Sunday October 13th 2024

On Saturday I drove to the storage facility to see if it kept my motorhome safe from the perils of hurricane Milton. All was well. It looked just like I left it. While I was there I unloaded more stuff to make my life easier at my new home base. I am trying to only remove things that I will not need in the RV on my next adventure or things that are easily returned. Still I find odd little things I need to buy. Today I discovered that nail clippers were not among the things I didn’t have a duplicate at the base camp. One more thing to add to my shopping list.

The area is gradually getting back to normal. Buying gas on Saturday took waiting in a long line and suffering with very slow pumps after you found a station that was open. Today there were more open stations and shorter lines. The improvement is reported to be because the power is back on at the port of Tampa and delivery trucks can be filled for transport.

There were only a few tree limbs down in the park. In the broader neighborhood piles of debris are growing by the side of the road. White vinyl fences seem to be particularly popular targets for the hurricane winds. Large sections are missing from many of the fences I drove by. This area didn’t get the worst of the storm. I was closer to the west coast today and the damage is much greater. Large trees are down, billboards and road signs are mangled and there is evidence of buildings without roofs. The fact that there wasn’t more loss of life was lucky.