driving thru hell to avoid Floyd

[Howard4567@aol.com]

I was going to post this sooner, but my phone has been out for three days.  
Aftermath of Floyd, I'm sure.

I know all of you are familiar with the joys of trailering horses, and some 
of you might actually enjoy the experience.   I must say I'm not a happy 
trailering person, but I usually turn up the music and try to make the most 
of it.

But leaving on Tuesday morning, with my teenager driving his truck, my wife 
driving her car, and me and my diesel and horse trailer loaded with every 
kind of imaginable tack and two horses, left me feeling a little 
apprehensive.  As we make the turn to head west (seemed like the best 
direction to go in) we got one mile and stopped.  Three hours later we had 
completed a total of twenty miles.  And I'm not exagerating here.  Just 
unbelievable.

Why they didn't make the road I was on one way, using the other lane (nobody 
else was using it) is beyond me.  Another road that intersected the one I was 
on should have also been one way(northbound).  This caused my three hour 
ordeal, and as we crawled along the highway with my horses rocking the 
trailer cause they weren't used to trailering at 3 MPH, I had time to reflect 
on those anger management classes my exwife had me attend when I was younger. 
 

I found myself almost wishing I was back in Korea.  The Koreans would not 
have put up with this idiotic traveling, they would have made three lanes out 
of this road, all one way, realizing that those in charge of the situation 
did not have a clue as to what was going on.  I was watching my teenage son, 
driving his beloved red pick-up behind me, just going crazy.  He has 
attention deficit disorder (ADD) and can't sit still long enough to watch a 
half hour TV show.  The beginning of our trip was definitely pushing his ADD 
to the limits.

My ten year old daughter, Jennifer, was traveling with me in the truck (she 
loves the diesel) and helped me keep control of what was left of my senses.  
One thing I'll remember is this lady in front of us.  She kept jumping out of 
her car, running to the other side of the car, opening up both doors on that 
side (it was a 4 door car), seeing that traffic was moving, shut the doors, 
ran back to the drivers side and moved up with traffic.  She did this 3 or 4 
times.  I had no idea what she was up to.  Finally, the traffic just stayed 
put for us to realize what she was doing here.  Jennifer told me, "Dad, I 
think she's going potty."  Jennifer was right, cause when we started moving 
again, we both saw the yellow puddle on the road as we drove by.  

I was listening on the radio to someone interviewing an authority figure from 
NASA asking him if we were still going to have a Shuttle Program after Floyd 
hit the Space Coast.  He repsonded that the shuttle facilities were built to 
handle 110 MPH winds.  Floyd was still doing 155 and heading right towards 
them.  As I watched the trees shake from the wind gusts sitting in this 
traffic, I started thinking we Americans are way too law abiding sometimes.  
I wanted to start a trend and open up that other lane that was just sitting 
there empty, but elected not to pretend I was Korean.

Well, it turns out we were in the middle of the largest evacuation in Floida, 
if not American history.  Two and a half million people on the roadways 
throughout the state.  If I had 4 horses with me instead of just two, I would 
have considered saddling them up and leaving the cars along the side of the 
road.  We would have made much better time and had more fun.  

We finally made it near Tallahassee.  I wanted to tell the Governer what I 
thought of his evacuation but he wasn't home.  So I unloaded my horses in his 
front yard, set up a portable corral and pitched a tent.  That knowledge 
gained from endurance riding and camping has come in handy.  

When we found out that Floyd had made a miraculous turn to the north, we just 
could not believe our luck.  We had really thought the house would be blown 
away.  Next time, I just might not leave quickly, cause it's obvious no one 
really knows how these things are going to turn out.  Except South and North 
Carolina.  I think they always know they're gonna get hit if it misses 
Florida.  

We got home the next day, saw lots of trees down, but when we got to the 
house, everything was there.  Barn and all.  So damn lucky.  Whew.  Looks 
like I'll make that next Georgia ride (Liberty TWO) after all.  It will be a 
piece of cake (the trailering) after Floyd.  YEEEEE HAWWWWWW, back in the 
saddle again.

cya,
Howard


PS.  THANKS TO JACKIE BAKER FOR watching my least loved horse for me.  
Couldn't fit him in, cause my Saddlebred takes up two spots in my three horse 
trailer.  Jackie and her husband, Steve, are a couple of saints and I can't 
thank them enough.  Beer's on me in GA you two.


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