Sunday October 6th 2024

Last week all the focus was on the destruction all the Florida Gulf coast and the inland areas of the southeast caused by hurricane Helene. The TV weather talkers were downplaying a potential tropical system that was approaching from the west for today and Monday. They were right about that one, but on Friday they had a new concern. The forecast suddenly included a hurricane the middle of this week. At first it was only going to be a “little” one, but tonight it is a major hurricane headed for the Tampa Bay area. As it moves across Florida, I’m in the bullseye. This storm really has me concerned.

Getting accurate local information about this storm is difficult. The TV stations available on the RV park cable are all based out of Tampa. A few of the Orlando based stations are available over the air in good atmospheric conditions, but they do not consider this county part of their broadcast area. The Tampa based stations are focused on the beaches and storm surge as they should be. It is the biggest thereat to the majority of their viewers. The inland areas rarely get mentioned by the Tampa stations with respect to this hurricane. The Orlando TV stations are available on the internet and tend to give me more useful, if not specifically target to my area, advice.

I spent most of the day Friday and Saturday along with all day today working on a “survival” plan. That’s a little dramatic, but lets just say I had to figure out what to do. Staying in my RV home isn’t a very good idea. It rocks pretty good in simple thunderstorms. I don’t want to think about the 140mph plus winds gusts in the hurricane eye wall. As far as my new base camp goes, everyone says to evacuate manufactured homes during these events, so I will. Maybe with more experience on how my new base camp behaves in the wind I’d stay. Just, not this time.

My plan is to leave my RV home at a storage facility near my base camp. I’m still trying to lock a location in. This is consistent with my overall plan to relocate to my base camp, but it is moving a little faster than I planned. If I don’t succeed in getting a storage location before the storm, I will leave the RV here at the campground unoccupied.

On Tuesday afternoon I will be driving north along the Atlantic Coast. I have a reservation at a motel just over the line in Georgia for two nights. An escape route up the Interstate 75 corridor would have been better, but that area is still in the middle of hurricane Helene cleanup.

Getting excess stuff and perishable food out of my RV home has been my focus. Once I get it into storage, I don’t think I’ll be able to extend the slide rooms. Getting to stuff when the RV is buttoned up is difficult. My guess is it will be a couple of weeks before the RV moves again once it gets to storage.