Reporting from the McDonald’s at the Waynesboro Town Center, because there’s power, and WiFi, with what seems like half the city’s population here.
My first Mickie D’s burger and fries in almost four years. Hey, it’s hot food!
We set out from the home front for lunch trying to find anything that was open. The first signs of life were the stoplights in front of the Town Center, the only ones that I’ve seen working in the city to this point.
The drive-thru here is backed up to the main road. People are getting out of their cars in line, walking in, ordering, getting their food, getting back to their cars, almost at the same spot in line.
As of this writing, about 90 percent of Waynesboro is still in the dark. The estimate for getting back on the grid for our neighborhood, Wayne Avenue, has been adjusted from where it was last night, when we were supposed to get power back between 3-8 p.m. tonight, to now being between 7 p.m. and midnight.
We’re coping well, but we’re also fortunate that we have a gas fireplace. We actually had to turn it off last night because the living room got so warm, and I had to go upstairs to the bedroom to be able to get to sleep.
We’re hearing from folks who don’t have gas heat that their homes are in the 50s in terms of room temperature, which, not good.
Some friends, from a glance at social media, tried to beat the darkness by checking into local hotels, which themselves lost power overnight, so, nice try, but, sorry.
We have six dogs with us at the Augusta Free Press home office, so hotels were never an option.
We hunkered down, listened to the Hamilton cast album for the millionth time, cut out to sleep early, and otherwise gained a greater appreciation for modern amenities, which we promise to never again take for granted, though we will.
Column by Chris Graham
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