HURRICANES AND EARTHQUAKES
It’s not everyday I take a 4,000 mile drive, experience an earthquake and a hurricane within four days.
On my drive up the east coast, a drive I had done scores of times before but not recently, I wanted to stop and visit friends and family whom I have not seen in a while. Flying does that. I have done the Boston to Miami and Venice (Florida’s west coast) with my parents and sisters, alone, and then again with my family. My father had a love affair with Florida ever since as a fraternity initiation he and other brothers had to hitch-hike from Up State New York to Miami. He left 14 feet of snow and in 3 days was in paradise. Each year he’d pack up the family and head to Florida. I-95 was only a dream then and South Of The Border was a road side stand selling trinkets and soda on US Route 1.
The ostensive objective of my journey was the wedding of my Godchild in New Hampshire. Stops included, Washington D.C., West Virginia, Maryland, New York, Cape Cod, Boston, Maine, and New Hampshire; an ambitious itinerary.
The Washington earthquake hit while I was driving in New Jersey. Having lived in the Andes I was use to earthquakes or tremors. However, unless you are in a catastrophic quake, you do not feel anything driving in a car and I felt nothing though the apartment I was to stay at in Boston evacuated due to sway.
Hurricane Irene was a different story. While in Virginia the spaghetti models all showed Irene was to hit Palm Beach. If that was the case I’d have to return. After WV and DC I parked the car on the beltway and I-95 and on my new Android checked the weather. The storm was veering to the east. So I headed north.
It was a hard ride but I met most of my objectives and as a bonus was given 2 bottles of 30 year old Rioja wine by an old college friend who collects wine. I was also given a pre-Civil War buffalo rifle, a couple of 1800 cutlasses and my trust .308 Bushmaster.
The wine is resting in the wine cellar to be drink when it recovers from the ride (say one month). The buffalo rifle waits to be restored along with the cutlass and .308 is locked away.
WHile a long ride I wrote well and though I arrived home exhausted I have high hopes for the future and new writing ideas.
Writing does that.
