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20050828 Chattanooga TN 63/96 Hazy, hot, humid.
We decided to run toward home, so we left Dayton early. I took Dolores to church, returned to the trailer and got it ready to roll, returned to church to get Dolores, and returned to the trailer.
We ran off the base, down I-675, merged into I-75, ran 20 miles and had a blow-out of the left rear trailer tire. For some reason, I was looking in that direction in the mirror and saw the smoke. We stopped quickly, set out the warning triangles and set to changing the (very hot) tire. The tire is one of those we bought new in Bend OR, in June.
We resumed the trip with another tire in place. We fought our way through Cincinnatti into Kentucky. We refueled just past Lexington and kept going to Tennessee. We got through the flap called Knoxville without being killed. We refueled again 30 miles short of Chattanooga and then ran on in to the campground on the southeast side of town, off I-75 at Exit 1.
We set up the trailer (full hookup with cable and good free wifi) and cranked up the information-getters.
Hurricane Katrina is 150 miles south of New Orleans. The first bands have come ashore into New Orleans. Thousands are gathered in shelters including the Superdome. This has the potential to be a real killer. It's a Force 5 hurricane with the fourth lowest eye pressure in history.
We'll be watching the storm till late evening or midnight. In the morning, we'll make our decision on where to go next. Right now, it looks as though running through Atlanta to Columbus is best, and then to make the decision to go on home or to hole up till the next day.
Panama City Beach is under tropical storm warnings, so the winds will be less than 75kts and probably a lot less than that.
We'll have to play it by ear.
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