Column: A tale of two hurricanes

Dear readers,

Last week was fall break. Florida, here we come.

My wife, Sandy, questioned if we should still go due to the recent damage from hurricane Helene.

“Where is your pioneer spirit?” I asked her. Besides, we had reservations.

Sandy pointed out that more bad weather was forecast for Florida. My response, “So, the weather girl is wrong 50% of the time.”

Besides, what’s the chance that another hurricane hits Florida this month?

As it turns out, the chance was pretty good. Probability was never my strong point. At least now, maybe Sandy will quit reminding me of my bet on the 2010 Kentucky Derby. It can be replaced by “don’t forget fall break 2024.”

Sandy has good reasons to bring up that horse race from 14 years ago.  As I headed out to the track to place a bet, Sandy said, “Super Saver looks like a good bet to me.”

Sandy had spent no more than a minute looking over the field for that Kentucky Derby. I had spent hours stewing over which horse to place my bet on.

I still remember what I said as I went out the door all those years ago.

“Super Saver, no way. That horse is ridden by Calvin Borel. He won last year on 50-1 long shot Mine That Bird. What’s the chance that he could win two in a row?” I said.

That chance turned out to be 100% because he won. Did I learn my lesson on both the science of probability and listening to my wife?  No way, Florida here we come!

The drive to Florida was uneventful. It looked like this time I was right.  On the second night in Florida, we met Jeff and Pam Linder for dinner.  All was going as I had planned. However, as any gambler knows, the one thing about luck is that sooner or later it is bound to change and change it did.

Hurricane Milton started spinning faster and faster. We decided to leave Florida a few days early. As we drove north it was a beautiful day. It was hard to believe trouble was coming. I guess it really was.

Governor DeSantis managed to hack into our cell phones and set off an alarm warning us of the danger to come. 

Our cell phone directed us around traffic jams. I would describe our route as the Dollar General trail. The cell phone guided us north and west through the backroads and old logging trails of Georgia and Alabama. There would be no Buc-ee’s stops on this trip. If it weren't for Dollar General, I might have starved. 

We finally popped out in Huntsville, Alabama. We were safe from hurricane Milton and had a couple of vacation days left. Lucky for us Huntsville is home of a major tourist attraction, the U.S. Space & Rocket Center.

All the rockets, from the beginning of America’s space program to the rocket that took Neil Armstrong to and from the moon, were developed in Huntsville. 

Visiting the museum and seeing all the rockets brought back fond memories from my youth. Whenever a rocket was launched during school hours, a portable TV was rolled into the classroom for us to watch. A boomer’s life in the 1960s was all about outer space. Pop culture was filled with rockets, space travel, and sometimes Martians.

TV shows like “My Favorite Martian,” “Star Trek,” and “Lost in Space” were popular.

Don Knotts starred in “The Reluctant Astronaut.”

G.I. Joe came with an authentic space suit and rocket scientist Barbie replaced Malibu Barbie.

The rocket museum even sold tickets for a machine that would spin you around fast so you could experience the type of G forces experienced by astronauts. As I was buying my ticket, Sandy said, “I don’t think you should go on that ride. Remember the last time you rode a spinning ride at the fair. You staggered around for hours and complained of a headache for days.”

“Yea,” I said, “but what’s the chance of that happening again?”      

See you all next week, same Schwinn time, same Schwinn channel.