CAPE SAN BLAS, Fla. _ On the kind of sunny, no-clouds-in-the-sky day that usually brings tourists and dogs to frolic on the sand dunes, residents instead trekked over broken asphalt, alongside a leveled beach, on a pilgrimage to find out what was left.
The cape, which sticks its chin out into the Gulf of Mexico, is about 16 miles south of where Hurricane Michael made landfall last week.
Storm surge submerged much of this narrow strip of land. It washed away the giant dunes, and with them went the sand on which the only access road was built. Cape San Blas Road lay in ruins, broken up into large asphalt sheets, rendered impassable for all but the most daring in the tallest SUVs.
Everyone else had to drive as far as the road allowed Saturday afternoon, park and start walking. All had seen the devastation of Mexico Beach. They feared for Cape San Blas.
Al and Pam Otto tried to keep it lighthearted. They had seen an image of their home on the local TV Station. There was a hole in the roof, which meant the storm got in. They didn't know how bad the damage was.
"This is in God's hands and it's going to be what it's going to be," said Al Otto, 62, as they walked toward answers. "Maybe we're in for an upgrade."
Randy Fike, 52, wore a look of determination. He made the 3-mile trek home shirtless in the sun. He had to check on his wife.
Her ashes were there, in an urn on the bottom shelf of a book case in a home office. He was out of town when the storm took aim at Cape San Blas. He couldn't get back in time to get them.
"I want them to be there," he said. "But if the ashes aren't there, at least she's in the bay."
