I was about as far south of NYC as you could get without entering Florida, but people I knew on IRC and AIM there were talking about it when they could find a working internet connection. The difference in tone between people actually living it and people plotting to use it was palpable.

I do remember fighter jets hauling ass overhead in otherwise empty skies under the busy Hartsfield–Jackson flight path, but I think that's a different experience as someone who recognized the models and never had to wonder if they were coming for me.