Hi Fred

My wife, her sister and niece are all now scattered somewhere between
Orlando and Daytona Beach, wherever they could find room. Originally
enroute to Clearwater, as the weather changed, plans were altered.

To make matters worse, the Days Inn they had reserved rooms at for the
first night was battoned down and closed. The one they were sent to
was without electricty so they were closed too. They finally found a
flea bag rat infested motel to stay at the first night, after Days Inn
renigged on their agreements.

The last time I heard from them, they were going to try to make it
from Daytona up to St. Augustine or else try to drive back home
without ever meeting the obligations that took them to Florida in the
first place.

Despite the hurricane that swept through Florida, they never traveled
on one wet road the entire trip, dry the whole way, until they neared
Orlando and found still damp roads.

My cousin who lives near Clearwater, supposedly their first stop,
never saw hide nor hair of them at all and was more worried than I
was. My only concern was that I never heard from them due to the
lousy telephone services in Florida, including Cell Service which was
also out.

I lived about 3 miles from Tornado Alley, there is nothing we can do
to change the weather, but there are things that can be done so as not
to suffer the aftermath of a natural phenomenon to seriously.
Such as owning your own generators, stocked storm shelters, etc.

Tornado's cannot be predicted with any accuracy, but hurricane's come
with plenty of warning, they are EXPECTED, they are COMMONPLACE, yet
the majority of Floridians make no real preparations for same.

It is unfathomable that someone who makes their living by providing
lodging (eg Motel), build it to withstand 150 mph winds, yet fail to
install a simple generator so they can stay open when the electrical
service is out, which seems to be quite often in Florida.
It seems to me, installing a generator to provide electricity should
come ahead of installing a pool or weight room that nobody ever uses.

I just found out that the Days Inn will be closed for this entire week
due to lack of preparation for a storm! The gals found a Ramada right
on the beach with ocean view for only 59 bucks for all three, so they
will be staying all next week and fulfilling their obligations, maybe
even get in a little vacation time at the same time if they are lucky.

TTUL
Gary