My daughter, Jessica and her husband are inland due west of Daytona in a town call Pierson, Florida. The only industry in the area is fern growing, mostly very poor immigrant farm laborers in the area. Jess and Ben have a small, though sturdy cinder block house. We haven't heard from them and can't raise them by cell phone, but assume they're okay. I'll probably try to drive down there tomorrow taking the back roads. Obie is dead on about the poorer folks who live in old frame dwellings inland -- they certainly weren't spared by Frances. The interstate (95) is backed up southbound from Jacksonville to Daytona as folks from the south try to get home. They are blocking utility crews, and there is no gas being pumped == so the mess is only getting worse.

When you're in the middle of this kind of mess, it's easy to become distracted from the hailstorms, fires, by-pass surgeries, and general mayhem going on around the rest of the planet. No one is immune from it, and Frances has been a less than gentle reminder to us about that. Best to all as we each try to rse above it!

pg