We are at the Red Cross hot site facility in Montgomery, Alabama. We have a 20-amp power outlet here, and we even took the scooters out to ride to dinner. Yesterday I posted that we would continue south on US-27 and likely spend the night in Albany, Georgia, so some explanation is in order.
No sooner had we published the blog and gotten mostly packed up and ready to go, than I received an email from the gentleman with the boat for sale in Mobile. The boat is on the hard for some maintenance and they plan to be in Mobile for most of the week, and we decided that made for an excellent opportunity to head down there for a look. So we turned west onto US29 right there in LaGrange.
The most direct route to Mobile follows I-85 into Montgomery and then I-65, and having already done US-29 to US-80 through Tuskegee on our first pass through this area, we ended up just taking I-85 west of Opelika. As we rolled into Montgomery, we decided to do a quick roll-by of the Red Cross hot site here, just to see how the place was doing. Long-time readers know this is a regular practice of ours -- the hot sites don't get a lot of attention between activations, and it's good for headquarters to have trained staff available to just put eyes on them occasionally.
It being Sunday, our expectation was that we'd just do a quick look-and-roll, since we knew there was no way to gain access on the weekend. But what we saw through the windows gave us some pause, and we decided it was worth a call to Washington. I called the 24-hour number for the Disaster Operations Center (DOC).
After giving them a brief report, the DOC asked if we could stick around until today so they could arrange to get us inside for a more detailed look. At the moment they are trying to get someone from the local chapter, who holds the keys, to come down and let us in. Our mission here today will be simply to "observe and report," although I am sure a number of the computers are powered down or otherwise off-line and we will do what we can to get them all back up and on the network for remote management.
Assuming they can get the keys here this morning, we should be back on the road this afternoon and in Mobile tonight. Depending on what time we wrap up, we might ride the scooters into town for lunch at our club here before leaving. We have tentatively arranged to look at the boat tomorrow afternoon, and they've even found us an overnight spot at the marina. I have no idea which way we'll head when we are done, but we're quite fond of the Mississippi gulf coast, which is just a bit further south and west from Mobile, so that is a distinct possibility.
Photo by I Believe I Can Fry, used under a Creative Commons license.
Great Reddy Kilowatt sign photo. Reddy was created in the 20's by Alabama Power.
ReplyDeleteTravel safe,
bob