Here we go again - another storm in the Gulf

[geobet]

Having rode out Irma a couple of weeks ago, those of us on the Gulf coast are keeping an eye out for what could be Nate, expected on our doorstep Sunday. Hopefully, it won't get any larger than a cat 1 that is forecasted.

Given Irma's forecast to come zipping up the state (Florida) as a cat 2 or 3, we made the decision to load up the High Country with two dogs, the wife and her 87 year old mother on Friday morn before the storm hit here on Saturday night. Problem with trying to dodge a monster like Irma, when you live on a peninsula, is that you have to drive for 3 hours north just to go west. We dropped anchor about 75 miles west of Tallahassee. A normal 4 hour drive turned into 7. Monitored the weather radio and CB the whole way. Figured since the storm was forecast to stay east of us, we'd be OK. Plotted my course with the knowledge that gas stations and truck stops would be running out of fuel. They did. Ones that had gas had police officers directing mile long lines of 4 wheelers. And, traffic backups on both interstate 10 and back roads were horrible. People pulled off on the sides of the road that had run out of gas. I carry 75 gallons of diesel on board so I elected to camp where I'd have enough fuel to get there and back home without having to refuel.

We got lucky. I have 2 acres and we had some trees down but no damage to the house. As a side note, that's one reason we have the High Country - its our "escape vehicle" plus, had Irma destroyed the house, we'd still have a place to live afterwards.

The campground we stayed at, I had booked reservations earlier in the week so we'd have a site, was filled to capacity with campers getting out of Irma's way. To their credit, they did not turn one single camper down for a spot to dry camp in while they rode out the storm. But, Irma made a shift to the west and we were now in the path - but thankfully not on the "dirty" side of the hurricane.

Now for a brief testimonial. We got hit hard with tropical force winds on Sunday. Constant 40-50 mph winds with numerous gusts above 60-70+ and yes, I carry an wind speed meter (anemometer) with me. The High Country kept us safe and secure. Didn't even get a nudge from the wind. Lost power so I had to use our generator. Could hear trees crashing in the distance, but the campground owner had a tree crew come out Saturday, in anticipation of the storm's shift in direction, to trim and cut anything that could fall on us campers.

Only problem I experienced was that DW had to share the bed with her mother. I got relegated to the fold out couch with the two dogs. Bad part was her mom snored like a drunken sailor. Being ex-Navy, I know the sound. Then, the worst of all the problems - even though I had plenty of diesel, I let my beer stash run out. Bummer! Then, got back home on Tuesday and, yep, no power. Didn't get any till Sunday. Stores were closed. Gas in short supply and, you guessed it, beer was in even shorter supply. Luckily, I keep 25 gals of gas on hand for tractor and such but I went though every drop keeping the generator running and the essential air conditioning - it was 98 every single darn day with high humidity. So long story short - Hurricanes suck. Trying to outrun them sucks. Gas lines reminiscent of the early 70's suck. But, running out of beer at such a critical juncture really, really SUCKS!!! I think with this storm, instead of keeping 25 gallons of gas on hand I'll keep 25 gallons of beer and a couple 6-packs of gasoline.