Evacuation from Irma

Hurricane Irma was bearing down on Florida.  We had just purchased the camper and decided that we should make every effort to leave Florida and return home.  Good thing we did.  We loaded our car onto the car dolly made sure it was all secure and left Key Largo.  We stopped at a local Walmart and got some parking instruction from the parking lot patrol.  Once settled we headed into the store only to find every open register with at least 20 people in line.  We decide to head out and shop for food when we were further north.

The tow dolly uses ratchet straps with handles that hold car on the dolly. These "handles" that have a center hub and a ratchet mechanism that pulls the straps tight.  They are easy to use and each time we stopped I checked the straps and found them to be a bit loose so I gave them a few clicks and on we went.  The problem with these "handles" is releasing them.  You have to open the handle completely flat and straight.  The strap is supposed to loosen.  In reality the things never work.  I have paid mega buck for the best straps with the best handles and none of them work once they have been used a few times.  The two dolly has two of these things permanently attached.

When we reached Homestead our GPS instructed us to get on the Florida turnpike and head north. The Governor of Florida had suspended all tolls on all Florida toll roads.  This was great news for us except there was an accident on the Florida turnpike and we spent quite a while in stop and go traffic. During this time we had a tire failure on the tow dolly.  I don't know how far we towed the car on the flat but by time we stopped the tire was ruined.  Luckily we had a spare.   Problems developed when I could not get the spare off of the dolly.  I was mounted with u-bolt and no lug nuts just two flat metal brackets threaded onto the u-bolt.   To remove the spare I had to unload the car.  The "handles" would not straighten to release.  There was no room under the over hang of the car.   With the handles centered on the tire there is just no room.   I was able to move the car a bit on the dolly and it loosened one strap on one side.  The other strap was not coming loose no matter what I did. 

I had to cut the strap loose.  I knew I had two spare straps in the camper so I sacrificed the strap to get us back on the road.   Once the car was unloaded I quickly changed the tire and stowed all of my tools and other gear.  I reloaded the car and this time shifted the straps to the outside edge of the tire.  I was happy about this but I knew I would have room to straighten the handles for next time.  During this adventure I felt like I was on an episode of Roadkill.  Those two guys travel the country and always have strange break downs and problems that occur when you travel the highways on a shoestring and a prayer.

I really hate ratchet strap handles.  I have to find a replacement system. 

Two hours later we continued on the Florida turnpike and before leaving Miami we found a service station and waited another 2 hours in line to buy fuel.  Around 12:30 AM we stopped at a big rest area in Naples, Florida.  Parked between two semis we had no issues with running the generator.  We could still hear the diesels idling on each side of us so I was sure we weren't disturbing their sleep.  Once settled we tried to sleep for a few hours.  No one bothered us and I slept totally exhausted.

Next week:  Evacuation from Irma Part 2.