KEY WEST - Thousands of storm-weary residents of the Florida Keys joined an exodus of tourists Friday, as businesses on the island chain boarded up for another hurricane-ruined weekend.
A steady stream of motor homes and cars laden with suitcases and family pets made its orderly way up U.S. 1 to safer ground. It was the third time in a month that a hurricane has forced an evacuation in the Keys.
On Friday, a staggered schedule for evacuation set by local officials helped ease traffic congestion. Key West residents were first to leave at 7 a.m., with the middle keys following at midday and the upper keys four hours later.
Most tourists left Thursday as hotel owners heeded officials' advice and reluctantly closed their doors. By Friday afternoon, passengers boarding Greyhound buses or catching flights at Key West airport were almost all residents.
"I hope we have an island when we get back," said Teresa Sabino, 76, who was waiting for a flight to Atlanta with her family.
Many residents said they were taking advantage of the storm to move up vacation.
"This time it looks too bad to me," said Jeri Quinkert, who was on her way to visit her mother and a son in Louisville, Ky. Her Siamese cat, Athena, sat quietly in a traveling cage on her lap. "I can't go anywhere without her."
Officials at the Emergency Operations Center on Marathon Key were pleased with the progress of the evacuation. A mobile EOC post at Florida City, the northern entrance to the Keys, reported more than 1,000 cars heading north hourly.
The response from residents seemed to depend on how many years - and how many hurricanes - they had survived in the Keys. Long-time residents, known as Conchs, were taking a more wait-and-see approach based on Ivan's track and final strength category.
"In any evacuation there's always a certain number of people who are not going to go," said Sheriff Greg Artman, EOC spokesman. "And most of those are from Key West."
Artman confessed he and his family were among those planning to stay. "I'm a stubborn Conch, born and raised in Key West. Most people I know are staying."
Asked if he considered his home to be solidly constructed, he replied matter-of-factly, "I don't think so."
But, in an opinion echoed throughout the Keys, he said his family would pack up and leave if Ivan returned to a Category 5 status and looked like it would make a direct hit. "But if it's down to a Category 3, they will ride it out."
Officials weren't sure how many Key West residents had left the island by Friday evening. But residents estimated that at least 50 percent of the island's population of 28,000 had fled. Many were newer arrivals in the Keys.
"Some people are saying go back to where you're from and find a part-time job, because Key West ain't going to be here no more," said Jason Stutz, a 24-year-old who arrived in Key West in January from Michigan.
It was a sorry sight on a deserted Duval Street, the normally busy tourist drag. Gone were the traditional crowds packing the boardwalk for sunset. No street entertainers spitting fire atop unicycles. Even Sloppy Joe's, the famous tourist bar, was closed.
Still, there were plenty of signs of stubborn Conch resistance.
"Arghhh. Walk the plank Ivan," read the plywood boarding on Pirate Scooter rentals.
Projected path