# Florida - HERE I COME ! ! !



## ez2cdave (Oct 13, 2008)

We are leaving in 15 minutes, for two glorious weeks in Florida, my old stomping grounds !

I will be fishing everyday that weather permits and posting up pics, etc, to P&S . . . More to come !

Tight Lines !


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## dlpetrey (Oct 30, 2013)

Have a great trip Dave! Hope you catch a bunch!


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## John Smith_inFL (Nov 22, 2009)

oh man - the weather is HORRIBLE down the I-95 corridor !!!
That hurricane brewing down South is really kicking up some bad stuff here.
drive safe !!

hope you can get some dry days - tight lines !!


you taking the Xterra ?? I'm interested how it does on the highway.
I am looking at a 2003 4x4 tomorrow in Orlando.


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## ez2cdave (Oct 13, 2008)

Hi,

Yes, we took the XTERRA, 19 mpg on hwy, 15 mpg around town.

Weather was perfect on the drive down. Saturday turned into a "Family Day" (no fishing) and, on Sunday, we had to drive over to St. Petersburg for a funeral in my wife's family. Coming back, we ran into a genuine FL "Gator Gusher", complete with Wall Cloud ( "Home Sweet Home" ) . . . My wife took some pics. 

After the terrified tourists pulled over to the side of the road, I was able to maintain a safe 45 mph in a 70 mph zone and we powered on through the downpour for about 20-25 minutes, until we drove out of it !

The Cat 2 Hurricane, "Matthew", blew up into a Cat 4 ( briefly Cat 5 ) . . . Now, down around 130 mph . . . Hopefully, just some mild wind and lots of rain for us here.

No, fishing, so far, but I'm giving it a shot tomorrow . . . Pressure drop may be good !

Tight Lines !


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## andypat (Jan 7, 2004)

Dave, your on the East Coast, right? They are having a bad red tide on the West Coast. I just moved back to MD. from Venice FL. I sure miss FL. but not the hurricanes. A few years ago when I lived there we had three hurricanes in one year pretty close together. The fishing was great not long after they passed. Good Luck!


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## ez2cdave (Oct 13, 2008)

andypat said:


> Dave, your on the East Coast, right? They are having a bad red tide on the West Coast. I just moved back to MD. from Venice FL. I sure miss FL. but not the hurricanes. A few years ago when I lived there we had three hurricanes in one year pretty close together. The fishing was great not long after they passed. Good Luck!




Yes, East Coast . . . Ft Pierce .

If it were not for my wife wanting to be near her family in NC, I would have moved back down here, years ago !

Tight Lines !


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## ez2cdave (Oct 13, 2008)

We came back a week early . . . What was supposed to be "2 weeks in paradise" turned out to be "the week from Hell" . We had perfect weather on the drive down, had to go to an unexpected funeral in my wife's family ( a suicide ). The storm moved in and the power was off. After the power came back on, my buddy's alcoholic wife got loaded and went ballistic on him and threw everybody out of the house ( cops & the whole 9 yards ) . . .

So, we decided to come home Sunday afternoon, with smooth sailing up I-95 until we hit NC. Some dam had failed and flooded out I-95 which knocked out electric over a huge area. We had to detour to Charlotte ( 90 miles west +/- ), low on fuel with no stations open with power, finally found a station with a generator who was charging $5.00 / gallon but, with only half a gallon in the tank ( 19.5 gallon tank in the XTERRA ), $95.00 ( "Cash Only". of course ) later we were full and back on the road . . . We finally got home @ 4:00 am this morning.

No chance to even wet a line, much less catch anything . . . I am really pissed off . . . Anyway, we lived through it, barely !

Tight Lines !


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## surffshr (Dec 8, 2003)

yeah a tough break for a vacation.


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## Jollymon (May 21, 2015)

ez2cdave said:


> We came back a week early . . . What was supposed to be "2 weeks in paradise" turned out to be "the week from Hell" . We had perfect weather on the drive down, had to go to an unexpected funeral in my wife's family ( a suicide ). The storm moved in and the power was off. After the power came back on, my buddy's alcoholic wife got loaded and went ballistic on him and threw everybody out of the house ( cops & the whole 9 yards ) . . .
> 
> So, we decided to come home Sunday afternoon, with smooth sailing up I-95 until we hit NC. Some dam had failed and flooded out I-95 which knocked out electric over a huge area. We had to detour to Charlotte ( 90 miles west +/- ), low on fuel with no stations open with power, finally found a station with a generator who was charging $5.00 / gallon but, with only half a gallon in the tank ( 19.5 gallon tank in the XTERRA ), $95.00 ( "Cash Only". of course ) later we were full and back on the road . . . We finally got home @ 4:00 am this morning.
> 
> ...


Sounds like a average FL trailer park week


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## andypat (Jan 7, 2004)

I seen a movie like that. Just kidding. You picked a bad time to go.


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## Jollymon (May 21, 2015)

andypat said:


> I seen a movie like that. Just kidding. You picked a bad time to go.


I thought that was a episode of COPS


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## John Smith_inFL (Nov 22, 2009)

wow - sorry to hear that Dave . . . 
my last road trip up through the Smokies, Maggie Valley and the Blue Ridge Parkway
went without a hitch...... Thoroughly enjoyed the ride down through the Outter Banks.
now, most of those places are in dire distress from the hurricane, including Florida's East Coast.
Hope everyone recovers SOON and we can get back to some sort of normalcy.


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## ez2cdave (Oct 13, 2008)

BarefootJohnny said:


> wow - sorry to hear that Dave . . .
> my last road trip up through the Smokies, Maggie Valley and the Blue Ridge Parkway
> went without a hitch...... Thoroughly enjoyed the ride down through the Outter Banks.
> now, most of those places are in dire distress from the hurricane, including Florida's East Coast.
> Hope everyone recovers SOON and we can get back to some sort of normalcy.


Condolences accepted . . .

When we left, Matthew was only a Cat 2, but then it suddenly blew up into a Cat 4 and. briefly, Cat 5. We had hoped that it would take an earlier Northward turn but, when it slowed down, the weather patterns changed and we were in the crosshairs. I grew up in Ft. Lauderdale and lived in South FL for 48 years, so hurricanes are a "normal" occurrence for me. 

Anyway, we'll do it again, minus the drama, in the future. The worst part was not being able to wet a line, while being only 10 minutes from the coast . . . Very frustrating, to say the least.

Tight Lines !


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## dlpetrey (Oct 30, 2013)

So sorry to hear Dave. Tough tough break.


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## greg12345 (Jan 8, 2007)

why don't u just fish nc? i lived in chapel hill for 8y and would hit topsail every chance i could get, it's no Fl but ain't half bad.


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