That was too close for comfort.... Dorian <---FU

[Jims5543]

Thursday night the weather man told me everything I had in this world was going to be destroyed.  My house, my business, my sons house and all my families homes as well as the town I lived in, as a Cat 5 Hurricane was coming for me.

This is what I faced this evening as it passed by destroying the Northern Bahamas. 

The real victims are the gentle and kind people of the Bahamas who our rich American asses visit with little regard to their poverty. Many of those islands that are gone now are not welfare cases they are salt of the earth people who carved a living out of tourism in Paradise.

Tomorrow I am finding out what my potential insurance deductible would have been if I lost it all. Then I am donating that amount toward Bahamas relief as well as other smaller things like diapers and food etc...  to the local charities. My life should be ruined right now and instead the gentle people of the Abacos lives are ruined.


I am at a crossroads in my life right now. I am need to get my wife on board. I want to downsize considerably and not have such deep seated roots in this area. While I LOVE where I love I do not want to be so invested.

As this storm approached I could not help to think...;

- I have a business with clients and employees that all depend on me.

- I pushed my son (because my wife pushed me against my better judgement) to buy a house. I feel somewhat responsible for that decision and know his house will not make i through a Cat 4 or 5.  At market value he will make out, the interim will be ugly.  He was better off renting a 1 bed apartment.

- I have a storage unit with office excess, 2 vintage BMW's a Vintage Honda Ruckas and tons of other shit I need to purge from my life

- I have an office that is in a woefully inadequate office building that would never survive more than a Cat 3 let alone a Cat 5 parked over it for 3 days.

- My house, while confident it would do well in a Cat 4 would not be here after a Cat 5, nothing will very little will survive including new construction, that eats a hole in me.

The entire area would be set back into the late 19th Century after a Cat 5 Parked on it.


I HATE cold, I asked a friend who lives there what the downfalls of Phoenix Arizona were, he said 120 degree days, scorpions and rattlesnakes. I replied, so nothing that destroyed your house? I am all over this.

Plan B - There are some brand new luxury apartments that just opened in downtown Stuart,, the monthly rent would be around $2300 and would include our Pet being in an 2 Bd 2 bath unit with one covered reserve parking spot. High speed internet, pool, fitness center, media center, business center and also being downtown where you can walk to everything. Grocery, bars, restaurants, green market on Sunday... everything!!

I want to sell the house (for a really nice profit) then rent the apartment, then work on emptying the storage unit of the 2 vintage BMW's (both may end up on BAT) and the Mini Pickup (again a TRUE BAT Car) and enjoy my life while I am young.

I am sick of working all the time when done with work I am not in the mood to sweat in a garage working on a car.

Look at me!! pouring out all my thoughts on here.


Oh damn... pics...

How close I came to destruction.




Oh man, I have been waiting since Thursday last week to enjoy 2 of these....




Now off to shower and bed, as I have a fun day tomorrow.


PS I am thinking of setting up an appointment to see the new Apartments this upcoming weekend. I want to get my wife on board if she sees it she may be all about it. I am ready to be at the point where a hurricane is coming and I laugh and say, where do we vacation until its over?

[94touring]

I did a stint in Phoenix.  Arizona has a lot to offer. Wasn't for me but then again I'm not a fan of the extreme heat in the valley.  Felt like living in an oven.  You'll get sand storms during monsoon season. 

[ADRay]

I like the way you're thinking. Better to get out from under it on your own terms, rather than being forced to decide due to bad circumstances. Good luck.

[MiniDave]

It will be a real change for you not having the ocean nearby - mind you it's only 6 hours to the coast, and there's so much to see and do in California. But you'll have other things you can do, snow skiing for example.

I love the desert - at least in the winter when it's cooler, but I absolutely can't do the heat. Bruce and I drove thru there on our way to MMW in 2016. It was 118* at 11 pm when we got there.....no thanks.

My son has lived there for more than 16 years, has his law practice there. I don't know how he stands it....I can visit him from late Nov to mid Feb, by then it's getting too hot again for me.

Of course living here in Kansas with the humididity is no picnic either....that's why I loved living in Sandy Eggo....perfect weather year round.