On October 9, 2024, Hurricane Milton was coming through, and I didn't want to leave my house. They were saying the floodwaters could even be worse than Helene, and I didn't believe it, but I could feel this pressure building up. I'm very grateful that my daughter's best friend from school, her parents had offered that I could stay in their house, which is up 20 feet higher than mine and just a 20 minute drive away. I was mainly concerned that I didn't want to get my house or my car flooded again. I wasn't really worried about the wind, since I'm in a concrete block house, but I hadn't prepared very well for this hurricane, so I was trying to wait until the last minute to leave.
A soaking walk with the dogs and a police car
I took a really long walk with the dogs that morning in the rain to get them some exercise, because I didn't know when they'd be able to have some quality time outside. I left my phone at home and just got soaked from head to toe, an hour long. A police car drove by and I was wondering if I was doing something wrong, because I did not follow the evacuation order here until that afternoon.
Now I'm talking to my mother. My mother was saying she wanted to go to Orlando, but the storm was starting to push some heavy winds and rain. The bridges were about to close, at which point I decided that I was going to go ahead and go to this friend's house, because then at least I wouldn't have to worry about my car flooding. It's close enough that I can easily come right back to my house tomorrow. They also have a generator.
Packing like I was leaving for the rest of my life
For some reason, I was packing like I was going to be there for the rest of my life. I took the sheets off my bed and took three trash bags full of sheets into my Toyota Corolla, as well as packing all the frozen food out of my refrigerator except the burritos, plus a whole bunch of fruit that I bought yesterday at Whole Foods that was on sale.
I felt the most self-centered fear and stress I'd felt in a little while as I made this uncomfortable transition. At the same time, I loaded the dog food into my mom's car, and she decided she was going to drive to Orlando even as it was about 2 or 3 p.m., when the weather was starting to come through and almost everybody was already in position. I made the mistake of watching the news on my phone, getting sucked into the fear, and now I'm in it. I actually put a tarp over the back porch door this time, which in Milton flooded, and put some concrete blocks to try and keep water out in case it floods.
The drive south
I got me and the dogs into my car finally at 2 p.m. and I made the drive south. The roads were almost empty and already starting to have some tree debris on the interstate on 275, but I arrived safely at about 2:30 at the house I'm staying at, at which point I calmed down and was grateful for the adventure.
I'm grateful for the chance to stay in a new place, grateful for the incredible generosity. The generosity was so much it felt a bit awkward, like, wow, these parents of my daughter's friend I barely know, I've never been to their house before, and they're just going to let me stay in it when they weren't even prepared for anybody to stay here because they evacuated. I changed the sheets on their bed to my sheets and unloaded everything I brought in my car, including the dogs, into their house, which took about 30 minutes. I started eating some of the food I brought, and I managed to ask somebody who paid $100 to have a call with me on jerrybanfield.com to have the call with me right then in the afternoon before the worst of the storm got here, which is amazing.
I even got an idea: somebody texted me on the phone number on my website that I should do a live stream during the hurricane. So I fired up my iPad, and I managed to go live for 11 minutes before the power went out, which made for a nice ending for the live stream.
Riding out the storm by candlelight
Then the real wind started. There were transformers blowing out all over the place, the power went out at about 7 p.m., and I was finding this fun, like it's fun to hear how loud the wind is blowing. I texted and talked on the phone a bunch, and I got my lights out so I could read the latest Seth Speaks book I'm reading by Jane Roberts and Robert Butts. I'm grateful for so much time to just sit down and read. I read close to 100 pages. It felt like such a luxury and a gift to have this time.
I tried to go to bed at 9:30 p.m., even during the worst of the storm, right under a window, and I couldn't sleep, so I got back up and read again, and talked on the phone a little bit more, and I finally went to bed about midnight. Thankfully their house didn't seem to be damaged, the worst of the storm had passed, and I'd really enjoyed all my time reading.
If you enjoy coming along for ordinary days like this one, you can watch my newest videos in my Life playlist. And if you want to know how everything looked when I came home, I wrote about the day after Hurricane Milton, when the trees were down and the power was out but the house was still standing.