Driving down I-75 towards Tampa last week, I counted 54 tree-trimming trucks, racing to the panhandle, the next hurricane hot spot. Ivan was trouncing its way through the gulf, bearing down on New Orleans, or Pensacola, or Mobile. That's cool, I thought, folks heading out to help. But I also counted 28 satellite trucks beating the same path, CNN, The Weather Channel, any number of local news crews, all hoping for that one shot -- Destruction. Destruction sells, it's like weather porn. The Weather Channel posted crews from Apalachicola to New Orleans, a liberal scattering of resources... all earnestly wishing for their own bit of havoc to report.

It really does annoy me to see some jackass standing on a pier, microphone in hand, pointing out the overturned newsstand and raging sees. So, when Weekend America asked me to travel to Port Charlotte, Florida, and tell the story of people recovering from a hurricane, I was thrilled.

Charley slammed into Port Charlotte over a month ago, felling light poles, trees, and homes. Francis romped through a couple weeks later, pouring rain inside the roofless houses. I arrived in town on Monday, September 13, just as Ivan decided to take a northward course and spare this town another beating. Still, the entire place is a wreck.

After spending a day touring wrecked trailers, talking with people who are just sad, and visiting a Red Cross shelter, I look to my wife and writing partner, Kim, and say, 'I have no idea how to do this story.' Weekend America asked for a 'Hal Humphreys story.'

'What the hell does that mean?' I ask Kim.

We stop the car. I'm near tears. Kim says, 'I know what Hal does when he needs to think... He goes to the bar.' Which is where I met Carol and Nathan, the anchors of this piece. I love this job."

Hal Humphreys
Hal Humphreys lives in Nashville, TN. He and his wife, Kim Green, use their quiet home as a base of operation for travel,writing, and audio production. Their work appears in regional, national, and international travel publications, regional newspapers, and one very well written neighborhood newsletter. Their audio journalism airs on public/community radio stations the world over.

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