Back at the Shack

Arrived back home yesterday at 1600 and all is well.

Some tree damage,

Some siding gone

A few roof shingles missing

And a boatload of debris to pick up but other than that we were very lucky.

On the way back we saw alot of minor to moderate damage.

Power lines down.   

This was over still 70 miles still from the coast.

We wondered how bad the coast was going to be since that is where the eye crossed onto land. 

As we got deeper into the storm area we saw more and more damage:

Trees on Power lines

Mc Donalds has changed their name to CDons Drivethru

Further down the road a welcome sight:

The Calvary has Arrived!

This was a line of about 50 Trucks!

As we got deeper into the area without power, we would find an isolated spot here or there with power.

Here cars are lined up at the first open gas station that we saw for 40 miles.

Getting home we broke out the Generator and powered up the house.

Extension cords were everywhere but at least we could watch cartoons on Satellite.

This morning dawned clear, warm and humid with a heavy dew covering everything.

More than anything I noticed the strong smell of pine in the moist air.

All the broken branches and trees no doubt creating the aroma.

Mixed with the smell of the ocean it was quite nice.

This tree is going to be a challenge

Overall - minor damage

And best of all....

THE POWER CAME BACK ON LAST NIGHT!!!

Yup...  you're right...   It's all good!

If you can beat em....

Go RV'ing

Irene does not want to go away without a fight.  Its now 1640hrs and the winds are still 35 - 45mph with higher gusts and the forecast calls for up to 65mph till midnight.

By the time this thing is done it will be 36hrs or so with Tropical Storm force or greater.  I imagine the gang in Beaufort is saying enough already.

I also received a picture a while ago of a tree on our property that is coming down.  It is actually leaning at a 45 degree angle on some other trees.  Unless it blows down tonight I will have falling that to contend with when I get home.  If it does come down however - I think it might block the driveway!  Looks like I need to invest in a chain saw again.

Meanwhile out here in Blue Ridge Central, it was a beautiful day in Paradise.   After hours of watching CNN and the Weather Channel - we started to get "Trailer Fever" so we decided to get out and do some exploring.  We took a ride up a piece of the Blue Ridge Parkway, and a leisurely drive to Boone, NC the home of Appalachian State University.

the drive along the Parkway is fairly scenic but today was kind of hazy as are many days here in the east.

Tomorrow the party is over and we head back to Beaufort to assess the situation and deal with whatever we have to deal with.

With over half a million people in NC without power and us living off of the beaten path - I'm planning on not having power for a good while (maybe a week) so we will be living off a generator in the camper.

It's all good...  the fridge and freezer are packed, we have plenty of LPG to power the fridge, and alot of Gin and ice....   Cocktails anyone???

That said - I promise to update you and let you know whats going on......

but perhaps not tomorrow.

Biding our time

Saturday morning...  The eye passed over Beaufort and now the storm is slowly moving away.

While we are not completely out of the woods it looks like we've dodged a big bullet.   Checking in with friends and neighbors shows that other than the power being out the damage has been slight.  No trees down, no flooding etc. Just a lot of branches and junk scattered about.

Here is a shot of the house taken during the passage of the eye...  (thanks Sarah)  all looks well.

There still could be some shingles missing after the rest of the storm moves thru, and perhaps some water damage, but I'm feeling pretty good right not that we will not have any of that nonsense.

ei' Lean is fine, a neighbor (thanks again Sarah) sent me pictures of her.

Meanwhile we are biding our time here in Western NC.

Tomorrow we will head back - power or not.

If we don't have power we will just fire up the generator and live in the 

"Motel Cougar"

I brought my yeti cooler with me and I'm wondering if I should go looking for a load of dry ice to bring back for everyone??

Shelter from the Storm

Well I'm living in a foreign country but I'm bound to cross the line

Beauty walks a razor's edge, someday I'll make it mine

If I could only turn back the clock to when God and her were born

"Come in" she said "I'll give you shelter from the storm"

           Bob Dylan

Tonight Kate, I, and the Doodles are refugees...

Hurricane Irene has decided to make a bee-line for Beaufort and we decided that discretion being the better part of valor - it was the smart thing to get out of of town and not risk our lives.

Our plan was to go about 160 miles west to Jordan Lake State Park near Raleigh but just before we arrived there they decided to close the park due to forecast high winds.

So plan B (I always have another rabbit up me sleeve) was put into effect and we headed another 140 miles west to W Kerr Scott Lake.  It's an ACOE (Army Corps of Engineers) Campground just outside of Wilkesboro, NC.   It's a bit further than we wanted to travel from home, but while the winds are now howling and the rain pouring in Beaufort - we are sitting in quiet and dry conditions.

Watching CNN on the Satellite and worrying about home.

Tonight the storm is supposed to continue to ramp up with 100+ mph sustained winds and the eye passing over Bft around daybreak so the folks there are in for a long long night.  Our thoughts are with all of you who decided to stay.  I hope you remain safe.

Hopefully we'll have a house and boat to come home to. 

Sunday we should know.

 If not - we have our mobile home, each other, and the Doodles.

That's what counts.

Tomorrow I'll get some pictures of our shelter from the storm here.  It's a really nice area.

For now here is the current NWS map.   The black line shows the path of the eye.

The whole picture is only about 12 miles across.

Our house is just above the airport - on the water near the 101 oval.

You can see that the Beaufort area is ground zero.

Ouch!