Trying To Reason With Hurricane Season
part 4 of the Rick travel series
I was talking to a member and she suggested that I might be nice to write some travel stories. I certainly have a more than a few, so over the next few days I will tell the stories, as I remember them. I bet other onlookers have different impressions, but of course mine are correct. LOL
It was once said that nothing happened in Orlando that Walt Disney did not approve of. Obviously Mr. Disney is no longer with us and things are happening these days that he would not have liked. Still if Mr. Disney were alive he would not have approved of my September adventure in Orlando.
I checked into a Marriot with 15 or people. I, unfortunately was the ‘money man’, that means I had to be the adult. Well when you are the adult, the first thing you do is get your own room. Yes the children have to bunk together, but the adult gets his own room. The second thing to remember is that the adult gets the points on his Marriott account, still saying that being the adult is not an easy job. One has to remain calm, make deacons about meals, plan travel and organize each day. Oh and being the adult means paying for all the meals and making sure you do not pay for the purchase of alcohol. Purchasing alcohol on the public tab is forbidden by state law and if such a purchase slips thru you, the adult, has to pay for it.
At any rate I had my little children (ages 24 to 71) all tucked in for the night and I went to my room and collapsed. The flight down was pretty good, but the change in Atlanta was tough. I nearly lost the 71 year old as she was looking at magazines for senior living and had to drag the young group out of airport bar so we did not miss our flight. It was close.
Still I was safely in my room and sound asleep when a loud noise woke me. I thought first why is that telephone so loud? It was not the telephone. In my haze I figured out it was the fire alarm. So I knew where my shoes were, but what about my diabetic supplies. If the hotel is burning down, do I want to be without insulin, syringes, swabs, and a glucose meter? The siren got more annoying as I searched my room for diabetic debris. I finally just picked up my airline carry on and out I went. True to form I forgot my pants. So I turned around, put some pants on and ran down the stairs. I was the last one of my party out. Not knowing where my flock might have assembled and not having my glasses, circled the hotel crying out “Helen” she was our oldest member and I knew she would find the posse’ and indeed she had. When I joined them I looked like a refugee. I was carrying my case, I was in a T-shirt, I had on dress pants and the entire posse’ had a good laugh, so much for being the adult.
Day two arrived with an ominous storm warning. It appeared a Level 1 hurricane would arrive on land the next morning. It was projected it might increase in strength or not. We went on to our training and of course the usual grumbling, some loved it some hated it, and some like me really didn’t care so much. After all I was there to handle the finances, not be trained.
That evening after dinner we returned to the hotel and the storm was coming to Orlando. They boarded up some glass doors. We had to sign that the hotel told us to leave, I mean where we going? We were warned to stay away from the wood panels mostly in the activity room. And we were advised that sleeping the lobby was an option. Being the adult I went to my room as did most of my party. At about 9 PM the storm hit. Rain was popping against the glass so hard I thought it might come thru the window. The wind was blowing hard enough one could see the light poles waving.
Sure enough around midnight the fire alarm went off and someone announced that the hurricane was now downgraded to a tropical storm. At 2 AM the fire alarm went off to inform us that some vehicles were damaged but not to leave the hotel since there was flying debris. At 4 AM something hit my sliding glass door and I thought it was going to crash thru. Fortunately it did not, but I went to the floor behind the bed for the rest of the night so if the glass broke I would be shielded. When the morning alarm went off I was found on the floor my computer case in hand, thinking of course I might have to leave quickly. About noon the storm passed and it got so hot. Our training session was delayed until noon and went until 7 PM. Afterward I hosted a dinner at Jimmy Bufett’s Margaritaville restaurant. I am fond of the song "boat drinks". So I had a boat diet coke. YEAH adults rule!! I guess?
This is the end of the series, unless I have other requests. Here are other stories to be told but only by request:
It’s rianin hard in San Antonio
The lights go out on Broadway
A night in Mercy in Baltimore
No go in the snow in Chicago
Bump goes the Hotel in New Orleans
Zorro and the race to the bottom in NYC
If you are interested in reading one of these let me know and I will write it up.
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Rick