[ihc] Pensacola

["Ryan Moore" <baradium@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thought I'd chime in here.
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I went down to Pensacola last thursday night, got in around midnight, and
promptly had to wake up my friend Mac (who some of you know) to ask him
where the heck I was since all the signs were down.  I had to guess which
exit to get off the interstate and then it was like being in a war zone.
Piles of debris in the streets, missing signs.   With some help from Mac and
Mapquest, I was able to find out where to go to get on post, checked with
the gate to see about what to do in the morning, and found a gas station
parking lot and slept in the scout.  Something about how all the hotels that
weren't completely destroyed are still closed from severe damage.

I didn't feel like driving another hour to get a hotel to sleep for like two
hours, to drive back for an hour, to get on post.

For those of you who are wondering why the heck I went to Pensacola, I'm
getting to it.

Anyway, they got hit pretty bad, they've been cleaning for two weeks, and it
still looks horrible.  Saw a boat inside a house even, and a lot of really
nice sailboats that aren't really nice anymore.  Bridges damaged, a lot of
signs down (even the huge ones that go overhead such as on an interstate).
Trees down everywhere, some areas look like they've been clear cut and it's
all from the winds.

NAS Pensacola was also hit really bad.... a lot of the buildings there are
uninhabitable (I was told 70-90%).  All of them have damage of some form or
another, some of them are only partially there.... but there are some areas
where I was told there *used* to be a building, but for the life of me I had
trouble figuring out exactly where it was (yeah, that bad).  By partially
there, I mean I could tell that the pile used to be a building and there was
a semblence of maybe a wall remaining.

Some buildings came out ok, but more were destroyed then undamaged.

I was down there for my friend Carolyn's OCS graduation, it had been
canceled but the beginning of this week they decided they'd cleaned enough
to be able to do it after all (and like the rest of Pensacola, after 2 weeks
of constant work, it still looks like the storm must've just passed the day
before).   Most of the people who were going to come for her backed out, but
I was able to make it as well as her family.  I must say that even though it
was 15 hours or so of driving and I came back friday afternoon/late night
after just getting in early friday morning, that it was well worth the trip
to see it.  I'm very happy I didn't let her talk me out of it.

I figure that a lot of you might be interested in how they are doing down
there, it seems like after the initial "eww, they got hit really bad" stuff,
the news just ignored it.

Thanks,
Ryan

P.S.   For you southern guys, or those with the familiarity:  I've been
tasked with locating an area to go camping two weeks from now. First, it has
to be south of Nashville, preferably south of TN in general.  Basically, so
it'll be a bit warmer at night than it is here near Nashville.  And
campgrounds, per say, more like bankcountry type stuff.  Areas where the
camp sites are really spread out or even not together at all.  And need
places to hike in the area (from that campsite).    Camping areas where you
have to backpack in are alright, but I think it's prefered that we be able
to get a vehicle to where we camp, and then do day hiking from there.  It
might be difficult to find a camping area that is secluded enough (far
enough away from civilization) yet still allows vehicle access for us.  Any
help, ideas, or suggestions are appreciated.


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