us from ‘freezing'. Steve's mom came over from her house, with no power to run her heater's fan, to share the warmth of ours.

In addition to the warmth from the furnace our refrigerator and hot water tank are both fueled by either electricity or propane so there was no problem showering or keeping the beer cold!!

The microwave was, of course, out of commission but the range and oven are propane appliances. Meals took a bit longer to prepare... but, hey, there wasn't much else to do, although I was a bit perturbed that I couldn't watch the Steelers game or Supercross on the TV. I couldn't even work crosswords or sudokus online.

Saturday afternoon we ventured out and went to have supper at HomeTown Buffet. We weren't the only ones! We wondered about how many of the folks there were looking for warmth and some hot food or just got tired of waiting and waiting for the power to come on.

After eating we drove around town in a big circle to get back home. We noticed a lot of traffic control lights were functioning again. I think it was probably necessary to get them going again before other before residential power, especially at intersections with main highways, 99 and 20.

As we approached our neighborhood we saw lights all around, but alas, not on our block or street. Although our house was still warm, the batteries were about exhausted. Steve planned to hold off for a bit and then run the truck engine hooked to the RV to recharge them before we turned in for the night. About 8:15 I was watching out a front window and saw the street light out front flash and then turn on ... at the same time Steve said the lights just came on in his Mom's house. Woo Hoo. We were back in business.