I’ve been through more than a few of these, in my 35+ years here in FL. And I pay attention more than most.
The “Dirty Side” of this storm will stretch all the way east of you, into the Atlantic. Depending how it shifts, wind gusts and blinding rain of from 40 mph to 60 mph straight East of you till the E coast. And all above that line.
No guarantees, but unless you can make it below Cocoa Beach I would not go SE. Roads will start to jam tonight, I promise. Probably around 7pm, but who knows?
In your shoes, I’d head towards Tallahassee, then straight W on I-10, as far as you can safely get. There is a road from you to Tally, not freeway, so it’s probably going to stay pretty clear until tomorrow. You should be able to make the FL-LA line, and a bit more, IF YOU GO NOW!!! And with a 5th wheel, if it was important to me, I’d leave 10 minutes ago.
But have a plan if the roads get jammed. Assuming your truck can go through soggy grass and 4” slippery mud under it, be ready to pull off and drop the beast. Hopefully near something you can chain it to. Then go West, young man!. Drive wherever path you can, and be ready to live out of your truck for a few days. Water. More water. Canned foods. More water. Batteries, radio, flashlights, rifle, handguns, machete...tent if you have one, sleeping bags...INSECT REPELLENT!
Keep your gas tank full, keep topping if you safely can when it drops below 3/4. Take a few full 5gal cans. People stuck on jammed roads run out of gas all the time, which sux awful. It gets HOT inside, trying to sleep, w no AC. Drop the windows, get soggy, mosquitoes...many try to walk. Bad situation.
You want to be on the W side of this, wherever it lands. But 50 miles W is better than 100 miles E.
Good advice, but he better get cracking because they keep jogging Idalia’s a bit to the west with each new update.
This is looking really bad. High winds start arriving about 45 minutes before high tide, so high tide waters already piling up before landfall. Idalia could truly be catastrophic. Prayers up for the Big Bend.
I always try to look on the bright side and hope for the best, but Idalia is shaping up to possibly be quite the monster.