After two days of driving, I made it to a hotel in Atlanta.
.
I brought along all my possessions that could not be replaced:
My wife says this hotel room is just like home, the trains are everywhere!
This is the last picture I took of my house when I left on Saturday morning:
I hope it looks similar after I make it back.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Best of luck to you Kevin.
I wish you good luck Kevin. It looks like the entire gulf coast of Florida is getting walloped by Irma. My son lives inland in Clermont west of Orlando. They expect a lot of rain and heavy winds but much less that the southwest coast. Our thoughts are with all in Irma's path.
Joe
Wishing the best for you Kevin
Hello Kevin,
I hope you and your family are together and safe.
Hope this helps.
"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"
Hope all remains well for you Kevin. My daughter is in Winter Haven, and my mother who lives in Okeechobee is up with my daughter right now.
Keep safe,
Sheldon
Best wishes to you Kevin. My parents live in Estero and my sister and her family live in Fort Myers. Last I heard from my sister (around 6:30 PM) everything was OK, except for her street and yard being full of water. Mom and Dad are in a hotel in Bonita Springs and so far so good with them as well, except for no electric power.
PS: I see you have your priorities right as to what to save!
I've been watching the weather services and decided to take a quick peak here and found this thread.
Glad the OP got out. I'm going through it right now at this moment at 9:52pm. Getting the 60+ mph winds but the hurricane force winds are about 2 hours away.
Thankfully it's losing strength but still with Cat-1 winds so I won't be getting much sleep tonight. I'll be glad once this thing is gone.
"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"
Kevin,The best of luck to you.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Got friends and relatives in Fort Myers, Port Charlotte, Sarasota, and Tampa.
Most have hunkered down in local shelthers or headed north deep into Georgia.
Good luck and stay safe.
Rich
Alton Junction
Thanks to everyone for the kind words.
The evacuation was exceptionally easy. I called Hilton Diamond Consierge, and they booked me a room in the Waycross, GA Hampton Inn for Saturday night. They were also able to get me a room in the Atlanta Airport North Hilton Garden Inn for "as long as I need it".
National got me a nice big car to rent, so I did not need to take the pickup or Mustang. Not much weatherproof room in those. I loaded up what we were going to take with us Friday night.
The drive up was easy. I left at 6:00 AM and made it to Waycross, GA in 5 hours. Cruise was on 70 MPH almost the whole way. There was very little traffic. The hotel I was in was booked solid, but they made arrangements for stranded evacuees by converting the conference room into bunk houses. That was great. Church groups were handing out free food to displaced Floridians.
The trip to Atlanta was uneventful also. Very light traffic. Almost every car on the road had Florida plates.
The storm is following me. It is supposed to hit Atlanta tonight as a tropical storm. That will be OK.
Still waiting on word about my house, but all my neighbors on facebook report little to no damage. All my extended family and employees that stayed behind are accounted for and OK.
This has not been too bad at all. Charley, Wilma, and Katrina were all much worse than this.
Kevin,
Glad to hear you are safe.
Hopefully, not too much damage to your house.
Paul
I have a brother that lives in St. Pete. He bugged out on Saturday morning and stayed with friends in Lake City. He says that they have lost power but are high and dry. They have a generator and are doing fine.
Firelock76 I see you have your priorities right as to what to save!
Yes, I chose the right stuff to bring. Not what was most expensive, but what would be most difficult to replace. Those freight cars are all individually painted and lettered with decals for other people's custom roadnames. I have traded with other private roadname modelers for years to get all those decals. I doubt I could ever get a collection like that again, not to mention how hard it is to find quality undecorated freight cars now.
SeeYou190 I doubt I could ever get a collection like that again
I dont disagree with that at all.
SeeYou190not to mention how hard it is to find quality undecorated freight cars now
Westerfield models, Accurail, and Funero and Camerlingo all make quality kits.
Accurail makes painted undecs and painted with data only.
Westerfield and F&C come less couplers and wheels (possibly also trucks).
Also Speedwitch Media (kits)
I dont work for any of these companies.
Thoughts and prayers to everyone having to scramble from this terrible storm. Good on you for saving the trains. I just can't imagine what millions had to experience.
Kevin, as said above...glad you managed to get out, and you took the most important stuff. I hope you are able to return home soon.
This has made me realize something....I'd need to take all my equipment with me- All custom lettering and painting.
(My Model Railroad, My Rules)
These are the opinions of an under 35 , from the east end of, and modeling, the same section of the Wheeling and Lake Erie railway. As well as a freelanced road (Austinville and Dynamite City railroad).