Florida evacuees Luis Echegaray, his wife Michelle Carter and their children Emma and Liam (against the van) pose with their family members after having lunch Sunday at Fellowship Bible Church in Dalton.

DALTON, Ga. — Michelle Carter remembers going through Hurricane Andrew 25 years ago. When forecasters began pegging Carter’s home in Miami in the path of the powerful Hurricane Irma, she decided she wasn’t going to go through that again.

“We went through Hurricane Andrew and had a very rough experience,” Carter said. “We decided last week if it was still heading our way and a Category 4 or stronger storm, it was going to be time to go. We had prepared the house and then we left. But you definitely have a moment where we didn’t want to go.”

Instead of staying in the path of the hurricane, Carter and her husband Luis Echegaray and their two children packed up with Carter’s parents and began their long trek to Dalton, leaving Miami around 7 p.m. Wednesday.

“Once everyone got to Atlanta it seemed like people dispersed, disappeared and went their separate ways, but it was rough coming up,” Carter said Sunday afternoon after having lunch with friends, family and other evacuees at Fellowship Bible Church off Dug Gap Road. “So many people have been incredibly nice and sensitive all the way up here and everyone has just wanted to help.”

The Carters have been staying with Wendy Miller, an aunt.

“Our church family has helped with food and finances for some of the people who have evacuated,” Miller said. “We are hosting two families and there are three others with other families. It is a blessing for us to get to spend the time with the children and the rest of them — no matter the circumstances.”

The two children — Liam, 5, and Emma, 3 — have seen this as an adventure, according to their mother. The drive to Atlanta took an entire day with a two-hour sleepover thrown in. By the time they got to Atlanta Thursday night, Carter said she couldn’t have been happier to have a hotel room booked.

“It was exhausting,” she said. “The kids got their first experience of car camping somewhere between Orlando and Gainesville. But everyone on the road, we were all in the same situation and everyone was stuck in the same pile-up. By the time we got to Atlanta, we were exhausted along with everyone else in Florida.

“But everyone has been incredible,” she said. “It is just that southern hospitality kicking in.”

Miller said even though it is a tough situation, she plans to take advantage of it.

“You just want them to be safe and you can replace possessions,” Miller said. “You can’t replace people or family and we have been blessed … there are so many people who want to help us help them.”