In 1979 while living in Pensacola, my in-laws in Savannah were hit by a hurricane and were without power. We drove the 8 hours to Savannah, which is I-10 to Tallahassee and then back roads through Georgia.
Since they had no power, we went to a country bar and drank and listened to the band until closing time. Then we got back to their home and the power was back on. On the TV the weather guy said there's a hurricane 250 miles due south of Pensacola heading north.
The next morning, hangover and all, I jumped in my car and headed back. We had a pool and I wanted to take in the patio furniture and makes sure everything was secure. As soon as I got to Tallahassee and hopped on I-10, it's normally 200 miles to Pensacola from there. I didn't see one car in front or behind me, I was the only car westbound. I gradually got my speed up to 100 mph all the way to Pensacola, never passed a car the entire way. When I was north of Panama City Beach, from that exit to to Pensacola's exit is about 100 miles and the east bound lanes were bumper to bumper going about 20 mph. While I was flying down the road going where they were leaving. I never saw one cop, my biggest memory was hearing 38 Special Hold on Loosely on the radio for the first time, I'm a music nut.
I got back, brought the furniture into the garage. I was going to go the radar room, a lot of guys were going there and camp out. I was too tired, I just went in the hallway, closed all the doors and put down a pillow, turned on the radio and just then the power went off. I fell asleep and woke up the next morning to a bright sunny day.
We had almost no damage, there was about 500 green pine cones in the bottom of the pool, which was a real hassle to lift up from the bottom with a net, they don't have birdcages in Pensacola, fenced yards is the norm. They said winds reached 95 mph at the airport a 1/2 mile away. Actually Mobile took the biggest part of the storm, they lost a bridge to their beach.
Hurricane Frederic - September 12, 1979
