Having arrived in Florida in the midst of Hurricane Season, I am keeping a close eye on the tropics, as they say here. Getting here was a bit of a hurricane dance as well.

I had precious little control of dates and process after I signed the contract to sell the apartment in New York. Post-closing plans kept getting shifted hither and yon until we suddenly had a time and schedule. I took a trip down the Blue Ridge Parkway on my motorcycle for several days, always aware that Hurricane Fred was threatening to slide up the Florida Peninsula just as I was planning to ride into it. I girded myself for a wet ride and pulled out my rain suit, but lo and behold, on the morning of my planned ride into Florida, Fred helped me out by swinging west and hitting the panhandle instead of the peninsula. Bullet dodged. Dry ride.

But after Fred hammered Alabama and Georgia it tore up the very Parkway route I had just ridden down. Exactly one week after I had cruised through the mountains, Fred caused significant damage to the roads I took, shutting the route down, felling trees and taking out electrical lines. Near miss as I had shifted the ride dates back and forth due to my schedule.

Then almost exactly three weeks after departing the Big Apple, Hurricane Henri came ashore in southern New England, dropping record breaking rainfall and disrupting life in New York City. So I have had three grace periods from hurricane activity in less than a month. I have been lucky and I am grateful. And yes, I will be buying a lottery ticket hoping to cash in on my recent period of good fortune. Stay safe out there this Hurricane Season!

As always you can find more at www.walterthinnes.com and on Twitter @walterthinnes