EnigLdy - My Homepage

Home ~ safe, sound and finally rested. Florida Saga: We got home about 8:30 Tuesday night. We left Monday morning about 6:30 a.m. and got into Florida around 7 p.m. The bridge that is blown out on IH 10 affected us which I thought wouldn't. We had to exit into Pensacola and drive through bumper-to-bumper traffic for 2 hours. When we got into Alabama, we started seeing some of the damage - no billboards, huge trees blown over or snapped off. Being highway, we could only see tree damage. When we got into Pensacola, totally different story. Huge ass trees covering the road, power lines hanging down with the telephone poles leaning, snapped, etc. Loads of places still boarded up. No power anywhere. Anything that was running was doing so on generators. Very few lights working and those are on generators. Some places had the wires hanging where the lights used to hang. Luckily everyone was treating intersections as 4 way stops. DH said "look at our lights" and I laughed cuz the wires looked like streamers spun together with nothing hanging off them. When we got into the traffic headed back towards Milton, there were huge ass lines of people trying to get gas - I think to run the generators and fuel for cars to go get in line for water, ice and other lines. There are volunteers driving around handing out bottled water, ice and MREs which are those packaged meals that used to be called sea rations given out during the war. Weird shit. One of the bridges we had to cross to get into Milton, the road next to it is GONE. Gone! I couldn't believe it. The water, waves or something washed the entire road away. The water has to be boiled if you're going to drink it which means you better have a camp stove with fuel to run it. Can you imagine sitting at your house for 3-4 weeks - no hot water to bathe, no electricity, eating sea rations and standing in line every day for water, ice, gas or food? Gawd.

Anyway, got Mom with me. She was a trooper during the trip. She's been having back trouble since she tripped over a chair a few weeks ago. I guess it is something that will heal in time. A lot of the roads, especially in Louisiana, are extremely bumpy and throw you into the roof when you're driving - she ate a few pain pills for the trip over.

We finally found a hotel room at 3 in the morning ---- after driving from Florida, through Alabama and most of Mississippi. I failed to take into consideration all the people driving over there for the relief effort. Tons of people to help with the electricity hookups/repairs, delivering generators, insurance adjustors, etc....they have all the rooms taken even states away. Keep in mind - DH and I were on hour number 22 of no sleep plus having driven all that way. I would've paid anything to get a room. Luckily they had two rooms - we dropped dead and slept for 5 hours and then back up and on the road after getting some breakfast.

What a trip. My ears have been pounding since yesterday. I've never had an earache in my life but I've started getting drainage into my ears in the last year that makes it hard to hear and sounds like that boom-boom shit you hear in the car next to you. Very irritating.

Ain't he cute?

Knitting: I finished the 2nd Pumpkin Hat on the way down to Florida and did zero knitting on the way home. I would've done a little but I stuck my needles in the bag that DH put in the bed of the pickup. No big deal since I didn't think I could do it riding in the back seat - afraid of car sickness since I wouldn't be able to see all that good. I started the brim of the 3rd hat this a.m. - already have the pointy things made so onto the hat.

It was so nice to see GB last night. What a breath of fresh air. Mom enjoyed laughing with him.

Words to the Wise: Where there is no hope in the future, there is no power in the present. John Maxwell