Well, I spent 4 days working on the house, and (then) left-home on Tuesday, 5th and drove (8 1/2 hours (for a trip that should probably have taken about 5 hours)) to Madison, Florida (about an hour east of Tallahassee)... - Then on the morning of Friday 8th, it appeared as though Ms. Irma was going to visit Madison, so I left to go to Jacksonville.
In Jacksonville, I stayed-with my cousin and her hubby at their house , and then 'worked' a bit at her 'boat company / marina / boat-yard' -for the better-part of several days while the water-came-up and the boats needed re-tying every 3-6 hours... Then the water continued to 'come-up' eventually 'flooding' certain parts of Jacksonville by 4-6 feet... (Later, while looking at the 'tides & currents' sub-section of NOAA's web-site, I found out that at Mayport (where the St. Johns River meets the Atlantic) that the tide was about 8 feet above normal. Luckily I had awoken in the wee hours of the morning, (which morning I don't remember?!), at some point, and moved my mini-van so it wouldn't get 'flooded' - MANY cars DID GET FLOODED!
Then I left Jacksonville, late on Monday the 11th, and drove back (down I-95 with NOT MANY 'refugees') to Stuart, where our house was 'just fine'. ( I think I beat the 'rush' to re-populate south Florida. The normal hurricane-debris is still scattered about, - which will require several weeks to deal-with and with 'sporadic' storm-debris pick-up (by Martin County contractors) we'll see how long it takes...
Bottom-line - LOTs of driving all over the state of Florida - and Believe it or NOT, Ms. May has missed ALL THE EXCITEMENT - by being away in / around Vancouver... - Last year she was in around Wabonsee, (Illinois) - for a couple of weeks so she missed all the fun associated with Hurricane Matthew... and she didn't get introduced to Ms. Irma
- I feel kind of embarassed, as a Floridian - that I haven't made sure my huggly-bunch has been PROPERLY INTRODUCED to the most recent High-Profile visitors to the state!
NEXT TIME (there are two more storms looking like they might come our way - So - we STILL HAVE A CHANCE for Ms. May to witness the power and the glory of a couple of tropical storms?!
I get to pick-her-up at the Airport at Palm Beach tomorrow evening - perhaps then we'll have a chance to endure the excitment TOGETHER!!!
