Drove down to Orlando for the Mark Christian collection....Georgia storm damage WOW
Locust Fork
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I went with Larry down to Orlando over the weekend. It was WONDERFUL meeting Mark's sister, brother in law and a cousin of his that I knew would be my best friend if we lived closer. Mark's home was BEAUTIFUL. When I arrived, meeting the family in person….looking at the inventory and misc. "stuff" we were going to try to handle I got to work pretty quickly sorting out a game plan.
It was about an hour into things when it hit me…..this is the spot….and I about lost it. I was tearing up, sniffly and couldn't do anything but tell them all how much he meant to everyone here. I pulled the forums up and showed them how many posts were on his memorial thread and told them stories. They were very touched to see it all…I don't think they realized how involved he was and how much he meant to us.
I have a lot of organizing to do….but I did grab some of his books to include with some of his sales. I had to box up some of the non-gun items so they can be picked up by FedEx.
It was nearly 3pm when we left. I was TIRED, hot, sweaty, and worn out when we got in the car to head home. The plan was to make a dent in the drive home, get some food and gas up once we cooled down and felt like stopping.
LIKE THERE WASN'T A MAJOR HURRICANE WHERE WE WERE TRAVELING...so stupid.
I got to Valdosta….because I can't go three days without some kind of crazy thing happening…..this is where I decide "we need gas" so we'll stop. OMG….YALL.
The car is showing 60 miles to empty…..when you get off the freeway, this is when you see the DEVASTATION. The power is out….the street lights have been blown OFF the power lines….there are trees down everywhere. People are wandering around on foot, cars trying to get around the mess. It took a minute to get turned around and get back on the freeway.
….UGH….
We get going on the freeway and stop at the next exit, same thing…..people sitting in lawn chairs by the gas pumps…no power….craziness everywhere. This is just 11 miles down the road, but my car is LOADED down,so its sucking the gas down. By the 3rd exit we find a gas station that has fuel….cash only….thank goodness we carry cash, so we are good.
On the way down we had sunny skies, the stops for fuel were drama free….we noticed a lot of broken trees, billboards, power company trucks, construction, and emergency type vehicles. I knew there was a lot of damage, but I didn't "see" it until on the way home.
Its amazing how perfect everything is just an hour away from total devastation.
Comments
Wow what an experience, I think I can say thank you very much for letting Marks family how much he meant to most of us. Safe travels Kacey.
Check yer mail when you get the time.
Glad you made it safely. Plus 1 what Ruger said
Not the best time to drive south. Glad you made it back safely. Mark was one of the 4 or so forum folks that I ever met in person. We talked quite a while since besides firearms, we enjoyed motorcycles and European travel. I'm happy to be able to call him a friend.
His BMW bike is still in the garage. It's like someone pushed a pause button.
So sad
Were there any draft books available? He was working on a book about Navy flyboys…which I (among others) provided background, etc. in the hope of one day reading a great story. I’d be interested in bidding on such an item.
I didn't get into any areas of his home other than the "gun room" and the garage that had some tubs of magazines and such. I did help them identify what the tax stamp paperwork looked like for the class III stuff. I'm guessing anything he wrote would be on his computer. There were two work rooms…one was a traditional office setup with a desk, cabinets and such. The other was a gun room with a work bench, cabinets and a fantastic leather chair.
They had dug through all the drawers and located several firearms in various places…those were all in the gun room when I arrived. The family was working on getting things sorted. I think an auction house is going to deal with the rest of the estate. I wish I had brought the enclosed trailer so I could have made some offers on the prints hanging on the walls.