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| After Hurricane Helene in Asheville. High Ground in Haw River Neighborhood. Darrell Checking His Phone But Still No Signal. |
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| Saturday Morning Sights in Asheville. We Tried Unsuccessfully to Drive Toward Tennessee and We Are Driving Back Into Asheville. |
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| Tree On A Car On Our House Sit Street. |
Saturday. 28. In Asheville on our 2nd morning wake up at our house sit with aged cat Phoebe. Still no cell, no water and no electricity. We weren’t expecting any change. We are using bottles of water stored by our homeowner in her basement. We cook breakfast and charge our phones with our home owner’s big battery that is down to 50% power. We know we must conserve our battery power. We limit how many times we open the refrigerator. We have a toilet flushing system with our bottled water. I have a system to wash the dishes using minimal water. We decide to drive out of our neighborhood today and go toward Tennessee. We get about 30 miles with many others going that way. The highway is closed and all the traffic must leave the road. There is a choice to turn around and drive back to Asheville or follow a couple of cars going toward Old Asheville highway. We aren’t sure about that road being opened all the way to Tennessee or whether we can get gasoline on our way depending on how far we may go and get turned around again. We decide to go back to Asheville with most of the cars also making this choice. We have the radio on and there is music playing. Once in a while there is a comment about how terrible this situation is, but no details that are helping us to know which way to go for gas or for water or for hotels. We stop at the North Carolina Welcome Center. There are many trucks and cars there. We are looking for a place to refill our empty water jugs that we put into our truck, and a toilet stop would be nice too. The water spigot at the picnic ground has a dribble of water that won’t work for our needs. There is a handwritten sign on the front door saying that they have no power here or at their homes. Requesting no loitering at this time. The restrooms are closed. We return to our truck and to Asheville. There is quite a bit of traffic coming into Asheville. We drive on the highway next to a swollen river and I take pictures and get a lot of looks while Darrell is paying attention to driving. We get back to our house and to our cat Phoebe. Her name is the same as our sister-in-law in Kingsport, Tennessee. For dinner we heat up all of our left over soup and we eat all that we want with cheese and crackers and olives. We are satisfied. After dinner we walk a couple of blocks to a fire circle at a neighbor’s backyard. There we get much more information about open roads, timelines for electric and water, council meeting times and radio airing, and that cell phone connectivity is at the mall parking lot. We walk home. We decide that on Sunday morning we’ll load up our truck to leave town for a couple of nights, load up the cat’s food and water and go to the mall for cell service.
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| Sunday Morning Cell Phone Service at the Mall. Information from Sam the Mall Security Guard that We Could Drive South to Greenville, South Carolina, and Also Routes to Tennessee Were Open. |
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| Driving South Through Asheville was Heavy Traffic on Sunday Morning. |
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| Driving South to Greenville. Outside of Asheville Sunday Morning the Traffic Lightened. |
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| Gas Station in Greenville, SC is Busy. |
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| Auto Detailers Cleaning Our Stinky Truck Carpet and Interior at Our Hotel in Rock Hill, SC on Monday Morning. |
Sunday. 29. We woke up as usual between 5 and 6 am. We had about 20% power listed on our battery. With that we boiled water in our electric kettle and made a pot of french press coffee. We ate greek yogurt, granola, nuts and fruit for our breakfast. We took care of Phoebe by loading up her dishes with food and water to last her 2-3 days, and gave her plenty of lap time. Around 9 am we had the house cleaned up, our overnight backpacks, and our cooler loaded as well as our dead battery that weighed about 50-70 pounds, and 30 gallons worth of empty water bottles. We got into our truck and it stunk bad! I think it was Sunday that we noticed the stink. Through the day we discovered how much of our carpet was wet. We aren’t sure how the water got into the truck but it did. We discussed getting it cleaned as soon as possible. We went to the mall first to find the promised cell phone connection. The mall was closed. The parking lot looked like an internet cafe! Lol. We parked and walked over into the shade of a mall entry door. I began using the internet through Google-Fi and I think Darrell was still using one of our secondary providers either Ubigi or Eskimo. We purchase data from both of these companies and switch to the e-sim card designation that is most useful and inexpensive for our particular location. For the next hour or so we received our pent up messages, and more importantly we confirmed our directions going south to Greenville, South Carolina were possible. We spoke to our oldest son Eric who helps us with several things in our nomad life. In this case he would let others know that we are okay. We had a back and forth text with our nephew in town who we hadn’t been able to get to or see as planned. He and his wife have 2 year old twins and we were most concerned for the no-water situation for them, and then the lack of electricity, etc. They were doing ok for now. While we were there next to the mall door, one of the security guards named Sam came out. I introduced myself and Darrell immediately followed. We began asking him questions about the situation of traveling out of Asheville and back in again, about the area in general and the water and electricity issues. He was clear and positive with all he shared. We felt good with our plan as we left around 10am. The traffic was bumper to bumper but moving going south out of Asheville. Before we passed the airport the traffic lightened up and we had a clear day and a clear highway. We had 65 miles to Greenville and at least 170 miles of gasoline in our truck. We arrived into Greenville and began passing a few gas stations because they had significant lines and wait times. Many of the intersection stoplights were out and the traffic at multi-lane four-way stops was difficult. People in the US in general don’t do four-way stop intersections well, and there seems to be a struggle and learning curve with the newer installations of traffic circles in many towns and cities. Anyway, the electricity seemed about 50% as we drove through town. One side of the street would have active restaurants and the other side of the street would be without power. A few miles into the city, we found a gas station with fewer customers. We pulled in and got our tank filled. We pulled across the street to eat some cheese, crackers, nuts and fruit for our noon lunch. We also had our filter water bottles and Darrell had some coffee from breakfast in his travel mug.We didn’t want to stay in Greenville with our observations about their power issues. We looked at our maps and decided to head another two hours to Rock Hill, SC next to Charlotte, NC. We both looked for a one night stay in that town. Darrell used Booking.com and I looked at airbnb which isn’t usually as good on a one or two night stay. He found a Holiday Inn Express with breakfast and with my approval booked it. Our drive there was nice. We did get into a little slow down on one of our highway bits. We arrived ready for showers and rest! We had many things to accomplish here and I already put in my bid to stay at least 2 nights and maybe 3. We settled on 2 nights and booked our same room after we came back from dinner and evening worship. We spoke to our homeowner Diane via whatsapp. She and Eric were in England and feeling sort of guilty with not being in Asheville. We told them to enjoy all they can because this situation is continuing and there will be plenty to do for many weeks and months to come. Diane found a neighbor to check in on Phoebe, her cat. We told her that we would be going back on Tuesday morning to care for Phoebe, replace the 30 gallons of water, bring back the recharged battery, pack up and leave town. She was so fine with all of this. She and Darrell had some more detailed whatsapp texts through the next couple of days. We have since checked in with her and found out that they came back home from England about 5 days earlier than their original plan of coming home Oct 14th. Monday. 30. We relished our showers at the hotel along with the internet and electricity. Darrell coordinated with a detailer to come to the hotel on Monday morning to steam clean our truck carpet and detail the interior. He also got the oil changed. I did our laundry. We were able to recharge Diane’s battery in our room and also refill all of her empty water bottles in our sink tap. We had messages and phone calls with many friends and family about our situation and our nephew’s family and my cousin and his wife. Our nephew Zack packed up his family and left Asheville on Monday mid-morning. He drove up towards Virginia and then on to Pennsylvania to be with his wife’s family during this situation. My cousin Martin and his wife had already been to Charlotte since Saturday and he was bringing as many gallons of water as he could for their use and a couple of neighbors later on Tuesday. .
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| Tuesday Morning Driving Back Into Asheville was Light Traffic. Cell Phone Coverage Was Opened Up for "Disaster". |
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| View of River Gone Down Some While Driving Into Asheville. |
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| Tuesday Morning Driving Into Our Haw River Neighborhood and Seeing One of the Compromised Power Poles. |
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| Phoebe the Cat Enjoying Our Company. Some Filled Water Bottles We Returned to Diane's House. |
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| Getting Our Truck Packed Up to Leave the Disaster Zone. |
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| My Google Maps Directions to Kingsport. The Big Highway is Closed, But Hard to See on This Map. There Are Two Road Options. We Decided to Take Hwy 25 as Our Opportunity to Enjoy a Rural Route That We Have Never Taken and Likely Will Never Take. (The other route is Old Asheville Hwy. It goes along close to the major highway that is closed because of a mountain mudslide.) |
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| Some Lap Time with Phoebe Before We Say Goodbye. A Neighbor is Now Caring for Her and Several Pets in Empty Houses Awaiting Their Owners. |
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| Old Hwy 25 Begins Divided and Will Cinch Down to Two Lanes. After Lunch on Tuesday. |
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| Nice Rural Barn on Hwy 25, Now Two Lanes Wide. |
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| An Idealic Old Farmhouse on Hwy 25. |
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| Much of Hwy 25 is Beautiful Wooded and Windy. |
Tuesday. 1. Breakfast at our hotel. Checked out of our room. Filled up with Gasoline. Went to Walmart and bought some cases of bottled water and some more bananas. We arrived back at our Asheville house sit and cat Phoebe at about 10am. We do a whole list of things! I remember the heavy lifting back and forth to unload water into the house. Darrell carried the bulk of it and hauled the heavy battery in and out of the truck while I held the door for him! Lol. We packed up, straightened up. Threw some items into the mulch pile. Threw some items into trash bags that got stowed into the basement chest freezer. I am curious if that chest freezer had any cold left in it days later upon Diane and Eric’s return? (During our Day of Tornados in 2011 we lost all of the food in our upright freezer which wasn’t packed full. A friend of Darrell’s told him that we could get an insurance reimbursement for our loss. We filed and got a minimum pay out.) Darrell told Diane about this homeowners insurance item that she didn’t know about. It’s a kind of consolation prize for the ‘yuck’ of cleaning it all out and trashing it. We had another lunch out of our bottomless cooler of cheese, crackers, nuts and fruit. We were packed up and on the road around noon. We headed to highway 25 to Kingsport, Tennessee. Glenn and Phoebe were happy to welcome us back for dinner and a three night stay. When we arrived we moved in and settled quickly.
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| Phone Call With Granddaughter Esther in Alabama |
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| Phone Call With Grandson Owen in Alabama |
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| Our Guest Room at Glenn and Phoebe's in Kingsport. I Enjoy Sleeping Under This Faded Quilt that I Made Decades Ago as a Christmas Gift for My Mother-in-Law. Phoebe Kept it as a Hand-Me-Down and This Makes Me Happy. |
Wednesday. 2. During our stay we had calls with our grandkids. We planned our drive on Friday to Virginia, and our stays including our newly formulated road trip with Sue from October 14-18. We had lots of back and forth texts with her and okays for the airbnb’s that I would book for the three of us along our route. She is especially looking forward to going to the Ark exhibit in Kentucky. We haven’t been, but have also wanted to go sometime. Looks like our time has come. At night we went back to Bible class and were greeted by people we had said goodbye to a week ago. People were so kind and welcoming. This visit helped me practice remembering some names again.
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| A Neighbor's Halloween Decorations in Kingsport. |
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| View of Morning Fog and Flowers from Our Basement Bedroom |
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| Out for a Walk With Phoebe and Wanda. We Came Upon Two More Ladies from Church. I Got a Selfie with Joanne and Cynthia. |
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| Nice Lake We Enjoyed Walking By |
Thursday. 3. I got a long-overdue haircut. I also found a long dress to pack for our upcoming cruise. In the afternoon I went with Phoebe to get Wanda and go for a walk at a lovely park. While there we ran into two ladies from church and enjoyed a quick chat. We played some cards after dinner. While staying so many nights here they have taught us Five Crown card game. It’s a special deck and was fun learning and playing.
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| Friday Lunch in Roanoke with New Zealand Friend Sue and Her US Based Sister Helena |
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| Hwy 81 North from Roanoke Has Beautiful Mountain Views and Large Farm Lands. |
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| Friday Afternoon We Arrive to Bryce Resort in Basye, Virginia. Very Few People Are Here. |
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| Our Condo Deck and View of the Golf Course. We Don't Play Golf. |
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| Sunset View from Our Deck |
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| A Deer in the Background Running Toward the Woods. The Deer are Everywhere Here! We've Counted Up To Nine Together After Dusk Grazing on the Golf Course. |
Friday. 4. We enjoyed exercises and breakfast at Glenn’s house. We drive to Roanoke for lunch with our Kiwi friend Sue and her US based sister Helena. Then we drive on to Basye, Virginia and Bryce Resort about 45 minutes north of Harrisonburg, Virginia. We stopped in Harrisonburg at a grocery and bought about a week’s worth of food and go on to our resort. We enjoy moving into our fairly large condo. We like seeing several deer near our front door and running into the woods nearby.
Nomad Notes. This was our 5th disaster zone together. Darrell and I reviewed our disasters together and what we each had faced during those disasters. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was memorable. It hit the morning of my mother’s funeral in Meridian, Mississippi. And also the day of the Tornadoes in Madison, Alabama in 2011 our community faced losses along with many other communities. Our son Jeremy was in a disaster zone in Tuscaloosa at college 2 ½ hours away from us. We had little to no communication. Much of his college town was flattened by a super cell tornado and he was searching for an unrecovered friend who was later found dead inside a fallen house.
Coming through and out of a disaster zone brings layers of waking up. We are each called to pay attention for survival of ourselves and others. There is growing awareness of what has happened and how it has changed me and those around me. There are different perspectives within the disaster zone. Different levels of personal loss cutting deep into communities and changing the physical landscape as well as the dynamics of relationships within the new landscapes. I have never lost a house or a loved one in a disaster zone, but the groans of those who have are shared within my being and in my prayers to the Lord.
As visitors in Asheville during Hurricane Helene, we were unknown participants. We were on high ground and the house we were in stayed safe and intact. Our plans for hikes in the woods and visiting family members and church friends were changed. The cell phones were out and we were left without our connection to our family and to information that others were sharing and documenting outside of our zone.
Between Saturday and Tuesday we were able to take care of our needs and our house sit and pet needs. We met with neighbors and shared information. We contacted our friends and family within Asheville and those everywhere else who knew where we were to work out mutual plans and share information. We went to places that weren’t in our original plan and we were comforted and welcomed and helped.
During the week we were able to rebuild a new plan for our forward travel. We still intended to take a road trip with our New Zealand friend Sue between Oct 14th-18th from Roanoke, Virginia to Huntsville, Alabama. We just needed to figure out a different direction now that the Blue Ridge Parkway was out of commission.
While coordinating changes in direction and new bookings along with our friend Sue on IM, Darrell is working on learning his new diet with higher protein focus. We still do our daily exercises with the exception of a couple of no power days at our Asheville house. I added learning about pelvic floor exercises and probably something else!
Phone Data plans: We purchase and use GoogleFi, Ubigi and Eskimo and switch between the plans for connectivity and cost effectiveness using e-sim card designations internal to each phone.
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