Hundreds of thousands from the Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic are preparing to spend the Fourth of July like America's founders did in 1776, without the conveniences of electricity and air conditioning.

Power outages from Friday's storm altered planned celebrations in a host of ways and left powerless residents grumbling that America's birthday will hardly be a party. Cookouts were cancelled or moved to homes with power. Vacation plans were altered. Some residents without power said they weren't in a holiday mood. And even some whose power had been restored said they had run out of steam to celebrate in the way they'd planned.

Friday's storm arrived with little warning and knocked out power to 3 million homes and businesses in states from West Virginia to Ohio and Illinois.