10:15 PM

Today’s Weather: Showers, windy. High 82. 74 now.

Early this morning I received a call from the White House. The administration is sending an official to Lancaster tomorrow to update and brief me on the meeting situation. Translation: I will be representing the US government at said event. It is not official, but I have seen enough over the summer to know how things work.

General Leyland is becoming more concerned with the very porous and incomplete boundary-line from 78 up to Sunbury where the Susquehanna branches. North of there are the counties that can best be described as wilderness. He doesn’t have the manpower to patrol and guard the river line north of Lebanon County. Neither does the other side from what we are seeing. One solution the general and I are exploring is to raise local militias and task them with the job. Probably not as difficult as it seems initially.    

On the topic of raising militias, my FEMA contingent reports trouble finding enough Pennsylvania State Police officers (retired and active as of 9/22) to start rebuilding the department and its ranks. I went up to speak with George Brubaker this afternoon and asked for his help. George is wired into the LEO web as it presently stands. If he can track down some officers looking to pitch in and help, I’ll find a way to make it worth his while.

9:50 PM

Today’s Weather: Windy, Clouds. High 81. 75 now.

The inspection of the Peach Bottom reactor is complete. The good news is the reactors and support systems need little more than cleanup, minor repairs and preventive maintenance before the facility is ready to go. The bad news is even if we were able to start the reactors up tomorrow, there aren’t enough employees available to keep it running. This is a problem that is being worked on right now by the NRC and DOE. But even beyond that, there’s not an intact power grid for Peach Bottom to provide energy to. According to the reports crossing my desk over the last 24 hours, the power grid around eastern PA is a hodge-podge of EMP, exposure damage and even vandalism. PP&L has informed me they will have teams heading out to start inspections on their sites sometime next week. This move is greatly appreciated because my manpower is stretched thin as it is, and I can’t ask General Leyland to lend me some troops for the task. His people have way more important things to do.

Airport Update- Reading Regional Airport will be ready to accept multiple flights per day starting on Friday. Lehigh Valley Airport looks like it will be reopened sometime next week. That’s a tentative date too, not etched in stone.

There hasn’t been any further word from Denver about Harrisburg’s push for a meeting. Just as well.

9:20 PM

Today’s Weather: Sunny, brisk. High 78. 71 now.

I had teams of officials sprawled out over Eastern Pennsylvania today gathering information on everything from infrastructure damage to the conditions in the more outlying counties up north. Specifically, areas I have received little news about since taking on this job. Places like the Scranton area, Poconos and up towards the New York line. There are no recent reports or updates on how things are going there. On the infrastructure side, the biggest task of the day was laying the groundwork for a thorough inspection of the Peach Bottom reactor down along the Susquehanna. After the EMP detonations, the reactor was scrammed, meaning it went into an emergency shutdown and was placed in a safe state. It has not been touched ever since. Right now, I have a team of experts down there made up of nuclear engineers, a few former employees and inspectors from the Department of Energy and NRC. I expect to have an update from them in the morning.

Harrisburg woke up today and has requested a meeting with US government officials to discuss ‘peacekeeping measures’ along the temporary boundary. They made the request through the Canadian government. I’m waiting to hear back on the matter from Denver, but I have a feeling I might be enlisted to be the government representative at a potential meeting. Not something I want to do, mind you, but I follow orders.

Here in Manheim Township, Bob McDaniel is learning the ins and outs of running a post-apocalypse township government. He came by the house earlier this evening to give me an update and vent a little. He’s setting the offices back up at the old township building and is getting flak from some of council members about it. I told him that he’s not running a democracy right now and whatever decision he makes will be respected and followed by the people underneath him. If it’s not, he can fire them. I made sure to set up that clause when I was running things here. Figured it might prove useful one day.

10:10 PM

Today’s Weather: Sunshine into the afternoon, then thunderstorms. High 91. 73 now.

After spending Sunday morning on paperwork I opted to take the afternoon off and recharge my batteries. Literally and figuratively. The battery life on my satellite phone is measured in days but still, it was time for a recharge. The same goes for my laptop and tablet as well. David will be billeted at the Eden starting tomorrow night so we spent his last day at home exchanging stories about our experiences from last September up until our family reunion at the temporary White House in Denver. And yes, that’s what it is being called officially now. Properly so, in my opinion. Since my son remains an active duty US Navy officer I will not go into detail about what we discussed regarding his experiences at sea last September and October. However, I will discuss how dumbstruck he was when his CO showed him an article containing excerpts from my journal. Dumbstruck and relieved beyond words that his family had survived. From that moment on he said he could finally function at one-hundred percent knowing we were okay. I admitted to him that Lori and I did not talk much about him for a time. It was just easier that way. David understood and doesn’t take it personally. In fact, him and Lori talked about it in Denver one night. I was very happy to learn that.

Tomorrow, we go back to work. Last week it was logistics. Tomorrow I begin my crash course on infrastructure rebuilding. We have a lot to accomplish there and not much time. Priority will be on ascertaining the condition of power grids and whether or not they can be repaired. If they can’t, we’ll have to start from scratch and that endeavor will take years to complete.

Quite honestly, I don’t think we have years to bring everything together. It needs to start happening within twelve months at the latest.

11:49 PM

Today’s Weather: Sunny. High 87. 78 now.

Logistics will be a buzzword around the headquarters at Eden Resort for the foreseeable future. We cannot begin to fly in larger amounts of food and material until there are enough airports prepared to receive the influx. For whatever reason, the airport situation in eastern Pennsylvania is nowhere near satisfactory. For example, what has been already thought of and accomplished at Lancaster Airport hasn’t even left the planning stage at Reading Regional Airport. I sent teams out to six airports in the eastern half of the state to assess capabilities and figure out what needs to be done to make them ready to sustain a major round-the-clock airlift operation. I’ll get the full reports in the morning, but from the bits and pieces I’ve learned, we have a big task ahead.

FEMA was the core of the day’s other major issue. The agency is attempting to be helpful to the Eastern Pennsylvania Federal District in a way that does not include setting up new refugee camps. The FEMA liaison to my staff is a thirty-something guy named John Wu who seems open to suggestions. So, I gave him a few. Foremost, FEMA can start helping fire departments find the equipment and manpower needed to start serving their respective areas again. I know a lot of equipment was lost to the EMP effects, but I’m also aware that there’s unclaimed older equipment out there in rural, out of the way firehouses just sitting around gathering rust. Finding this apparatus and determining if its useable would be a good start for FEMA. Maybe then they can start looking around for firemen to man the engines. There are a lot of volunteers out there without a fire company to call home. I don’t think it’d be difficult to bring them back into the fold with new department for the time being.

As for what else FEMA can help with, that’s a tomorrow problem. It’s nearly midnight and I’m exhausted.

9:30 PM

Today’s Weather: Mixture of sun and clouds. High 81. 75 now.

Spent the afternoon talking to the military, as well as some civilian government officials from York, Lebanon and Lancaster counties. Security was discussed at length and understandably so. There’s some anxiety out there now concerning what Harrisburg will do next. Are they content to just sit back and do nothing while they want for the Federal Government to make the first move? Or will they go back to harassment raids and such as soon as the honeymoon period with the media ends? They were looking to me for answers, but I had none to give. So, I urged them to be prepared for any eventuality. Even the military is having a hard time attempting to figure out the ground rules around the so-called border areas. General Leyland hasn’t received firm guidance from his superiors yet either. In that regard we’re in the same boat. The White House hasn’t provided me with any. That was to be expected, however. President McAlister himself told me some time will be needed before all the details get worked out. Until then, I’m encouraged to wing it and so will Leyland.

So, in that regard, until the policies are worked out and set in stone, my intent is to treat the boundary with the DCP (Democratic Commonwealth of Pennsylvania) as an international border. Without declaring it openly. And the border is closed in both directions. No traffic…foot or motor….will be allowed in either direction. The same will hold true for the airspace, at least for the moment. The whole of Pennsylvania is US airspace, meaning any aircraft not cleared to be in it will be intercepted. And if need be, brought down. One of the powers I hold now, by executive order, is the ability to declare a no-fly zone over the western half of Pennsylvania if deemed necessary. That will probably be put into action early next week after I’ve had time to get a handle on the big picture and start our plans in motion.

Tomorrow will be Philly. I can only imagine what will be waiting for us there.

10:20 PM

Today’s Weather: Showers. High 81. 74 now.

This morning my team officially stood up as a complete entity. At the top of the pyramid is yours truly, with my staff of twelve occupying the tier underneath me. This group is made up of my chief of staff Jennifer Saltz, a FEMA veteran who was responsible for setting up and running the large refugee camps outside Chicago last October and November. She’ll be my right hand in many ways. David, my son is serving as my military attache. Sean Jameson will act as a minister without portfolio in a sense. He’ll go where he’s needed the most. The other four are former officials from FEMA, Defense, State and the NTSB. Folks with good heads on their shoulders and have spent time in the field in the last twelve months. The next level is made up of middle-management, so to speak. The men and women who will head up relief, recovery and reconstruction projects in different areas around the eastern half of Pennsylvania. Tomorrow they head out to begin getting a look at conditions in a number of counties. On Thursday, I’ll be doing the same. My first official trip is set for the Philly suburbs. Just a quick in-and-out to see with my own eyes what the situation is like there. Tomorrow is reserved for briefings with General Leyland and some civilian representatives from York, and Lebanon. The main topic will be security concerns. A plan needs to be drawn up and put in place by the weekend to keep our western border secure and airtight. There’s still a lot to discuss regarding the Democratic Commonwealth of Pennsylvania but I’ll wait until after tomorrow’s briefings to provide the background.

For now, it’s time to get some sleep. I’m back home along with my security/infantryman detail and my son. David will be staying here for a week or so. At least until we figure out if we’ll be staying here permanently or relocating over to the Eden where everyone else is being billeted. It’s strange being back at Windy Creek and downright surreal being here with my eldest son. Its fair to say that his arrival yesterday caused quite a stir seeing as it has been well over a year since the last time he was here. I’ll talk more about that too when I have time.