In Texas at least, and I think California, if you go into smaller general shops or gas station mini marts you can find 330mL glass bottles of Coca Cola made with cane sugar. The cheapest I've seen it is $.95/bottle. It tastes awesome. If you have a choice, get the stuff that is bottled in Monterrey; it says where it is bottled on the side of the cap. The stuff bottled in Tijuana is horrible and watered-down shit.

Power goes out in hotter places too. After Ike, Houston had a lot of hot days, and it really sucked.