Friday, January 31, 2014

So I'm Back

Looks like I missed a lot of fun things on the radio front during the last week and I hope to get caught up. See, I wasn't here. I was there. There being Disney World (fun) and then Atlanta (not fun).




We took our daughter and went with another family to see Mickey. Six plus luggage for a fun few days in Orlando via a rented minivan. It was a blast. We saw plenty of princesses and rode lots of rides. The Toy Story Midway Mania at Hollywood Studios may be the best.

We then started home on our 600 mile return trip. Unfortunately, that put us in Atlanta as the storm hit and they closed every school, the government, and every business at the same time. Atlanta's roads couldn't handle that on a regular day much less when the roads are getting slick. At one point, it took us almost exactly an hour to go one mile. We decided to find shelter and made it to the Crown Plaza. (We were too slow in deciding to seek shelter I have determined in my AAR.) I thought the six of us would probably end up spending the night in the lobby.

There were some people there for a conference. Two of them took pity on us and decided they would bunk together and give us a room. I am so grateful for their gift. We ended up with another lady in our room that had a 15 month old with a broken leg. They were Atlanta locals, but couldn't get home either. So, five adults, two pre-school girls, and the infant. The hotel brought up a crib. The mother slept on the coach. The girls in our group had the beds and the two dads had the floor. The infant was not happy - hungry, teething, who knows - and would cry/scream every 15 minutes. I have bruises on my hips from "sleeping" on the floor. And I can't tell you how grateful I was to be there. It could have been so much worse.

Before we bedded down, I should also mention that the Crown Plaza opened up their restaurant and fed everyone for free. They were even giving away drinks.

The next day, the six of us moved four miles to home of a friend from church back in Knoxville. He and his family took us in for the night. We got hot showers and more food. I even got to watch the UT basketball game on TV. They were so generous.

We left the next morning and made it back to Knoxville yesterday afternoon - safe and sound. I'm leaving out a lot of details. It is all a bit of a blur still. But, I'm back and need to catch up on home stuff, the job search, my PMP studies, and some radio news.

I'm very happy to be home.

4 comments:

  1. I heard about Atlanta from friends. It was a mess.

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    1. It was horrible. There was a baby born on the interstate. Lots of good came out of it, but Atlanta needs to do better - from a health and welfare perspective, but also considering the economic losses.

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  2. Glad you and your family made it back home in one piece.
    My parents who are visiting my brother in the Birmingham (AL) area had a similar experience, being forced to seek shelter in an overcrowded hotel for two days. The worst part was that my dad left his chemotherapy medication home and had to go 3 days without it. I imagine a lot of older and sick people had the same problem. This reminds me to be grateful for living in a place with mild and predictable weather.

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    1. Thanks.

      I hope your dad is okay and missing the medication doesn't cause him a problem.

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