Hurricanes, flooding, and a Colt

By the time you read this, hurricane Florence will probably have already hit the Carolina coast and wrecked havoc.

The good news if you're in the path of the hurricane is that now you can start eating your hurricane snacks. You don't have to wait until the power goes off.

I lived on Hilton Head Island, SC for almost 20 years, and I had to evacuate several times. Hurricanes, alligators, and bears are three things that I give the respect (and space) they're due.

I'm up at 4,000 feet near Banner Elk, NC now. The forecasters are saying we will get some wind and a lot of rain. The forecasts have ranged anywhere from two to 20 inches of rain. I think the last forecast I saw was saying 10 to 12 inches of rain. On the map, I'm really close to where they say 2 to 4 inches of rain. We shall see.

I don't have to worry about flooding because I'm camped up on the side of a mountain about 500 feet above the river.

Of course, last year the river flooded and washed out the bridge coming over to the campground. It took about three months to get it fixed. The RVs that were here had to stay.

A mountain girl can survive

Further down the mountain, another bridge washed out and it just got it fixed last week. For many months the people who depended on that bridge to get up the mountain to their homes had to park beside the road, walk across a footlog and walk up the mountain to their houses.

One woman was telling me that she didn't get off from work until 1:00 a.m. She said that when you walk two miles up the mountain on a dirt road at 2:00 in the morning, the 45 that her grandfather gave her gets heavy.

What she said reminds me of the song by Hank Williams, Jr. called A Country Boy Can Survive. I guess a mountain girl can survive too.

As a boy, I remember going to the Grand Ole Opry with my family and listening to Hank Williams, Sr. and a lot of the other country music greats. That's one of the advantages of being old. You get to remember the good old days. Hank Williams, Jr. is good, but he's not in the same league with his father (just my opinion).

I'm rambling about the weather because as RVers, we all have to keep up with the weather. An RV is no match for a hurricane, but it does have wheels and it can run away (unless the bridge washes out, and then it can't).