It’s all a matter of perspective. We are on our way back South to our winter home (a fifth wheel) in Bonita Springs, Florida. We spent the holidays back in Connecticut in the midst of the frigid cold spell that most of America has been experiencing. As shocking as it was to us the first few days, we quickly fell back into our roots, and suffered quietly as we always have in the past. It certainly was a stark reminder of why we had chosen to winter in Florida.

We left early on Tuesday morning with wind chills below zero. We made our way along salty highways through New York and New Jersey amongst others who view the temperatures and powdery white cars as the reality of winter in the Northeast. We settled in Maryland for the first night. While in Maryland we became aware of a winter storm that was threatening the Eastern seaboard from Jacksonville all the way up to New England. The forecast called for snow and ice from the storm the bulk of which would be out in the Atlantic and brush the southern coasts with snow and ice. We thought we may have to alter our schedule or our route.

Today our target was Florence, South Carolina. As we neared Florence at around 3 pm, the flurries began. The storm had already been in progress in Northern Florida and was moving North. We pulled into our hotel and checked in as the snow became light but steady.

Around 4:30 we decided we were hungry having been on the road all day and decided to find a place that delivered. The first place we called did not answer. The next two places answered, but said they had closed for the night. We decided to call a couple of places in the area to order pick up meals. They were also closed for the evening. All this for a forecast of 1-3 inches.

The snowfall outside our hotel room

We turned on the television to find the South Carolina Governor holding a press conference from the emergency center accompanied by all of his department heads giving reports including the National Guard. As I was watching this, I couldn’t help thinking about Erie, Pennsylvania that received nearly five feet of snow in a two-day period last week.

Seeing that all of the restaurants decided to close, I went the lobby to check out the small store to see what they had to offer. The frozen meals section offered a variety of Lean Cuisine meals, hot pockets and other delights. I picked up Eileen a Lean Cuisine and I had a couple of Uno frozen steak pockets.

The lobby was full of people looking for last minute shelter and food. The hotel was quickly sold out. People were turned away into the continuing snowfall.

Schools in Florence will be closed tomorrow and are talking about what will happened for Friday. We will probably leave a little later than usual tomorrow morning and make our way South.