Daryl's Journal

What Happened Today? Monday 08/16/2004 San Diego, CA Day 3299

Up around 8:00 AM. I made a pot of coffee.

I went for a walk. The whole area was socked in with fog.

We played some slots. I played on a Black & White and won $20. I played on a Rich Girls machine and won $80.

We checked out, played slots for another 30 minutes and then drove to the airport. Returned the car to Avis.

Checked into Continental.

We split a breakfast pizza from California Pizza.

Flight left at 12:30 PM and arrived at 5:40 PM in Houston. We had some trouble with Kay’s birthday basket but managed to get it under my seat. We left Houston at 6:56 PM and arrived in Tampa at 10:10 PM.

We took a taxi home.

As of Sunday morning, about 5000 Florida residents were living in shelters with another 600 living in special needs shelters.

What Happened Today? Friday 08/13/2004 Clearwater, FL Day 3296

Kay’s birthday! 56 today. I gave her a card with a picture of a wood handled fry pan that I ordered off the Internet.

We woke up around 5:00 AM to check on Hurricane Charley. Could be a Category 3 with winds up to 110 miles per hour.

Kay called Yvonne. Yvonne and Jen had taped all the windows and tried to secure the house.

I called Dad. No answer. He’s probably with Hazel and evacuated.

We walked into the casino for breakfast. We ordered some special Indian bread.

We played the slots for a while. I won $30 and Kay won $90. Not bad.

Back to the room.

While watching Hurricane Charley, it looked like it was heading directly for Tampa Bay with maximum 145 MPH winds. A category 4 hurricane.

Finally got through to Dad. He’s staying to weather the storm.

Then…. The update was that the storm was veering to the east and definitely heading for the Punta Gorda area north of Fort Myers. The Tampa area, including us, are very, very lucky.

We drank 2 cans of Coors Light each, outside our room.

Then we drove down Route 67, west on Route 8, north on 15 then west on 52 to Genesee Road where Mom was baby-sitting Natalie and Ryan.

Kay got a penguin gift from mom and a huge basket of assorted goodies (coffee, cookies, chocolate, etc.) from Keith and Lee-Ann.

We watched more of the storm as it made landfall around 4:00 PM, devastating Port Charlotte and North Fort Myers. Again, we felt tremendous relief.

Yvonne, Jen and Bonnie were holding down the fort but a direct hit from a category 4 Hurricane would have been a nightmare.

We all went to Trophy’s for dinner. No Phil, who was sick. All= Mom, Kay, Keith, Lee-Ann, Natalie, Ryan and Adam. After dinner we walked over to the bookstore where mom picked up Prudy Taylor Board’s new book.

We dropped Mom at home, drove back to Barona, watched a storm update, and won nothing playing slots for an hour. In bed around 12:30 PM.