You guys do realize GridEx is all Simulated.. Right?
We arent going to have a real power-outage, let alone a 2 day power-outage.

It would be stupidly dangerous to attempt even a regional shut-down, let alone a national.

When we had the east coast outage, had it occurred west of Sandusky,
it would have affected the next region, and likely created a cascade event.

We(US) operate on a 'Just In Time' infrastructure, I'm sure you've heard this before in reference to our food supply system;
The same rings true with our power, and frankly all of our utilities.
While JITd serves a purpose, it leaves the consumer inherently vulnerable. In the case of power, and the design of the plants therein, it becomes a 'chicken or the egg' matter.
At that point it's a logistical nightmare.

(and that's just the power. It'd be insane to black-out hospitals, 911 dispatch, ATC... No, no drill is worth risking mass casualties.)

ALL THAT BEING SAID: If the power goes out on the 13th, Peace Bitches, I'm Outty! 9/11 all over again.(fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me)