Cars with Florida license plates filled the parking lot of the South Carolina welcome center in Jasper County. Extra Highway Patrol units were dispatched, and drinking water and portable toilets were brought to the rest area, which got so crowded at times that cars were parked on the shoulder of the entrance and exit ramps.
Karen Tyler of Melbourne, Fla., was at the center Friday afternoon to get help finding a hotel for her, her 8-year-old daughter, Shelby Koski, and their cat, Sheen. They were having trouble finding a hotel that would allow her cat.
"It's a shame," Tyler said. "(Because of the storm) just for this night (they should) take pets."
Hotels along Interstate 95 were packed by midday Friday.
"It's been hectic," said Shirley Andrews, front desk clerk at the Sleep Inn off Exit 5. "People have been trying to check in and we had a full house. I've had to turn several people away."
Families like the Guinns of Titusville, Fla., felt lucky to get a room. Libby and Rich Guinn, along with several relatives and friends, waited for their rooms at the Sleep Inn on Friday afternoon with their seven dogs and one cat.
"I've been there my whole life. This is the first time I've seen anything this big," said 43-year-old Rich Guinn. "It spooked everyone. We've never had to run like this."
The Guinns' bait and tackle business was damaged by Hurricane Charley as it went through Florida several weeks ago. Now they're worried about what will happen to their home and business when Frances goes through.
"We're hoping it's still there when we get home," said Libby Guinn.
While many Floridians boarded up their homes and headed north, Beaufort County emergency officials said they would continue to keep an eye on the storm but were closing down the emergency operation center for the weekend because Frances didn't seem to be threatening the area.
But being out of the path of the storm hasn't meant a break for many state
agencies. The state Department of Transportation put up electronic message signs along the highway to tell people where they could find shelter, opened up an extra rest stop at mile marker 18 and helped people who ran out of gas.
"We are now trying to help Floridians and the people who were in Florida," said Joe Farmer of the S.C. Emergency Management Division.
The state Department of Public Safety reported some gas stations along the Georgia-South Carolina border running low on gas early Friday morning. Extra gas was being brought in by the S.C. Petroleum Distributors Association, said John Legare, another spokesman for the Emergency Management Division.
Red Cross officials opened up shelters for evacuees near the major highways, including one at Jasper County High School. Jasper emergency officials also opened up the Hardeeville Motor Speedway for campers to use.
After finding a place to stay and filling up their tanks, many evacuees' minds returned to concerns about their homes and possessions left in Florida.
Melbourne resident Punye McCoy said she put her good glassware in the dishwasher and packed her washer and dryer with items to give them more protection.
McCoy, who was traveling with her husband and son, said they were planning to "make the best of it." Her husband had plans to go golfing on Hilton Head Island.
The Yancys of Cocoa, Fla., also were taking advantage of the unexpected trip. They were heading north to see their son in Virginia.
"We'll make something out of this," Ernie Yancy, 56, said as the pair relaxed at a picnic table at the Jasper welcome center.
His wife, Janice, joked the couple might even have oceanfront property when they get back home after the storm passes -- even though they are 10 miles from the beach now.
Margaret and Dale Stickell also had plans to visit family when they left Florida. But the pair weren't worried about their home or possessions because they were in the process of moving. They hadn't bought a house yet, and their belongings still are sitting in storage where they used to live in Washington, D.C.
"It could be worse. We are really lucky," Margaret Stickell said after she woke up from a short nap at the welcome center. "People are losing their homes and their stuff and our stuff is all safe."
Several evacuees at the welcome center said traffic, once they left Florida, was moving steadily.
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce officials said that since the storm's path moved farther away from the Lowcountry, the number of people keeping their Labor Day holiday vacation plans has increased.
Bill Miles, chamber president, said before the weather forecast that the estimated occupancy for Labor Day weekend was 83 percent. That estimate fell to 67 percent when the storm was directly threatening the Lowcountry, but it had risen to about 75 percent as the weather predictions improved.
Libby Barnes with the Greater Beaufort Chamber of Commerce said hotels in Beaufort expected about 90 percent occupancy for the weekend.
Marion Edmonds, a spokesman for the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, said that most of the motels on I-95 in South Carolina were filling up, although there were more vacancies in coastal areas like Myrtle Beach and Charleston.
He said tourists probably would return to coastal areas for the long weekend.
"There is an impact in the coastal area initially," he said. "But once people are confident the storm is not going to threaten their vacation plans, they will move in."
Tourism is South Carolina's largest industry, generating $15 billion a year.
Also Friday, Gov. Mark Sanford wrote
the Federal Emergency Management Agency requesting a joint preliminary damage assessment to determine the cost of Tropical Storm Gaston to governments and public utilities.
President Bush could declare South Carolina a disaster area if $4.5 million in public expenses were incurred, officials have said.
Gaston was the second tropical system to make landfall in Charleston County within a month. Earlier in August, Hurricane Charley made a second landfall a short distance away after devastating southwest Florida.