TS Fay: August 22 Update B

Dear Mother Nature,

I've been enjoying my tour of Florida. Having been here for almost five
days, I've seen most of the state - the only part left really is the Tampa
Bay area but I hear there isn't much of interest there so I'm probably not
going to bother.

The Keys were beautiful, you should visit them sometimes. SW Florida was
also something you would like; I particularly enjoyed seeing the swampy
side of Florida as I traveled around down there, on my way to Lake
Okeechobee. Not much to see there other than a big lake, so I decided not
to spend too much time but moved on to Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy
Space Center. Now that was fascinating! I spent the whole day there and
didn't get bored at all. I could have hung out there for longer, but as
you know, I'm on a tight schedule and I did so want to have a quick look
at the NE coast of Florida, which is very different from the southern part
of the state. The beaches on the Atlantic side are really wild - big big
waves - and I was having such a good time that I stayed there longer than
I intended. It was nice to see the ocean where I was born.

I spent today crossing the state back to the west side, dropping in on
Gainesville on my way - it's mostly a college town, and do you know if
it's still the biggest party school in the country? Don't worry, I only
stopped for a coffee.

I'm now heading west towards Appalachicola but instead of taking the
circuitous route over land, I took the direct path, cutting over the
north-eastern tip of the Gulf of Mexico. Using my GPS, I can tell you I'm
at about 29.7N, 84.2W. The waters here are a lovely warm 29 deg C, and
with little wind shear the trip is really quite pleasant. I'm close enough
to see Tallahasse but I'm not going to visit it properly or stop because I
want to get to Appalachicola by the morning, so I've picked up my pace a
bit and am now moving at 8mph. There's not too much to stop and see here
anyway, although I must say the warm water is rejuvinating after my
travels over land all day and I'm swirling with winds of 50 mph now.

Here's a map to show you the area my Tropical Storm force winds have
covered so far:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at1+shtml/024715.shtml?swath#contents

Over the weekend I intend to check out the rest of the north-west coast of
Florida - maybe take another dip or two into the Gulf on the way, and then
move on to visit the southern coasts of Alabama, Mississippi, and
Louisiana before I head inland. At least that's my plan for now, but it's
all subject to change - you know me! :)

I hope all is well at home.
Your loving daughter,
Fay

P.S. Wish you were here, the weather is lovely.

---------------------------------------------------------
Blogs archived at: http://www.jyotikastorms.blogspot.com/
-------------------------------
DISCLAIMER:
These remarks are just what I think/see regarding tropical storms - not
the opinion of any organization I represent. If you are making an
evacuation decision, please heed your local emergency management and the
National Hurricane Center's official forecast and the National Weather
Service announcements. This is not an official forecast. If I "run away,
run away" (Monty Python), I'll let you know.
-------------------------------------------