First….pray for the poor people in the Bahamas. They’re going to need it. If we didn’t have Tuck to worry about, we’d be figuring out a way to get over there and help.
When we left Florida back in January 2016, we had already been through a bunch of hurricanes….specifically Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jean. Poor Punta Gorda took a direct hit from Charley in August 2004. It took us about two years to rebuild our house, replace our cars, replant our yard and repair our sailboat. None of it was ever really the same, especially our sailboat. We huddled in our bedroom closet during Charley with a mattress over our head and holding onto our sweet lab (Bo), while our house disintegrated around us. So, when our neighbors here in Fernandina Beach discuss hurricanes, we tell them that “we’ve been there and done that”, we really, really mean it. They don’t really get it, so we drop the subject and move on.
The reason I bring this up is because we’ve watched this town for the last week basically do nothing while watching the approach of Hurricane Dorian…which by the way, has ended up being one of the strongest hurricanes ever to hit the East coast of Florida. No frantic lines at the gas stations. No boarding up of homes. No television crews at Home Depot watching people hoarding plywood, batteries, generators, etc. Nothing. Nada. Why, you might ask? We did too. It turns out that the town hasn’t been struck by a hurricane since the 1890’s, so the collective spirit here is….it will never happen here….because, well….it never has. To say that’s a naive outlook is a massive understatement. They said the same in Punta Gorda when we asked the realtor before we bought our home. And we know how that turned out.
But, it turns out that this time, they were right and the storm is passing by us as I write this. It turned North just as it passed by the town of Stewart and has ridden up the coastline about 50 miles out to sea. Sadly, it now looks as if it’s headed straight for Charleston. If you’ve been watching the news at all, you’ve seen that the town and people of Charleston get it and they’re preparing for the worst. I hope it misses them. We were just there last month and it’s truly a beautiful city. Stay tuned.
You might be thinking…”Boy, I’ll bet Wayne and Claudia are sorry they moved back and are now getting ready to leave Florida…again”. Nope, we’re not. If there’s one thing we’ve learned during our recent travels, it’s that you can’t outrun the weather. If hurricanes don’t get you, fires will. If fires don’t get you, rains and mudslides will. If those don’t get you, floods will. If those don’t get you, tornadoes will, or massive snow storms. It’s a long list. When we watch the evening news about the polar ice caps melting, the glaciers retreating, volcanoes erupting in once dormant cones, the Brazilian rain forest burning, famines in Africa, record heat in Europe, sea level rise around the world, well….it makes a pretty good case for not trying to outrun the weather. Because basically, you can’t. You just have to live and enjoy your life each and every day. So, for the time being at least, we’re staying put until we resume our travels. And resume them we will.
Cheers!
Wayne, Claudia and Tuck