Saturday September 24th 2022

Today’s weather was a repeat of Friday. It was a very nice day with low humidity, a nice breeze and a high temperature in the mid eighties. The sky was blue with an occasional white fluffy cloud.

My adventure for the day began at the gas station. I stopped to fill the tank in my SUV, but had a hard time getting the pump to work. It was very frustrating. Since the price per gallon was a few cents higher than another station I passed earlier in the day, I decided to head for the other station. At the next station I discovered that I forgot to put the cap back on my tank. This wouldn’t have been a problem if my cap was still tethered to the car, but the little plastic cord had broken some time ago. When I take the cap off I put it on the roof of my SUV. The cap was gone.

After I finished filling the tank, I drove the two miles back to the other station. There was a chance I could find the cap and I did. As I drove into the station I spotted my gas cap in the driveway to the station. There was just one small problem. One or more cars had managed to drive over the cap. It was a mass of shattered white and gray plastic and some mangled metal. It was time to buy a new cap.

The first auto parts store I found was closed for the day. I checked Walmart, but they don’t carry them. It was time to ask Google to find other auto parts stores. There were two near my campsite that were open. O’Rielly Auto Parts had what I needed. The new cap even has a new tether to keep me from a repeat of this tragedy.

The approaching tropical system is still a big concern. The track changed a little to the west today shutting off a few of my options. The entire state of Florida is now in the cone of uncertainty. The governor has expanded the state of emergency to all of the counties in the state. The storm is far enough away that the track is likely to change a few more times before it gets here. I decided that I probably won’t be able to avoid the storm, but I can minimize the impact by getting inland. I booked a campsite in Forsyth Georgia on Interstate 75 between Macon and Atlanta for Tuesday to Saturday. I ran to this location in 2016 to avoid hurricane Mathew. The good news is the sites are relatively sheltered by terrain and they are not in the trees. The bad news is Forsyth looks like it is right in the middle of the current storm path prediction, but after the storm weakens to a tropical storm. I’ll continue to monitor the forecast closely. An earlier departure from here is always possible and if a better destination develops that can change too.