August 2, 2003
I'LL END UP REGRETTING THIS
but I'm ready for a tit-ripper of a hurricane. Growing up in Savannah, and now living in Jax, I've usually missed the big blows. I can remember as a tot getting bruised by Dora and Cleo in 1964, but those weren't direct hits. David in '79 was the Tony Randall of storms, although my parents lost a magnificent oak to that one. The curvature of the East Coast around here generally spares the Jax to Beaufort area because the Gulf Stream is so far away, and 'canes take that right turn when they hit the warm water. I had to evacuate for Hugo in Savannah because I lived on a barrier island, and I'm glad it turned north at the last minute and hit Charleston. Those fuckers needed a wake up call. I did not evacuate from Jax for Floyd, and I'm glad I didn't. It was a clusterfuck. My neighbor evacuated, and returned 9 hours later. He'd made it three miles up the road. So now I have precut plyboard for the windows, an assload of jugged water and Spaghetti-O's, and the ridiculous desire to see Mama nature at her baddest.
Bring it on.
Growing up in Jax and then living in Tallahassee after high school, I never experienced a "real" storm. Over in Tallahassee we had a few nice tropical storms come through. I must be somewhat deranged... I get terribly excited over those storms. I become a weather channel addict and I can't sleep. In college, (Tallahassee) we all stood outside and leaned against the wind. Ahhh. Those were the days.
Now I get snow and ice. Fuck.
Posted by: GooberBug (Danielle) at August 2, 2003 10:45 PMWoah. Do tell us how you are. I survived Hugo from Shaw AFB, SC -- I swear to gott that mofo hit the coast and took a left turn for my house (which, because we were poor and a lowly A1C family, was a "modular home"). NOT a fun night.
Be safe and for the love of all that is holy, save your computer! You never know when Paige might show up.
Posted by: margi at August 3, 2003 2:39 AMKim, I know just how you feel. Hate property damage and loss of life and all, but nothing shakes the shit loose like a good hurricane. I have a bad-weather fetish, anyway.
Throw a hurricane party and invite bloggers. We're stupid enough to come, and then you'll have a cleanup crew on hand for the yard damage afterwards.
Posted by: kelley at August 3, 2003 9:49 AMYou people must be bored silly to crave devastation as a form of entertainment. It is this attitude that led to Caligula and the fall of the Roman Empire.
I remember a bunch of people just like you guys, on the news in 1970 (1971?). They were interviewed and said they were going to "ride out" this pissant Hurricane Camille ....
Most of them didn't.
God gave you the interstate system to get away from this stuff, but apparently not the common sense to use it.
It is certainly true that we have an interstate system. It would be a great way to get away from inclement weather.
Just try to get to it from the Destin, Fort Walton Beach area (Okaloosa, Walton Counties in Florida). Hard enough to do during normal weather, never mind an evacuation.
I'm thinking I'd be much safer sitting it out at home rather than stuck in an epic traffic jam trying to get to the interstate.
Posted by: JC South at August 3, 2003 12:15 PMWell, Jack, there's a lot of difference between riding out a Category 1 (what I'm talking about) and riding out a Category 5 (what those dumbfucks in Mississippi did). That's like the difference in sticking your toungue on a 9-volt battery and sticking a butter knife in your dryer socket. Besides, I think I'd be safer boarded up in my house than stranded in beep and creep on I-10. If the storm didn't get you you'd likely get ventilated by the road-rage crossfire. Plus we don't have those fancy railroad crossing arms in our centerlanes like you do on I-16. What the fuck are those all about?! They look like an autobahn identity check in 1938 Bavaria (Ze papers? You! Juden! Center lane! Schnell!)
Posted by: Kim at August 4, 2003 1:05 PMWhen I lived in New Orleans, I had always hoped for a hurricane. Only one came close. I didn't own any property there, so the thought of destruction by mother nature sounded exciting.
Posted by: sugarmama at August 4, 2003 3:06 PM