Irma Refugees

 So FaceBook (tm) brought up a memory from 6 years ago -- a photo of Wifey and our two dogs in front of the historic Langford Hotel in Downtown. We checked in after a LONG drive back from ATL as refugees from Hurricane Irma -- what an adventure.

Labor Day Sunday we hosted one of the two greatest parties we ever hosted -- D1 and Joey's wedding at the Scottish Rite Masonic Temple on the River. It was amazing -- a salsa band composed of pros who recorded with J Lo, Mark Anthony, etc... and dances led by the Zumba guy -- as a special favor to Joey, who worked for the company then.

But as the wedding wound down, we checked the National Hurricane Center's Cone of Death, and saw Irma was a-coming. Worse, unlike most storms, that come from the East, and let you flee to Orlando, Irma was coming up the entire Florida peninsula like a bowling ball down a lane. D2 and Jonathan flew back to NYC, and the newlyweds and Wifey and I decided to flee to Atlanta.

We packed Joey's Ford Explorer to the gills -- three dogs and 4 humans, with extra gas tanks just in case. Waze had just come out, and I navigated while Joey drove, and vice versa. Even though we left Midtown at 4 am, the traffic started building -- most of the whole damned state was fleeing -- not just typical coastal areas or South Florida.

Joey and I bonded over this navigation and driving, though as D1 pointed out, "Nothing says honeymoon more than 17 hours in a car with your new in laws." Worse -- Wifey was complaining the whole way about feeling ill -- and we sort of ignored her, thinking she was being dramatic, and there was nothing to do, anyway.

We all felt a bit guilty when we got to ATL, our host Marc bought a thermometer, and Wifey had a fever of 103. Yikes! Luckily, our concierge doc in Miami called in a Z pac prescription, and she was ok in a day or so. But the medical issues would continue.

Joey noticed a lump at the base of his neck. D1 took him to urgent care, and an alarmist doc told him to get it checked "immediately" upon returning home. Really, Big Man? We just had a beautiful wedding, and now the new groom had to deal with the Big C? Thankfully, despite the tensosity, it turned out to be a fatty cyst, which was removed after an aborted first try when a surgeon at Baptist said he was afraid to mess with it because of its location. Dr. Barry referred Joey to a great surgeon at UM who whacked it out like a big pimple. Baruch Hashem!

After several days, including visits from ATL friends and some nice meals, Joey and D1 learned their power was back on. Meanwhile, Irma came up and found us -- knocking out the power in NE Atlanta! We hit the road, again in the early morning hours.

We got to Gainesville, and stopped at a great coffee shop, but no one had gas. We drove through country roads through to Ocala -- no gas. Finally, we heard the Florida National Guard had taken over the Turnpike service plazas, and we jumped on the Turnpike, and topped off with military precision. They really DID know how to do stuff.

We dropped D1 and Joey off at their apartment, and checked into the Langford, an early 1900s bank building renovated into a cool hotel, with a rooftop bar. The manager said he could only keep us for 3 nights -- the US government had taken it over for National Guard and FEMA staff -- even though the real bad damage was in the Keys.

One night, I bought a round of drinks for a bunch of great guys from all over the Midwest -- and they asked me how far a drive the Middle Keys were. When I told them at least several hours, they laughed -- typical FUBAR call to put them up in Downtown Miami -- far from where they would work daily. Still -- I thanked them for their service, and we talked college football -- one was a HUGE Oklahoma fan.

After we got booted out, we decamped with our dogs to the Coral Gables Hyatt, which was lovely. We'd walk to dinner each night -- and one night had apps and I had a few martinis at a Mexican place when the power went out. The manager came out and said it was his treat -- so I handed a $20 bill to our server and we left.

A few days later, Jeff called to tell me our power was back on. He and Lili roughed it without AC for a bit. They are tougher than I.

So wow -- that was 6 years ago. But we got in the big, fat, Colombian wedding first -- and it was a milestone.

Then, 3 years later, we hosted the OTHER biggest party ever -- D2 and Jonathan's big, fat, Venezuelan wedding at the Betsy. That was January of '20 -- the week before the Super Bowl. And just weeks later, the Plague would hit -- shutting down the whole world.

So we have some kind of strange luck -- parties and then catastrophes. But luckily we survived them all.

We're at the height of hurricane season now -- hopefully no storms will head our way. But if they do -- we'll batten down for a Cat 2 or lower, or leave town for a Cat 3 or higher. After Andrew -- we learned our lesson.

And now -- we pay more attention to Wifey when she says she's sick...