well i FINALLY got to come home. ive been stuck in florida for 2 extra days than planned because of hurricane charley. for those that dont know, i was spending my first wedding anniversary with my wife in fort myers beach, fl until we were evacuated because of the storm. we stayed with her grandmother in cape coral and decided to weather the storm in her house. power went out just as the storm started. so we had no idea what was going on. my mom called me on my cell and said it was upgraded to a cat. 4 and it turned and was heading straight for us and to get the hell out. at this point i was kinda worried.
luckily, i guess it turned again and went towards punta gorda which is just north of where we were, leaving us to deal the wall of the uhrricanes eye and winds of about ONLY 90-100mph. it didnt seem bad as ai spent most of the time watching the storm through the front glass door (with my camera, of course). it didnt seem that bad until it was over and we walked around the neighborhood. then we saw huge trees blown over or snapped in half. pool screens smashed up, sheds mangled into piles of scrap metal and so on. most houses sustained some sort of damage, but lucky for us her grandmothers house wasnt missing a single shingle, amazingly enough.
we were out of power and had no phone for 2 days. our cell phones all died and we couldnt charge them. nothing was open so we couldnt buy anything. finally a grocery store opened and it was packed, not to mention the assholes had raised all of the prices in the store. they removed all of the sale prices and some of the proces seemed a bit ridiculous (ex. a 12 pack of water was about $8). everything was gone - ice, charcoal, boxed snacks, batteries; etc. it was miserable. gas station pumps were 15-20 cars deep because there were only a few stations open.
we finally decided to say '**** it' and leave at 4pm on sat. we had to drive through charlotte county and all i can say is that seeing the damage on tv is nothing compared to seeing it in person. concrete buildings demolished, lights posts snapped in half, roofs torn off; complete disaster. it was very sad to see what was left of the trailer parks and to imagine that people could have been inside. after being stuck in traffic through the area for about an hour, it finally started moving. we finally got through all of that and we hoped that the rest of the tip would be easy going but of course, it wasnt.
we didnt get out of florida and my wife ran over a cat that we believe ran out from a car that was parked on the opposite side of the highway. being the animal lover that she is, she instantly freaked out and i urged her to pull over. she exits on the first ramp that we see which turns out to be the exit for I-10. so now we are travelling in the wrong direction for about 15 minutes before we could turn around.
the rest of the trip was horrible because of the amount of trafficand all of the construction through georgia. then we get to IL, and it starts getting dark. my wife turns her lights on and they didnt work. so now we have to drive home from kankakee with our brights on, blinding everyone else. both bulbs burned out at the same damn time (they were sylvania silverstars).finally we are home, and i couldnt be happier to be here. despite the hurricane and subsequent chaos, the vacation was a lot of fun. i just need another vacation to rest from this one.
luckily, i guess it turned again and went towards punta gorda which is just north of where we were, leaving us to deal the wall of the uhrricanes eye and winds of about ONLY 90-100mph. it didnt seem bad as ai spent most of the time watching the storm through the front glass door (with my camera, of course). it didnt seem that bad until it was over and we walked around the neighborhood. then we saw huge trees blown over or snapped in half. pool screens smashed up, sheds mangled into piles of scrap metal and so on. most houses sustained some sort of damage, but lucky for us her grandmothers house wasnt missing a single shingle, amazingly enough.
we were out of power and had no phone for 2 days. our cell phones all died and we couldnt charge them. nothing was open so we couldnt buy anything. finally a grocery store opened and it was packed, not to mention the assholes had raised all of the prices in the store. they removed all of the sale prices and some of the proces seemed a bit ridiculous (ex. a 12 pack of water was about $8). everything was gone - ice, charcoal, boxed snacks, batteries; etc. it was miserable. gas station pumps were 15-20 cars deep because there were only a few stations open.
we finally decided to say '**** it' and leave at 4pm on sat. we had to drive through charlotte county and all i can say is that seeing the damage on tv is nothing compared to seeing it in person. concrete buildings demolished, lights posts snapped in half, roofs torn off; complete disaster. it was very sad to see what was left of the trailer parks and to imagine that people could have been inside. after being stuck in traffic through the area for about an hour, it finally started moving. we finally got through all of that and we hoped that the rest of the tip would be easy going but of course, it wasnt.
we didnt get out of florida and my wife ran over a cat that we believe ran out from a car that was parked on the opposite side of the highway. being the animal lover that she is, she instantly freaked out and i urged her to pull over. she exits on the first ramp that we see which turns out to be the exit for I-10. so now we are travelling in the wrong direction for about 15 minutes before we could turn around.
the rest of the trip was horrible because of the amount of trafficand all of the construction through georgia. then we get to IL, and it starts getting dark. my wife turns her lights on and they didnt work. so now we have to drive home from kankakee with our brights on, blinding everyone else. both bulbs burned out at the same damn time (they were sylvania silverstars).finally we are home, and i couldnt be happier to be here. despite the hurricane and subsequent chaos, the vacation was a lot of fun. i just need another vacation to rest from this one.
