Gustav was no match for Katrina evacuee Robert Baker
Three years ago, M60 decathlon champion Robert Baker saw a little storm named Katrina interrupt his season. He described his evacuation from a New Orleans suburb and later reported his return to Metaire. Last weekend, he won gold in the M60 pentathlon at Clermont WMA regionals (finishing behind a guest from South Africa). Then came Gustav and deja vu. How did he do? I wrote Bob to find out.
Bob wrote me: ” I’m doing fine here.”
He continued:
My intuition indicated from Day 1 that Gustav would not be severe for the New Orleans area, so I stayed at home. Actually, in the days leading up to the hurricane, I was in Clermont, FL competing in the NCCWMA masters championship (went to this after pulling out of the Spokane national championship due to a pulled hamstring).
When I went to the WMA in Puerto Rico in 2003, our flight was canceled the first day due to Tropical Storm or Hurricane Robert. When I went to San Sebastion WMA in 2005 I barely made it back in time for Katrina. And now this. I’m beginning to think that maybe I should stay home from WMA meets and just board up the house instead.
Took a flight back a day early from Florida and got here about 10 p.m. Saturday night. Heard the mayor of New Orleans say it was the “mother of all storms” and also the president of Jefferson Parish talk of such dire consequences from the hurricane. At that point I knew my intuition had to be correct because these two consistently say or do just the opposite of what should be said or done.
The wife and daughter headed to northern LA and I stayed. . . . Back on the home front, we lost a bit of siding and about a 10X12 area of shingles off the roof. Noticed water coming through the ceiling and with the help of neighbors put tar paper over the affected area on the roof and corrected the problem.
Other than that, everything was uneventful. Shared meals and played cards with neighbors and also cleaned the yards of neighbors who had evacuated. Only real problem was the lack of cable TV and no feta cheese for my salads. Bummer! Had no electricity from 8:37 am Mon, 8/1, to 1.37 am Wed 8/3. The heat wasn’t very bad because the winds would cool things sufficiently.
That’s about the extent of it. Hope all is well with you.
Well, Bob, if we all had the same sense of humor and strength of character that you showed in this latest ordeal, we’d all be doing very well. Thanks for showing how a masters athlete responds to a challenge.
One Response
Glad Bob got through Hurricane Gustav with little damage. I was concerned about the Louisiana competitors returning home after the WMA regional meet in Clermont, FL. Hope everyone else got through it okay.
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