So onto that Hurricane. Well Irene really screwed up our plans. Still at least we were able to get out of NYC. We were picked up in front of our hotel at 7:45 and the driver was actually early. The trip out to JFK was quick about 35min as the city was really already shutting down. It was eerie to see a city like that so empty. The city that never sleeps and there wasn't a soul in midtown. Strange. We picked up our car a Ford Flex that we nicknamed the Fridge. It was hideous and huge. A 4.7l monster. The perfect car for an 18 hour road trip through a Hurricane. We eventually left the airport at 9:30 once all the paperwork was done and I had cancelled the first night of our accomodation in Florida. We decided to see how far we could get on the first day. About an hour into the trip the rain started and continued for the rest of the day either in a downpour so you could hardly see the road or a light drizzle but it never stopped. The I-95 is an awesome road. Its well signposted and maintained. After five hours we stopped for a Wendy's burger and to refuel the fridge. Ewan was so good. He played quietly and ate a huge bag of chips so he only started moaning for food about 4 hours into the trip. After lunch we headed out into the rain again. At about 4pm and in the south of the State of Virgina we found Irene. The wind was incredible and the rain like having a bucket tipped constantly on your head. We then found ourselves at a complete stop because of fallen trees. The state troopers would come tearing past everybody then stop and cut the tree into pieces before moving it off the road. In that weather. Anybody from SA reading this post will know why we found that so amazing. In SA the tree would probably still be there months later. We continued on for the next 4 hours stopping every few miles for another tree. It was crazy and we made very little progress. Ewan luckily had some of his burger left as Andrew didn't want to stop for supper. Just after 8 he was convinced to pull off and find somewhere to stay for the night. The town we stopped in had no power and the two hotels we stopped at didn't even bother being friendly. The manager just shooed us out and seemed to not care less about trying to find a room. So much for Southern hospitality. We continued driving and at ten had an argument in the car which left a bit of a bad note over the whole rest of our holiday. The guys wanted to drive through the night in that storm. We were moving about twenty miles in an hour but they wanted to keep going. I called them both selfish bastards and told Andrew that he obviously cared nothing about us as the weather reports where asking everybody to get off the roads as the weather got worse. But no they are so f&*&ing right. I ended up sitting in the back seat just staring out the window. Luckily Ewan was asleep by this point. I don't what changed in their minds but we did eventually stop at a small town called Rocky Mountain. The Quality Inn had power and a helpful manager. He had one room left but it was a smoking room. So at 11:30 at night with a beer from a small garage and a packet of crisps each for dinner we settled down to sleep in the stinky room.
We got up again at 4am and were on the road by 4:15am. We didn't even shower we just wanted to get going. There was already a small glimmer of light and the storm had passed. Ewan and Philip continued their sleep in the backseat. That day was a perfect drive. There wasn't even a leaf on the road and perfect sunshine. We stopped in South Carolina for breakfast at a Dennys. Great breakfast and Ewan had a blast climbing all over the booths and eating chocolate chip pancakes. At just after 2pm we finally pulled into Orlando airport to pick up our new car which was a lot smaller then the Fridge.
All in all the drive was a real test and I don't think we completely passed. The fun of travel:)
Next will be Orlando part une.
The Fridge
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