SARASOTA — People stood elbow-to-elbow inside Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport and lined St. Armands Circle to get a glimpse of President Bush as he arrived shortly before 6 p.m. on Sept. 10, 2001.
Bush waved several times and posed for photographs with a small line of greeters before getting into a limousine with his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
They headed to Longboat Key, where they planned to eat dinner with several friends and state officials.
While a crowd admired the president's plane from a distance inside the airport terminal, Sarasota Mayor Carolyn Mason, County Commission Chairman David Mills, some of McKay's relatives and three of Bush's campaign volunteers welcomed the president shortly before 6 p.m. Monday.
En route to Longboat Key the president's motorcade of at least 30 vehicles -- motorcycles, limousines, patrol cars and an ambulance -- traveled through St. Armands Circle, where shoppers and employees waived. The motorcade then drove down John Ringling Boulevard toward the Colony Beach and Tennis Resort on Longboat Key, where the president's visit turned one of the slowest weeks of the year into a busy time for employees.
"Typically, it's the time that we recommend that our staff take vacations," President Katie Klauber Moulton said, adding that some employees came back to help with Bush's visit.
Although the Colony is accustomed to hosting high-profile guests, a president had never slept there until Bush.
Former Vice President Al Gore stayed at the Colony in 1996 and 2000 to prepare for debates. One time, Moulton said, Gore stayed in the suite that was reserved for Bush.
LONGBOAT KEY -- President George W. Bush strolled into the dining room just before 7 p.m., and waiter Moo-Moo Yorsangchai was there to ensure he got whatever he needed.
"That name, Moo-Moo," the president said. "I'll never forget that."
"I'll never forget your name, either," Yorsangchai replied.
Yorsangchai, a waiter at the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort, was one of a handful of local residents who met with the president in the hours leading up to the 9/11 attacks.
The Sarasota visit was to be largely unremarkable.
In between his arrival and the local school visit, Bush would dine with local Republicans.
On Sept. 10, as Bush swooped into Jacksonville for a brief stop before heading to Sarasota, Katherine Klauber Moulton, manager of the upscale Colony resort, and her stepmother prepared the president's room.
They vacuumed and cleaned the mirrors twice, and made the bed with some of the family's fine French linens, repeating the process until the room was flawless.
For dinner, the president had chili con queso, Texas tortilla soup and a New York strip steak, cooked medium and served with pinto beans. He drank a few non-alcoholic beers. The tab was $1,172.72.
Before heading upstairs to sleep, Bush signed a few menus for his guests, including one for Yorsangchai.
A day later, the resort would be used by the Bush Administration as an information center during the disaster.
"They had evacuated all the government buildings," Moulton said. At one point, as the attacks unfolded, a Secret Service agent told her: "This is the temporary White House."
LONGBOAT KEY - Kenny Kufahl nervously flubbed the elevator controls as President George W. Bush looked on, smiling.
The maintenance man at Colony Beach & Tennis Resort wanted to make a good impression, but the anticipation and anxiety of the moment had taken over.
"He said, 'Son, relax a minute,'" Kufahl recalled Bush saying.
"You're making my men nervous," the president jokingly said, "and that makes me nervous. We'll get through this OK."
The memory of lightheartedness and the buzz of anticipation on the eve of 9-11 is in stark contrast to the images most people saw of the president in Sarasota the morning of the attacks.
Downstairs, local Republicans awaited to dine with the president.
At the dinner table, the group talked about everything from sports to politics.
"It was like sitting at the table with a bunch of your frat brothers talking about baseball," said Tramm Hudson, chairman of the Republican Party of Sarasota County.
SARASOTA -- Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Lisa Odaffer knew she had to do something to help the victims.
She gave blood, and she was not alone.
Thousands of people from across Manatee, Sarasota and Charlotte counties crammed area blood banks, standing in lines for up to 16 hours in the aftermath of 9/11.
Overwhelmed by donors, the Manatee Community Blood Center set up a temporary donation center near the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport at Aerial Films Inc., which has 15,000 square feet of space. The atmosphere was chaotic as Red Cross workers scrambled to find nurses to take blood.
At one point, workers said there would be a 16-hour wait to donate blood at the temporary center.
The scene played out all across Southwest Florida.
About 100 people stood outside the Charlotte County Blood Center in Port Charlotte as the rain came down in sheets.
"You got to do what you got to do," said a soaked James Bailey as he stood with his girlfriend, Beth Hines, under the overhang.
Suncoast Communities Blood Bank collected a record 1,100 pints of blood in the 72-hour aftermath of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks. In a normal year, that three-day period would have yielded 422 pints.
And while Manatee and Charlotte counties shipped hundreds of units of donated blood to New York City in the days following the terrorist attacks, Sarasota County did not send one pint, due to a shortage resulting from a decision by public school officials to cancel fall blood drives.
SARASOTA -- School Superintendent Wilma Hamilton received the letter several weeks after the 9/11 attacks.
It was an apology from President George W. Bush regarding his abrupt departure from Emma E. Booker Elementary.
"I hope that I will have a chance to visit again someday," Bush wrote. "In the meantime, thank you for all that you and your team are doing to help make sure that every child receives a good education."
On Sept. 11, students were supposed to hear Bush discuss his education plan, which emphasized reading skills. President Bush was listening to the kids read in one of the school's classrooms when White House chief of staff Andrew Card told him that New York had been attacked.
Upon hearing the news, Bush lingered in the classroom before huddling on the phone with his advisers. Moments later, he briefly addressed the nation from the school library.
In his letter, Bush thanked Hamilton for the district's efforts to help children to "understand the horrible tragedies of last week's terrorist attacks."
"I know you join Laura (Bush) and me in praying for the victims and their families. May God bless them, and may God bless America."
SARASOTA -- While a nation grieved the terrorist attacks, local residents braced for a direct hit from Mother Nature.
Tropical Storm Gabrielle, which came ashore in Venice on Sept. 14, ravaged buildings and left flash flooding in its wake after dumping 5 to 7 inches of rain across the region.
"I've lost everything, my bed, all of my personal possessions, everything," said Englewood resident Micah Wemes.
Seven Florida counties, including Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte and DeSoto, requested more than $25 million for damage to public property from the tropical storm.
Sarasota County itemized $9.1 million in public losses, including $3.2 million in erosion to public beaches and $3.6 million in debris removal.
Property Claim Services, an insurance industry group, said Gabrielle caused $115 million in homeowners and car insurance claims, mostly in wind and rain damage to buildings, and flooding to cars.
Residents filed 32,000 claims for homes and buildings and 10,000 for vehicles as a result of the storm.
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