Day 11 (2011) - Home Sweet Hurricane

First, some pictures from yesterday at the Little League World Series:

We officially decided to end our trip a few days early and head home from Williamsport today.  While many people on Long Island are evacuating their homes, we decided to "vacuate" instead.  We slept a little later than normal, everyone was quite tired, and by the time we got on the road it was about 11:00 or so.  We figured it would be a good idea to stock up on hurricane supplies in central PA, versus trying to do it once we got home, so the first stop was an Ace Hardware store about 20 minutes from the hotel.  This storm better be worth it, because we walked out of there over $300 lighter in the wallet (or heavier on the credit card as it may be).  At the Ace store we bought many varieties of flashlights, batteries of various sizes, duct tape, hurricane tape (no idea what for, but it sounded like a good idea), some plastic tarps (which likely won't get used), bungee cords to tie down the grill and a socket wrench (not really, but I feel like I should have to make the purchase seem manlier).

Next stop was a supermarket to get jugs of water.  However, as I was walking down the water aisle, I saw a guy loading up his cart with big jugs of water, and when I got to the end of the aisle where all of the water should have been, I saw that it was now empty.  So, I hopped back in the car and we used the GPS to located a Wal-Mart in the area.  The Wal-Mart had plenty of water, and thanks to a nice phone call we had received from Ed Mangano (county executive here on Long Island), I also picked up some bleach.  Why, I have no idea.  But if Ed wants me to get it, I get it.  I think I bought a few more things at this Wal-Mart (first aid kit, batteries maybe, but as you will read, the different shopping stops kind of blur together now).
By the time I was done at this Wal-Mart it was after 1:00, and I had not eaten or had my iced coffee yet, so I once again used the GPS to find a Starbucks.  Turns out the Starbucks was on a local college campus, and was a very nice Starbucks with a fancy lounge area.  The flip side was that this might have been the worst iced coffee I had ever had.  The coffee was see-through and might have just been coffee flavored water.

Always on the lookout for a good place to eat, Debbie located a diner in the Food Book that was about 40 minutes down the road on I-80 in the direction we were headed.  So, we re-programmed the GPS (love that little thing) and headed for the diner.  We got to the diner at about 2:30, and noticed a sign that said that the diner's hours were 6 am - 3 pm.  Good thing we got there when we did, because some people tried to be seated at around 2:55 and were turned away. 

This place was as low key as you could find, with old fashioned booths and little to no decorations inside.  It was so "down-home" that it sold condoms in the bathroom.  You know, just in case the place put you in the mood.  But I wonder, if you are buying condoms in a diner, why would you want the one that costs only $0.50, when the other 2 cost $1.00?  I'm thinking if you are going to get busy in a diner you would want to "pay up" for the more expensive brand.  But that's just me.

Anyway, the diner was known for its hamburgers, so Debbie, Amanda and I ordered them, while the boys ordered chicken parm meals.  To give us a little flavor of what we would be missing, we also ordered cheese fries.  Good thing we were all hungry, because the burgers were about the size of a full cow.  And the fries did give Debbie and me a little feeling of nostalgia, and heart-burn.

After the meal, we got back on the road, but Debbie felt we needed some more supplies (hand-held radio among other things), so, you guessed it, back to the GPS and back to yet another Wal-Mart.  We found a radio (turns out it was not what we wanted and it will be returned when the weather is clear) and some other stuff (again, a little fuzzy on the details even a few hours later), and we were finally done with the hurricane shopping.  Only issue was that the car was so full that we had to use the bungee cords we bought at the Ace Hardware store and strapped Amanda to the roof rack to make room.  I kid - we really strapped Ethan up there to make even more room.

With a car full of luggage, supplies and gas-emitting children, we headed back onto I-80 for the last time.  The drive back home was uneventful, and we arrived back home in Great Neck safe and sound at around 6:45 pm.  Since we need to clear room in the garage for my car to shield it from the storm (it was moved outside when the boys came home so we could use the area for their trunks), Debbie immediately started doing loads of camp laundry (towels, bedding, etc.) that were in bags in the garage.  Tomorrow we will organize the rest of the non-washable stuff and make room for my car.

Until next year...