Irene pounds coastline

Among those riding out Hurricane Irene at the Dutch Inn in Henry County on Saturday were from left; Mike Gracia, LeaAnne Gracia, son Ben,8, and cousin Nate,9, partially hidden. They brought their dogs, J.J., left and Casey in their SIV loaded with motorcycles. (Bulletin photo by Mike Wray) More Photos

Mike Gracia described his visit to the Martinsville area this weekend as “an evacuation vacation.”

He and about a dozen of his relatives from the Tidewater area traveled west and were staying at the Quality Inn/Dutch Inn to escape the fury of Hurricane Irene. They left home around midday Friday, bringing six dogs with them.They had to leave some cats behind. Gracia, of Virginia Beach, said they figured that if the felines got loose, they would be harder to catch.“We fed the cats and filled their litter boxes,” he said, “but they’re fending for themselves.”Actually, Gracia and some of his family planned to come to the area today to attend a motorcycle race in Penhook. Irene persuaded them to come sooner.Steve Grodenski, general manager of the Quality Inn/Dutch Inn, estimated that 75-100 people from coastal areas were staying there this weekend to get away from the hurricane.“We’ve seen a spike in business,” he said Friday. Reservations have been “quite active during the past 36 hours.”Jeffrey Parker, a manager at the Jameson Inn, estimated Friday that the inn had at least 35 reservations from people and families fleeing the storm.“We can’t take any more reservations” because the inn is full, he said.As of mid-afternoon Saturday, Irene had been downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane — the lowest ranking — but high winds and heavy rains continued to pound the Virginia and North Carolina coastlines.“I thought it was going to be much worse than it is, but I’m still glad I came” to Martinsville and Henry County, said Charles Rutledge of Virginia Beach, who was staying with his companion and his poodle at the Quality Inn/Dutch Inn.Locally, there were dark clouds and gusty winds from the storm but little, if any, rain on Saturday.Rutledge lives in a wooded area, and he expected Irene’s winds would result in a lot of broken tree limbs being blown around, which could hurt people and damage property. He also was concerned that some large trees at his house would topple.“Why stay there and worry about it?” Rutledge said. “We can go back and see what we’ve got left” after the storm is over.Jason Lord of Newport News was staying with his wife, their teenager and their dog at The Jameson Inn. Noting there was a mandatory evacuation for low-lying areas of Tidewater, he said his street has a history of flooding, so they thought “it was a good idea to go ahead and leave to be safe.”Lord was not overly worried about his home. He said he has insurance.“It’s really out of my control,” he said of hurricane damage. “We’ll hope for the best and see” what happens.Gracia said he thinks his brick house will withstand the hurricane, but he did not want to run the risk of it being damaged with he and his family inside.He has stayed home during hurricanes before, but Irene is a much stronger storm than others he has seen.Back home, “people are scared” because Irene was expected to remain over Virginia Beach for about eight hours, Gracia said. Past hurricanes were rough for about three hours, he recalled.Lord, who is in the military, flew home from Germany Friday night. His wife picked him up at the airport, and he and his family drove to Martinsville.“It was the first place where we could find a hotel” with a vacancy, he said.However, Lord, Gracia and Rutledge all said they had visited the area before and enjoyed it.This weekend’s trip is “not really a vacation for us,” Rutledge said, “but we do enjoy the hospitality here.”The visitors said they would stay in touch with people back home to find out about conditions there, which will influence when they return.Rutledge said he and his companion probably would stay close to the motel during their visit. Lord said he and his family likely would ride along the Blue Ridge Parkway and visit Chateau Morrisette, a winery in Floyd County. Gracia said he and members of his family planned to go bowling, visit the Virginia Museum of Natural History and walk along the Dick & Willie Passage.To relax, “I need (to walk along) the trail after staying in a car with dogs” on the trip from Tidewater, said Gracia’s wife, LeaAnne.Some other local motels surveyed said they had few, if any, hurricane evacuees staying with them.