I made a lot of stops on the return trip:
- Burlington, NC: Northern Tools (most excellent, got cool stuff); JR Discount Outlet (got candle lanterns)
- VA Welcome Center: bio-break; nosebleed
- South Hill, VA: Walmart
- US 460/Prince George, VA: McDonald's - closed; but sign lit, and drive-thru order system still partially active
- VA 36: Taco Bell
- VA rest stop: more eating
I think it was about 02:00 when I got home. Left NC around 17:30, thinking that might be bad for traffic, but stopping in Burlington took care of that. It was after 19:30 when I got back on the road. (Cool tools, though.)
I should have considered more seriously the possibility that our power would be off at home.
anniemal said there were about 10 minutes of ferocious storm Sunday evening, and the power is still off. The utility pole in the back corner of our yard broke in half, and I guess the transformer went through the garden shed next door. (Our shed is only about 10 feet from theirs.) Maybe that's what attracted the news crews? Annie says Channel 20 came out too. There was nothing unusual until about the last 3 blocks of the drive home. Then there were cones blocking off streets, and I could see a wall of sawed-up slices of tree trunk lining one side of a side street. There are lots of branches down, and I suppose there'll be much more to see in daylight. Anniemal's got the little solar garden lights all over the house. (She's had a couple of days to work out this routine.)
VA Power got the old pole out and a new pole in with a large crane that reached the length of our yard from the street. We may have power tomorrow. Or we may not. The phone and the cable (TV and Internet) will all have to be reconnected after the power is back. There's a line of trucks parked along the street, but there was enough of a gap for me to get my car into the driveway and carport. One of the trucks has got a spotlight shining on the utility pole, and there's a guy up there working and people scurrying around below.
Annie's been avoiding opening the fridges, and I'm going to have to minimize using this laptop. Too bad I hadn't kept the monster camping battery charged up. (Who knows, it may still have plenty of charge.)
Wondering whether Annie would restart the DVR is moot.
Wed Jul 6 05:09
We have power again at 05:00 (04:56?). The convoy of trucks has headed off. Still no Internet nor phone. And my cell phone wasn't working either the last time I tried it. (No power at the tower?) The A/C is on. The refrigerators are frigerating.
Wed Jul 6 13:28
Comcast says there'll be somone here Friday. So no Internet for a while. No TV either, but the DVR has 40+ days of recordings I haven't seen. (Figure 6-8 days of that is commercials. ☺).
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