Before I head out (and now that I am plugged in and have also purchased an all purpose adapter so the laptop can be charged on a generator or in the car; and we just paid for a generator to be shipped overnight, too, more about this later), I wanted to give you a view of what things look like here despite what the president observed yesterday at his photo op, er, press conference.
As I drove toward the freeway, it was like a scene from a Disney movie: no traffic, lots of quiet. Smoke coming off the waters of the lake and the nearby river. Cool breeze. A possum crossing the road with babies on her back. Even a deer grazing on the side of the road. And then as I neared the freeway: LIGHTS!!!!!!
We now have a couple of gas stations and grocery stores lit up (lines are miles long up where we are). The further south I drove, the more destruction I saw. The Woodlands (aptly named) had lots of downed trees. It looked rather like Mississippi after Katrina. However, further south were more lights and more gas stations and even a bank. Lines were not as long. So, the north end of Houston is bouncing back.
The best, the best, the best site: a HEAD SHOP all lit up with neon and black light. Talk about priorities. Made me laugh.
I just ordered us a small generator so hubby can make coffee in the morning and we can run lamps and a toaster over. Why? Our power company (which has restored a whopping 2000 of the 400,000 customers thus far) has promised to have power restored by October 6 at the latest. Gee, how nice. I think that is still a couple of weeks away. So, I bit the bullet and ordered the generator and paid an exorbitant sum to have it shipped overnight. I feel a tad less guilt now.
Finally, thanks for all of the good thoughts and prayers and promises of cold beer. My next stop online before we head to the gate is to see if I can order something cold delivered to the house with ice packs so hubby can cool down some drinks and his soy milk. I will post from SLC as time permits.