Hurricane Irma has been brewing in the Atlantic Ocean for quite a few days. It was a very nasty storm with winds up to 190 mph marking it as a category 4 and 5 and the worst storm on record. The path was uncertain but was going to involve Florida and most models had the storm going up through the center of the state and about 500 miles wide. Our family (son, Todd and my brother, Larry) were encouraging us to leave Florida for safety. So yesterday, 9/7, after getting blood work done and postponing a yard irrigation appointment we left the house. We had moved the outdoor furniture into the house and garage. Important papers were gathered together and the freezer was emptied out. The papers and freezer contents were taken along to the motorhome. A little past noon we were on the road heading northwest. We were aware that I-75 was congested and traffic was slowly moving so we avoided that road. Taking SR 44 to SR 19 was much less congested and moving. On SR 19 as we drove through the towns on this route we had congestion problems with traffic lights and schools letting out but otherwise moving. When we reached I-10 east of Tallahassee the traffic was moving without any problems. There were utility trucks and military trucks traveling east to Florida peninsula. We tried calling several campgrounds in the western panhandle of Florida that had no sites available but then a recommendation was made by a full campground for a neighboring campground in the Marianna area. A call to Dove's Rest RV Park reserved a site for us. After 280 miles and about 7 hours on the road we arrived at Dove's Rest and were assigned a site- 30 amp electric and water for $42.00, cash or check only, credit card machine not working so they said. The first site we had an electric problem so we had to move to another site. The workmen at the campground stated these sites had not been used for a long time. We feel the campground took advantage of the situation charging the price of $42.00. This in my opinion was a very poor business decision as this campground would have made a nice stop whenever travels westward occurs but we will not be stopping here again if at all possible.
Today (8th) we were on the road by 8:30 am continuing our travels on I-10 west after fueling up at a Pilot station. Traffic moved well without any issues other than road construction at a few places We arrived at Cajun RV Park in Biloxi, Mississippi about 1:30 pm after 258 miles. Yesterdays trip was only 22 miles longer but took 2 hours longer. As we were setting up in our campsite a neighbor lady came over and offered us some chili that she had made for our lunch. Very thoughtful and the chili was very good. We will stay here for the weekend, at least, until Irma moves through Florida. Irma will hit southern Florida Sunday morning and expected to move northerly probably hitting our area on Sunday/ Monday.
Cape Cod Canal
4 hours ago
