Weathering the storm

Our week of clear skies started to give way to more clouds and drizzle by Thursday morning. But it was still warm and perfectly decent for a day or two of doing something other than hanging on the beach. Nacho knew he had to work later in the day on Saturday, but with the hurricane shaping up in the Atlantic, we weren't exactly clear if we could go home with him or stay put. Part of me really didn't want to abandon the rest of the family for a few gloomy days. But I wasn't sure if we would get evacuated after all. It was all a gamble and I'm not usually a betting woman. So we devised our first part of the plan to get Nacho out of town before any weather could jeopardize his journey home. We found out that a one-way rental car from New Bern to RDU was only $25 so we made a little trip up there on Thursday afternoon to check out the town square and get him a car on the way back. The girls had never been to the home of Pepsi-Cola, so we made that soda shop in the historic old town our first stop. It kind of felt like we were the only tourists left on the coast and the place was pretty quiet. The girls sipped their soda fountain Pepsis and ate some popcorn while I pondered if buying a "hand-crafted cola" called Caleb's Kola was worth it. Just before we left, I decided to grab one and so Nacho and I drank that as we walked around the gorgeous old Episcopal church and its side yard decked out with pumpkins. 

Coming back to the beach house that night, I checked again on the latest hurricane reports and tried to figure out what our plan was. The truth was, I really wanted Stacey and the family to get to come down and enjoy some beach time, but I wasn't sure I could stay. If Stace made the decision to come, I would be there though. And after one last read of the forecasts that night, I texted her that I didn't think we'd get hit with much more than some heavy winds and rain. The property management company wasn't asking us to evacuate and mom and dad were determined to ride it out. So I would too. The next day as Nacho headed off, Stace and the kids arrived just in time to say good bye. Leroy had already scooted out in the early morning trying to get ahead of the rain moving inland and I couldn't blame him. We went for a walk on the beach and made it to the grocery store for one last chance to stock up before Armageddon. Unfortunately within 12 hours the hurricane projections had shifted again and instead of making a sharp right turn after hitting Florida, it appeared Hurricane Matthew was going to hug the coast a bit up through Georgia and South Carolina. How far up it would go before turning and heading out to sea was the big question. But it did appear we'd be getting a lot more than I initially bargained for. Oh well. Nacho was gone. We were here. There wouldn't be much chance of driving anywhere on Saturday or flying home. I would need to ride it out til Monday, so we started planning out meals and things to cook in case we lost power. Saturday morning we woke to much stormy skies and surf. There were tornado warnings coming in from cells hovering near Pine Knolls and we took to the basement to wait it out. The girls seemed to be hanging in there coloring and playing without much sense of what was really going on. But inside I was getting a little nervous. Fortunately we had a few minutes of playing cards and later Trivial Pursuit to keep our minds occupied. Stacey and I tag teamed on Mexican night and the margaritas helped ease everyone into the rest of the evening. So yeah, we were hunkered down and ready for whatever may come. This storm was not going to stop our fun.