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It's time for Barbecue Nation with JT.So fire up your grill, light the charcoal, and get your smoker cooking.Now from the Turn It Don't Burn It studios in Portland, here's JT.
Everybody, welcome to the nation, the Barbecue Nation.I'm J.T., and we want to welcome back my co-host, who's been battling floods, hurricanes, tropical storms and crappy hotels, Miss Leanne Wepin, Hall of Famer.
We've also got our fellow Hall of Famer with us today, Ray Lampe.And I think Kel Phelps from Barbecue News is going to phone in, too.He's on the road.
The reason we have Kel and Ray on today, and of course, Leanne, as always, is they all suffered from Hurricanes Milton and Helene.And I wanted to talk to them about that because.
The story is off the front page, as we say in the journalism business, it's back about page five or six now about that, except for the folks that are living through it.And I think it's important that we talk about that.
And of course, all of our barbecue friends and family. are suffering a bit, and we're going to find out more about it.Welcome, everybody.I'm glad you're here.
Hey, Jeff.Good to see you.Hey, Leigh Ann.I haven't seen you in a while either.
Usually I see you a lot. I know.
All right.So who wants to go first?How big of a shitstorm was this?I want to go first.
Here's what you need to understand.So we sit here in Florida knowing about hurricanes because we are because we know about hurricanes.Right.And we watch the national coverage and it's completely different than what we know and see here.
And it bugs me because the eye, so when you look at the hurricane, you look at the center eye.And if I look at the national news, that's what everybody's talking about.
If you're down here, you know that the right side and the left side are completely different.The right side is pushing and it's pushing hard.So if you live up near Tampa Bay, And it pushes into Tampa Bay like Helene did.
We had, you know, the water rose by nine feet or something like that.If the left side hits, you don't get that push so people don't get flooded.But you do get 100 mile an hour winds and we had 18 inches of rain.
So it's a matter of which one you want, but they're completely different.The center is not necessarily the worst part.The right side, just to the right, to me, is the worst part, because it just washes everything out.
The left side, I mean, 100 mile an hour winds is no picnic, but I'll take that over the storm surge.But when I watch the local news, that's exactly what they're talking about and telling you.And when I watch the
The national news that is, I see a complete different story and it bugs me because I just think they should explain it to, so you know what we know.I have to tell my friends, my friends call like, are you okay?
And I'm like, yes, we're getting the left side.We're not going to get flooded.And that just bugs me.And I wanted to get that off my chest.
Well, no, that I'm glad you did because when you are here, I'm 3000 miles away.Right.And I'm watching the news.I'm watching the weather channel.I'm thinking about Leanne and you and everybody down there that I know.
And they say, oh, it's going to be a Cat 5.It's going to be this and that.And well, it dropped off a little bit before we get there, and it's moving north.
Well, if it's moving north along the coast and you hit the Tampa area, that means it's going to be the right side that hits you.And I didn't really understand all that till you just explained it to me, OK?
But then you get the people out there, the people from the Weather Channel, and they're, it's really bad, Bob.And there's stuff flying all over the place. You know, they it's like, why are you out there?Go seek shelter.
You know, I was in my house.Exactly.
We believe you that it's crummy outside.
You don't have to be out there.Well, again, they all talk about the eye in the center of the eye is just not an important part of the hurricane.It's kind of cool because that's what it looks like.
And if you actually get in the eye, it's completely silent and it's a whole different thing.But but it's that's not the real. issue, the center, the sides, the right side mainly is where the ass kicking is done.
And then the backside gets all the tornadoes.I mean, there was tornadoes 200 miles from here because of it.
And I hadn't seen that before.I mean, I hadn't paid that much attention to hurricanes in Florida, except, you know, like you said, national news like this and that.
And every in the last few years, since I've been working with Leanne and you guys, Ray and Kel and all this, it's been You OK?I call you.You OK?Yeah.Everything good.OK.
And so I I'm not cognizant of all of a sudden there's all these twisters going down through the middle of the state.Right.And I spent a lot of time in Texas and Oklahoma and that that area.
And so I'm familiar with twisters, but they're different up here, up there, I should say, than they are in Florida, because it's all flat there.And, you know, you might see an occasional cow fly by or something, but you know,
You know, you've got all kinds of trees and debris and stuff going all over the place.
Yeah, it's it's it's a really unpleasant side effect of the hurricane, that's for sure.So what is going on with that picture?What's going on with that picture?What's he doing in the picture?That's kind of weird.I'm sorry.Are you there, Kel?
Yeah.What's up, guys?Hey, Kel. Yeah, dude, I think that was a screenshot from, I don't know, somebody was cutting a joke and called a picture of me.I said, well, that looks like a good profile since I've grown out, not up, you know.
I said, that looks like an old, you know, pretty good shot.
You like that picture because you look skinny, is that what you're saying?
A little bit like that, yeah.Fair enough, yeah, that's a good move.But yeah, man, I'm glad to be Be talking to you guys.We're only, uh, two tires and, um, one flat from, uh, American roll today.So, you know, it's just par for the course for us.
Trailer trailer life, man.You know that.
Oh, yeah, that's it.Well, what I was going to say, Kel, is that that snapshot you put up there, that looks like. You took that at the shed and Brad's handing you one last drink for the night, right there.
That's the look on your face.No, man.If it was at the shed, I would be definitely a lot more cross-eyed than that.
I see you there tomorrow night.
So how did, how did you live in Georgia and Ray and Leanne live in Florida?How did the hurricanes affect you?
Oh my gosh, man.So, you know, Helene really explained that thing was perfect.And that's exactly what happened over 200 miles away from where Ray and those guys are at.We caught just on the, just on the very edge, right edge of the eye.
And then we had some 20 some tornadoes come that is population about 40,000 or so.And we were 98, 97% without power in the county.But thousands and thousands of trees knocked down.
houses, just something that we see when we go with OBR guys and help in the Florida's and Louisiana's and Mississippi's where all those hurricanes come in.We usually are in those areas helping people.
Never in a billion years did I think we would be doing that kind of stuff and cleanup in our county from a hurricane.
Did you, did it knock trees and stuff down at your own home?
Uh, it did.Um, you know, we were so blessed, man.My neighborhood's got about 30 some homes in it.Um, and of those 30 some homes, there's probably a thousand trees down, um, in those properties.And there was one boat house.
that a neighbor had get hit by a big pine tree.
But the rest of them are just nip corners or nothing super, super bad.
Shingles blown off.Some of the winds, you know, that we had measured were about 140 miles an hour where we were at.So no doubt that's probably from tornadoes. The sustained winds were like 90, 92 miles an hour right there at the airport.
In that 57,000, we had two fatalities.
To put a scope on how bad it was, our county is probably $2.5 billion.
that we're going to lose with agricultural pine trees, um, houses, vehicles, that'll be the, and that's just a guess, but they won't really know till cotton crops and all that stuff start coming in.
Um, but that's, and you're 400 miles from here, right?You're three, 400 miles from here.
Yeah.We're, we're like 200 and. When I looked the other day, we're 280 some miles from the eye, where the eye actually come in on shore.
Wow.I mean, so think about everything in between that got a similar treatment.
Well, yeah.If you're 280 miles from the eye, isn't the width of the storm about another 280 miles roughly on the other side?
Now he's saying, I think 280 miles from where the, the, the eye came ashore.
Is that what you're saying?
Yeah, absolutely.I mean, I don't know how far North Carolina is, um, from the eye.It's probably another, golly, another 300, 350 miles maybe.But I know Augusta, Georgia, which is, you know,
Right on the South Carolina border, man, it got tore up pretty bad as well.And it's crazy at how this particular storm, it just hit the gas pedal and it just come through so fast, but it didn't lose energy.
Most time, these storms will lose a lot of energy once they hit and make landfall. And we may lose, you know, a couple of trees and we may be with, uh, without power for two or three days or something.
Um, well, it's usually a tropical storm by the time it gets to you, right?In this case, it was still a tornado or still a hurricane.I believe.
Right.Absolutely.I think when it hit, they claimed we saw it as a category to where we were at.
And that's amazing.And for people that don't know what that really what they measure, they measure the wind speed, the technicality of it, you could look up, but that's how they decide.It goes from being a four down to a three when it hits land.
You know, of course, it starts to break up and goes to a three and a two and then a tropical storm.So it's pretty amazing that it made it to Douglas, Georgia on as a cat, too.That's unbelievable.
Yeah, it is unbelievable.
I think it was only a cat for when it hit.
And I think before he was actually a cat five, which is the highest grade they may slow down before it actually hit.
Um, see, you know, the weatherman weatherman here was telling us, he's like, it's going to slow down to a cat four, but that doesn't mean Jack at that last minute, by then the storm is 400 miles wide or whatever.And right.I'm in balls to the wall.
And so technically the wind speed is going to go down by, by 50 miles an hour.So it becomes a cat four, but at that point.
It doesn't matter.It doesn't matter.We're going to take a break and we're going to be back with Leanne, Kel, and Ray.We're going to talk some more hurricane stories in just a minute.Please stay with us. Hey, everybody, it's Jeff here.
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Just go to HeritageSteel.us and find out more.You'll love it.I guarantee it. Welcome back to Barbecue Nation.
I'm JT, and we're welcoming back my co-host and co-commander here, Leanne Whippen, Hall of Famer, and Ray Lampe, Hall of Famer, and Kel Phelps, who's a Hall of Famer just like me in our own minds.So there you go.
I think Kel's day will come.
Kel's day will come.And we'd like to thank the Oregon Crab Commission and Painted Hills Natural Beef for supporting this show like they do among other people.So we've been talking to these three about Helena and Milton.
We kind of work on those names a little bit.Helene was kind of a cool name.Milton is I had a landlord named Milton once.He was not a good guy.So I just tell you that right now, Leanne, you've been kind of quiet about this.
I know I talked to you a couple of times before the storms got there.And then when you had service, I could talk to you afterwards. What happened to you and your family?And if they're looking at the video, that's your daughter's house, right?
It still looks like that.They haven't picked up anything.I mean, you are like driving and dodging branches that are sticking out and now they're all dry and brown and it's everywhere.It is trash.Tampa is. It's a mess.
They did a pretty good job in between cleaning up.So the debris wouldn't fly on the 2nd, 1.But after the 2nd, 1, it's like, we're done, you know, no storms coming and, you know, it's just there.
And I don't even know how long it's going to take for them to come by and get all this stuff, but. Uh, yes.
Were they working like the, the interstates and stuff first to try and the main drags to clean up priorities, like businesses, hospitals, you know, that sort of thing.
Um, but residential is not at the top of the list.So yeah, the photograph that you see is from my daughter's house and basically lost all of the furniture, you know, cause once that water, it contaminates things.So.
They have been on high alert on many hurricanes and put all the furniture up.And this was the one time that they didn't because, you know, we had a couple, you know, supposed, you know, scares and people let their guard down and it happened.
And, you know, we're cutting drywall, you know, all, you know, three, four feet up and just to get out of the house so that the mold doesn't, you know, continue growing.So, you know, I had to go to Home Depot and get the big industrial fans and
Yeah, the thing is, it impacted not only Florida, Georgia and North Carolina, but North Carolina, I have really, I really feel bad for them because they don't expect this kind of damage from hurricanes and they don't get flood insurance.
You know, they don't have the insurances that we know we should have down here.So when they lost, they lost big time.And yeah, and my two cousins live in North Carolina and
You know, my dad was, you know, in an area where the roads were washed out and, you know, some of his friends were without power for almost two weeks.
I know my my brother and sister in law live in East Tennessee, not far out of Chattanooga there. My my wife and her were talking about us planning another trip back there to see him.And they were going to go to see Chimney Rock, right?
Chimney Rock's not there anymore.
Yeah.And Asheville is decimated.
Yeah.Yeah.So I really feel I really feel for those people.But one of the things, too, and Ray was talking about what you see on national TV versus what you see locally and stuff.
You know, they evidently, and this is what I was told, that like in Asheville, in those areas, there was a huge homeless population, but they're not there anymore.So did they survive?Did they get washed away?
I mean, those are things we don't see in the other parts of the country.And I'm very curious about that.So has FEMA been around to help you guys? Any of you, I don't care.
FEMA's been very present, at least from the people that I've talked to.They came out within a week to my daughter's house, and the adjusters were the ones that were taking the longest time to come out, but it was pretty present.
Yeah, that's what my wife's, a friend of my wife's posted something today saying, don't necessarily believe what you hear.FEMA's been here in the, the insurance companies are the ones that are dragging their feet.
Thank God FEMA's here to give them a little something to get started.Sure.
That's, that's pretty much the common thread around here anyway.
Yeah.And so in Douglas, I mean, we finally got a FEMA office up, a temporary office.They come in, um, I guess, about two weeks ago or so, almost a month after is when they started setting up.
But, you know, the majority is the insurance folks are, you know, they're blown away, 500 claim.You know, my agent is saying, you know, they got 500 claims in one week. He's lucky if he gets 500 claims in two years.
Right.Well, that's the thing, you know, like Leanne talking about, you know, they're not picking this stuff up and they're definitely not.I saw at least I saw some getting picked up in Tampa and St.Pete.I have not seen one thing get picked up.
But it's, and same with the insurance and FEMA, it's overwhelming.Unless you're here, you don't understand the extent of this.It's literally every house in St.Petersburg and every house in South Tampa anyway.
I mean, it's, and in Douglas, like you said, you know. It's a place you expected.So FEMA, I'm sure, was planning to come here, you know, three days out.They knew this is where they needed to be.They didn't know they needed to be in Douglas.
I mean, it's it's overwhelming is the only word I can use.
Mm hmm.Yeah.And, you know, we're so heavy agricultural there in in South Georgia.And right.You've been there.You know what our communities like.But, you know, we have a huge chicken plant there.And so there was
I think almost 600 houses that represent, that make that facility run, and there's 179 that are lost.
And as you ride down the road, I mean, you know, when you talk about feeling the impact, you get within two miles of one of those houses, even now, still, And it just, it almost make you just lose lunch.
Um, well, correct me if I'm wrong, Kel.Those are the folks that may just move on to a different town to get a job.And they're not, you know, they're not you and your family and the people have been living in Douglas forever.
Those are folks that came there to work.And if they're, you know, their house is gone, they may well, very well just moving on to the next place where they can, you know, get a work and you got to somehow replace those people.
Hey, we're going to take a quick break here on the nation and we will be back with Leanne Ray Lampe, Dr. Barbecue and Kel Phelps from barbecue news right after this.Don't go away.
Hey everybody, it's JT, and I have eaten, if you've ever looked at me, you know that, but I have eaten seafood all over the world, and I can tell you there's no place better than here in Oregon and our Dungeness crab.
If you wanna learn more about Oregon Dungeness crab, just go to oregondungeness.org and find out how to cook it, how to catch it, where to buy it, and the sustainability of what they're doing there in the Oregon Crab Commission.Check it out.
Welcome back to the nation.I'm JT.We're talking about the after effects of hurricanes Helene and Milton.
We're talking with Leanne, Ray Lampe, Dr. Barbecue and Kel Phelps and how these storms are still affecting people, even though they're not on the front page.
My buddy, there's a place called Steen Hatchy a couple hours North of here, right on the water.So my buddy owns a big bar and restaurant there.
And they got hit last year with, I forget what Debbie maybe or something and, and took them out, wasted their place.So they built it all back and they built it back with the intention of, okay, let's.
Let's think about what, when this is going to happen next time, make sure we can get everything out of here.And they had a plan, but they didn't know they were going to have to do it again this year.And they got wasted again.
And I saw him the other day and he said, and he jokingly, he said, well, the good news is we're getting good at this.He said, and my competition is all blown off the map.
So I, you know, whenever we do get back open, we're, I mean, this is, this is two years in a row.Imagine for them people.And it's a small town.I mean, tourist thing, it's a tourist thing, but it's not like going to Orlando, man.
So that leads me to what I wanted to say about the beaches down here.So we got a bunch of the Out Island, typical Out Island kind of thing, where our beaches are from Clearwater on down to a place called Passagrill.
And next time you think about going to Clearwater, don't go there.Go to Passagrill.It's much nicer.But anyway, those places all got wasted.
They had literally, there's like a main road, kind of like A1A that runs down the beach there, and it had 10 feet of sand on the road.They had to get front end loaders to get the sand off the road when they could find it to even start.
But, I mean, those people, okay, you live on the beach, you kind of took that on, understanding that.But think about the resorts and the restaurants and the bars.
And granted, okay, the big resort's going to lose a bunch of money, but what about that bartender?That's what he does for a living.His bar's blown out to sea.There's so many of those people in the service industry that are just...
Yeah, and I don't know when they're getting back to work.And so now if you got my buddy's supposed to be coming to Clearwater next week, I don't know if he's coming from Chicago.
I got to call him because I don't know that I would be coming down here on vacation right now.I hate to say that out loud, but it's just not going to be what you were expecting when you planned that trip.
And I just it's going to take a long time to recover from all that.
Also, the hotel rooms are inundated with displaced families.So The rates I know from this past weekend are absolutely astronomical right now.So if you're going to start booking a hotel room, they're either sold out or sky high.
I feel like it's price gouging a little bit, but which is not no question.
Yeah, you can't. You can't get one of those pods to put in your driveway right now if your life depended on it.They're all gone.They're all in everybody's driveway.You can't rent a storage unit right now.No chance.And so on and so on.
I mean, it's just the things you don't think about.And again, we're a month past this, and it's not going to change anytime soon.
So I had a question.I think Leanna and I talked on the phone one day about this.Ray, you mentioned the sand. The sand gets blown, depending on which side you're on.
Now that I understand a little bit, the sand gets sucked in off the beach and blown inland, but they can't take it back to the beach.Is that correct?Because it's contaminated some of it.
Well, what they did is they staged it, all that sand, they staged it in a gigantic pile of piles.And then they had to, whatever they did before they could put it back on the beach, they had to process it.
I don't know what that meant, if they screen it or if they spray it, or I don't know what the... You know, I mean, there's just there's just I can't even imagine what's in that pile of sand.Everybody's broken window and torn off carport.
And I mean, you can't just shovel it right back.
Yeah, there's a bunch of trash in it.And you know what?There were some homes here that had two, three feet of sand inside their homes, which is even it's even worse than water.Trying to get that sand out of your home.
So it's the opposite of beach erosion, because like I said, if it's the other side of the storm, it pulls all the sand off.This side of the storm gives you some extra sand.It's things you can't even imagine.
And I mean, this is a major, major disaster.Weirdly, it's kind of nice to talk about it, because we're sort of getting used to it.You don't think about it.
Literally, between here and my buddy John's house, who got gutted and is just sitting there waiting for the process to continue.Between here and there, I can drive by literally 500 homes with all their stuff.
Everything they own is on the front lawn, except what's been stolen.
Uh, the good news is like the, the scavengers have grabbed up all the washers and dryers, um, and taking them to the junkyard, which is fine because you gotta, at least it's, you know, we're not looking at, there's not two washers and dryers on every yard.
Ray, the next day when I was helping my daughter, there was like the length of a semi-truck trailer, you know, with like wooden sides on it.And they were stopping at every house.
And the problem with this is they're taking stuff that the adjusters need to see.So it's hurting, you know, the people from getting what's due to them.And they don't even think about it.
I mean, both my daughter and I had it out with these people that were coming.It was literally like the next day and the day after they were coming around taking stuff.
Well, John, my buddy John had two really nice leather love seats that he bought within the last year or two.One he never sits on and perfectly new sitting on his front lawn because they got wet underneath.So they're garbage insurance will claim it.
However, if you were a guy who sells used furniture, you very well would probably want to get those and see if you could salvage them.And I don't know if you can or not, but. That's not the point.
But unfortunately, like you said, if you haven't taken a picture of it yet and filed your claim, it's just stuff you just can't even think of, man.It's so sad.And here's another thing, too, that I've gone through.
So our house happens to be on high ground, so we didn't have any flooding issue.We had a few shingles blown off.We have hurricane shutters.I have a generator.We didn't have a very hard time. time with it at all.We lost very little.
A couple of tree branches.You feel guilty.I mean, look at poor Brittany's house.I feel terrible for her.
Well, you know, she said in hindsight, thank God she was home because what happened was a fire started because, you know, the water gets up to that level and all the electrical stuff.So the pillars started smoldering like with smoke.
And if they weren't there, it would have caught on fire.So in hindsight, you know, you got to look at the positive of it.
Yeah, those are stories too.I talked to my friend Jill yesterday and her neighbor, that's what happened and their house burned down.There's four feet of water in their house and it lights on fire and burns down.
I mean, talk about a horrible, I mean, what a situation.
Well, Leanne, you were pointing out to me that EVs, electric vehicles, when their batteries got salt water on them, they catch on fire.
Yep.And so they allowed parking in some of the garages before this, and they would not let the EVs in those parking garages unless they were parked on the top floor.And that's where a lot of the fires started on Harbor Island.
I think it was was from the EVs and houses down electric bicycles, too.
That's crazy.You know, the only the only probably the worst thing we saw as supplies and stuff started coming in for those who had lost, you know, everything or whatever.We had churches open up and doing meals and senior citizen center or whatever.
Lynn Intrican and her crew from Alabama sent like two truckloads in to just supplies that you don't really ever think about, like toilet paper and towels, washcloths, things that just get gone.
But what we really ran into was some of these guys who, I guess from out of town to the region, running these secondhand shops or thrift shops or whatever, but they would be loading these brand new Escalade Cadillacs
with all these goods that were meant for people to come.And then there was three or four times that we saw these guys when we were doing the meals over in Pearson.And we'd see the same guy over and over.
And the lady who run the shop, she's like, I don't know what to do.But I said, well, you know what?Don't worry, sugar.We got it.We got it. And so he come in the next day and we said, guy, you were here yesterday and you loaded that thing up.
I said, I think you've got it.I think you're good.Oh, well, I'm collecting for neighborhood.I said, well, you know what?Load them guys up and bring them.I said, we will load it up again for them.I said, but you put them in the truck and bring them.
And he tucked his tail between his legs and left.But, you know, I've heard that story three or four or five times than that. That was really the worst, probably the worst of the worst that we saw in that deal.
But, you know, as far as people coming by, picking up stuff, you know, there's so many pine trees or trees down that our roads are just stacked on the side with trees.So we don't have washers and dryers or where people have gutted their houses.
The county did a great thing. as far as setting up these big, huge dumpster bins at the different schools.So at least you knew where you could go and get rid of some of that stuff if you were going ahead and tearing out your house or doing whatever.
But that was a huge deal.
We need a dumpster literally at every home.I mean, I was just thinking that sounds like a really good idea.But if there was a dumpster at the school, it'd be full in an hour.And, you know, I mean, it's just insane, the volume of stuff.
The dump is getting overloaded, of course. on and on and on.But yeah, let's talk about some good stuff.So Operation Barbecue is down here, right down the road from me, 10 minutes from here.
So I go have a few beers at this brewery by my house, and it's kind of in a, not the best part of town.So I thought, well, hell, I'll go get some food from those guys, the bulk meals and
and stand out in front of the brewery and feed whoever's walking by.And we did that, and it was really nice.And so then I had leftover bread and stuff, so I went over to St.
Vincent de Paul's Soup Kitchen, gave it to that guy, and he said, oh, thanks a lot.He goes, yeah, our donations are way down.I was like, well, heck, OBR would love to feed these guys too.So I went back the next day and got food for 250 for him.
He could feed all his people and take a little pressure off of his thing.The day I saw the OBR guys, they had fed 40,000 the day before here just in St.Petersburg.
Yeah, they were all over national news.That is so amazing, man.
We're going to take a break here on The Nation.We want to thank, of course, our sponsors, Painted Hills Natural Beef and the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission.And don't forget about Leanne's Pig Powder.We'll be right back. Hey everybody, it's JT.
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Just go to paintedhillsbeef.com and find out more.You won't regret it. Hey everybody, JT here.I want to tell you about Hammerstahl knives.Hammerstahl combines German steel with beautiful and functioning designs.
They're part of the Heritage Steel Group, which also does their pots and pans.So go to heritagesteel.us, check out the Hammerstahl knives.If you're really into cooking, I think you're really going to like them. Welcome back to Barbecue Nation.
I'm JT, and we are very fortunate to have Leanne back with us and Ray Lampe and Kel Phelps.I'm going to ask each one of you the same question.What's your biggest takeaway from all this?And you start with Leanne.Ladies first.
And I'll take it from my daughter.She said, I will never underestimate the message of stay safe and and listen.It just it's better to be safe than sorry and she will never let her guard down again and I concur.
You know, I think my takeaway is people still are good.Because while we do, you know, unfortunately, you can't help but focus on the fact that people are stealing stuff off your lawn and being jerks and gouging, price gouging and stuff.
There's a whole lot of good stuff going on, a whole lot of people doing good stuff.Around here, you know, I sure wasn't the only guy helping people get fed.
It's my barber, who's a cute young lady, her and her partner in the in the barbershop, another cute young lady.They went over by Shore Acres, which is a neighborhood that flooded really bad.
And they brought their grill and got a couple of their friends and they cooked a bunch of burgers and hot dogs and and just fed who they could.And there's so much of that going on that, you know, there is still good people out there.
It's amazing to see.Cool.All right, Kel.
Man, you know, I got to tell you.I kind of agree with both of those guys, and they sum it up.I mean, you got to be ready.
And I don't think I mean, I've always had a generator standing by, not one that plugs into the house, but one that I could, you know, power my refrigerators and stuff.But right.You know, and I don't lose food or whatever.
But then when it's over, go look for somebody. because there's a ton of folks that need that help.Like Ray was talking about, you know, it takes a village to take care of us.And used to in the old school days, man, we did that.We did that 24-7.
We were always looking after our neighbors, always.Now, I think, you know, it's not that we care any less.I think we just get busy doing our stuff and doing what's got to be done.And sometimes we forget to check on them.
Man, I gotta tell you, some of the 30-some in my neighborhood, there was about four widows who were probably in their 70s, 80s.
But, you know, just dropping by, we carried buckets of water so they could, you know, have toilet water, kept their generators running so they didn't lose their refrigerators or whatever.But never, I never want to,
I would never want my mom or any of my kin folks to go through anything like that without a neighbor or a friend or somebody who come by and check on them and take care of them.
One of the coolest things I saw like that were extension cords, just a regular old orange extension cord run from one house across the street to the next house.
And not only are you sharing your power, you're also know you're probably gonna have to throw your extension cord away.And I mean, that just was like a really generous thing to do.I saw a lot of that.
I grew up on a farm and we had freezers. Plural, we had freezers, right?And that's why we always had a small generator.We didn't really care so much about the lights in the house.But like you were saying, we had a lot of orange extension cords.
to the freezers in the utility room, the freezers on the back porch, you know, that type of thing, and we'd turn them on and let each one run for a couple hours a day or whatever it took, and then, you know, snake a line in from the main refrigerator in the house.
So, we didn't lose food and we were on well water, so we had kind of a cistern out behind the house, so that would fill up.And in the house I live in now, modern, so to speak, we have a 500 gallon tank.
in the back that's kind of hidden in a closet right you can't see it but the last time we watched lost power in the ice storm we had we had water for 10 days with that until the power came back in so that that's that's kind of cool but i agree with all of you um checking on your neighbors i've got a
elderly lady that lives actually on both sides of me.
And, uh, I just check on them, make sure, you know, and if we're cooking something, cooking a pot of stew or something, I make, you know, I take them over at least a couple meals worth of that stew.
They all have gas so they can heat it up in their house.Right.Uh, but yeah, I think that's a really good thing.That's a, that's a good being a good human being.Sure. And you've seen enough of your bad human beings down there.
The one thing I was going to comment, though, about Ray was talking about the sand and Leanne, you were talking about blowing sand in the house.I know what it's like to get sand in your swimming suit.
That's got to be really uncomfortable to try to get that out of your house.
Yeah, you got to throw away all your clothes because you're going to have sand in them forever.
Oh, geez.Geez.Anyway, so is the future looking bright in in Tampa and down in Naples?And you got a lot of work to do, but it was actually didn't get hit that bad.
Well, no, it's I'm down here now.Tampa is way worse, way worse.
How are people's attitudes, though?I mean, are they OK?It's here.It's over.It's you know, we saw the damage, are we just, you know, pressing forward or are they... It's been interesting to see the evolution of that.
So in the beginning, all the traffic lights were out.So everybody was just the honor system.And in general, I was really amazed the first couple of days how nice people were being.
I think there's people that don't really know how to use a four-way stop.And, you know, it happened so fast, there were no stop signs.You just had to accept the fact there's nothing going on here.It's a four-way stop.
And it was really good in the beginning.And then little by little, you know, people started to, two guys would go and then there'd be some bully that would push his way through.
And if grandma was, it was her turn and she didn't go right away, everybody would just go.And, you know, little by little it had turned into, and now it's the, you know,
The wheels are off now, we're right back to do everything you can to screw the guy in traffic.But there was a couple of days there where it was really, it was refreshing.
It was civilized, you might say.
Yeah, it totally really was.It was surprising.I did not see one fender bender.And I mean, and trust me, the whole town of St.Pete, the traffic lights were out.I did not see one fender bender.I'm sure there were some.Oh, yeah.
We got to talk about the Tropicana Field, too, where I work. I'm actually going when we get done here to go have a couple of drinks with a bunch of my fellow fan hosts.And I don't, nobody will know anything.
We don't know what's going to happen at this point, but other thing they've told us is it ain't going to be ready for opening day.
So, well, I was watching and, uh, they did a drone flyover or something of it, and it looked like it was shredded toilet paper up there and stuff on the top, so.
And then we got the pictures inside, and the inside was a disaster, too, because not only did all that, a lot of that roof ended up inside, just in pieces, so it looked like bad, you know, horrible, giant confetti, but also, again, 18 inches of rain then fell in a place.
Now, it looks like an outside ballpark, but it's not.It's not made for 18 inches or any rain. It was never going to rain in there ever.And all of a sudden there's 18 inches.I hear it's a mess.I have not been in there, but I hear it's a mess.
that the, uh, they, uh, national guard folks were inside that thing when that prior to they had a bunch of pots.
They were set up for them, but nobody was in there.There was 13 essential employee, 13 or 14 essential employees were there, but no, but they'd be out.There was a bunch of cots and supplies and stuff.
They were ready to cause all those people stage out of the area. You know, the National Guard and the all the line guys, the linemen and stuff, they all stayed.You see them coming in and leaving and stuff.
So they weren't really there to stay there, but they were.Yeah, they were going to stay there the next night with the roof on.
Holy moly.That's that's tough deal.OK, well, I'm going to let everybody go.I know, Ray, you got to eat to an event and Kel's got to get to the Royal and Leanne's got to eat dinner, eat dinner.
OK. early bird early bird special with your mom.
Yeah, we're doing something some spaghetti with cabbage something.
There's a famous rib place down there.Do you know about that place?micklebobs or mickles?
I've eaten at micklebobs.And you know what? I don't like their ribs because they use I think they're Australian ribs.So they're really teeny tiny and they don't have a lot of meat on them.
Well, that's what you get when you're harvesting wallabies, the little kangaroos.You got to get the big kangaroos.
Yeah, but all them all them old people in Naples, that's enough.That's a big enough portion.So I suppose I think you're like 10 bucks a slab or something, aren't they?
Yeah, it's not a bad price.But seriously, if you weighed the meat that you took off, it's lucky to be four ounces. It's bad.
Well, I thank you all.Good luck there at the Royal and Ray.Keep us posted on the on the ball field there and Leanne.Yeah, stay safe down there, OK?Yeah, I'll see you Friday.
He'll be looking for you, man.
Appreciate you guys so much as always.Yes, safe travels.
We're going to get out of here.We want to thank all our sponsors.I'm not even going to list them for this show.There's too many and this is too important.So for everybody out there, take care.Remember our motto, turn it, don't burn it.
And we will see you next week.
Barbecue Nation is produced by JTSD LLC Productions in association with Salem Media Group.All rights reserved.
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