Hurricane Service Call

[Foy_Mirna]

We picked up our Oliver in June and planned a service call for Monday, September 10th to address some small issues (always a pleasure to see Jason and Richie.)  Six days before that, it was looking very questionable if we would be traveling at all. Glued to the weather channel, watching a category 5 hurricane marching right up to our front door. Growing up in Florida in the '60s we had both been through some of the worst – Hurricanes Betsy and Andrew come to mind of the same magnitude.  Boarding the house up and bring in everything that was not nailed down took two days. Not having a safe place to park our Oliver (Roamy) we hooked up with a plan to drive 5 hours north and stay a night in a state park on the Florida/Georgia border. From there we would head north to Hohenwald for our service call, standing out of harm's way.

 

God laughs when people plan. Gas was already like hens teeth in Florida on Thursday and I decided to take 3 five gallon gas cans that I was lucky to get filled, as a back up. Thursday night and into Friday morning was anything but a 5 hour drive.  The Florida Turnpike rest stops turn the roads into stop and go traffic that stretch for miles, as people needing gas backed up in 10 mile lines, effectively closing a whole lane.  Fourteen hours later, with an hour to go to get to the state park, they called and said the park was closing and that we would not be able to spend the night.  Looking for other options proved futile and with our only option being our second plan stop, Point Mallard Decatur, AL, we drove on.

 

Rest areas, gas station, restaurants, hotels and any small island of comfort, looked like besieged kingdoms ready to fall. We drove on. Sometime not moving for 10 minutes, other times doing the speed limit.  The governor of Florida eliminated all tolls and opened the northbound emergency left lane for travel, this helped but is would soon come to a massive standstill at the Florida/Georgia board with the governor of Georgia not allowing the emergency left lane to be used. We had burned 40 gallons of gas to go 303 miles.  The 15 gallons I loaded in cans made the difference from being on the side of the road and reaching Tifton, GA where we found gas with only a 30 minute wait. We drove on. 26 hours past and we felt the miles willing us to stop but as the signs for Decatur came into view, it was like a second wind blew in to help us along.  We pulled into Point Mallard RV Park Friday night 11:30 pm.

 

Like so many people we would meet in the coming days, the camp hosts came out to greet us. They make sure there was nothing we wanted or needed. We parked under a canopy of trees and rested for two days.  As Monday’s sunrise came into view we pulled out like we had woken from some bad dream that only parts of it could be recalled. We headed to Hohenwald. Roamy was scheduled to get a reading light, backup camera, water tank upgrade and to fix our door which we rubbing the top jam. I cannot say enough about the team at Oliver.  We left better then we arrived and more importantly, knowing this company and people care about us.

 

Monday afternoon, with the hurricane marching up the west coast of Florida, we were getting calls from our friends and neighbors telling us we dodged a bullet and that our house was safe. They told us there was no power and no gas, it would be a week before either returned.  With our service call at Oliver completed by Wednesday, we decided to spend the next two weeks enjoying our Oliver and would travel as far north as Pawhuska, OK.  We stayed in some beautiful parks like Birch Cove State Park outside of Barnsdall, OK right on the lake and Roosevelt State Park in Mississippi’s Bienville National Forest. By the time we came home to Florida we have added 4,000 miles of memories.

 

The storm left us with a week of yard cleanup and as my wife and I turn out the light last night, we both asked “When do you want to go again?”

[Try2Relax]

Great write up, thanks.  Talk about lemonade out of lemons... thanks for adding another bullet point on the list of why to own one.

[J-Rhett]

Loved your true story!  That's the best kind of story!  How awesome you thought to take along 15 gals of extra gas.  I know you felt exhausted as I've made some long drives myself and after 16 hours of driving it's hard on the buns and everything else!  Glad you made it safe and your home was ok.

 

Rhett and Dory

 

 

[Foy_Mirna]

Thanks Randy! Love your - One Life Live It Enjoyably.

[Foy_Mirna]

Hey Rhett and Dory,

 

At the time it seemed very driveable, but in hindsight I have never been so exhausted.

 

Thanks you for the kind words and hope to meet you on the road.

[ShallowGal]

What a wonderful story of making the best of a bad situation & counting your blessings! As Irma's eye plowed over Lakeland & our 1920s bungalow rattled for four long candlelit hours, I was wishing we had our Oliver to escape with. The next hurricane season we will!