“We left Orlando yesterday afternoon and had to take the backroads because the main highways were gridlocked. For the first six hours, 45 miles per hour was our top speed. We tried to get out early, but everyone had the same idea. There was traffic until I-10 at Tallahassee. The Gas Buddy app saved us because all of the gas stations were packed. Some had police officers. People were panicking and running out of gas. We were originally planning to go to Atlanta, then Tampa, but there is no place to go in Florida. We knew we needed to go Northwest and the closest thing out of Florida is Mobile. We have a lot of family in Florida and now they are scattered in Virginia, North Carolina, Birmingham, and Orange Beach. I have never had to leave Florida for a hurricane. I brought my dog and my daughter brought her cat. We brought passports, photo albums, the hats my girls wore in the hospital when they were born and their baby footprints. We didn’t worry about clothes, just the irreplaceable things. When we left our house, we didn’t know where we were going. It was sad walking out of our house for the last time and driving out of Orlando. That is my home. I have lived there for 11 years and when we go back it may not look or be the same. It may be devastated. We live next door to an auto parts shops with cars and machinery and all kinds of things that can fly into my windows. I own my home and have insurance, but it could be a disaster when we go back. I don’t know if I am going to have a home to go to or power or if it will be flooded. I don’t even know how long we will be here. We are trying to remain positive and hopeful or we will go crazy thinking about the worst even though we have to prepare ourselves for it. There is Jose and another hurricane coming after that. My theory is that this is North Korea attacking us with underwater bombs. When we pulled into Mobile I said I didn’t know Alabama had a big city part. The last time I was in Alabama, I don’t know where we were, there was no city and just hills and glass. That was what I was expecting now. At least we will have some time to get out and explore while we are here.”