Riding in one of the hordes of vehicles fleeing the path of Hurricane Ivan, Michelle and Dana Frederick were stuck in their Chevy Corsica with a broken air conditioner in bumper-to-bumper traffic on Interstate 65 in northern Alabama late Tuesday afternoon.

The two boys crammed in the back seat were not having fun.

“They’re hot and tired,” Michelle Frederick said. “But they’ve got their GameBoys to keep them busy.”

The Fredericks, originally from the Bangor area, and their twin 13-year-old sons, D.J. and Joseph Fortin, are new to hurricanes, but their Gulf Breeze, Fla., apartment sits smack in the middle of Ivan’s projected path. They live on a peninsula that juts into the Gulf of Mexico near Pensacola, Fla., only a five-minute drive from what Michelle called one of the most beautiful beaches in America.

“There was mandatory evacuation where we lived,” Michelle said. “We left at 10:30 this morning, and we’ve just been driving.”

The Fredericks joined an estimated 1.9 million people from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle who were ordered or strongly urged to leave their homes. Many of these people were not keeping their minds on the road, the Fredericks said.

“I’ve already been run off the road once by a truck pulling an RV,” Dana Fredericks said. “People are driving crazy.”

Michelle agreed. “Every couple of miles we’re hitting the dashboard, we’re stepping on the brakes so much,” she said.

The Fredericks were aiming the Corsica toward any motel with available rooms north of Birmingham. They were glad to have higher ground between them and the vulnerable coastline, but are concerned about their home and the animals they left behind in a shelter.

“We basically unplugged the electronics and pulled the window shades,” Dana said. “We’re hoping that the roof is still on the place when we get back.”

Their four cats and Mabel the fish were dropped off at the animal shelter where Michelle works, a sturdy structure guarded by a veterinarian who will be riding out the storm.

The Fredericks are hoping for the best, but can’t forget the ominous feel the air had Tuesday morning before they evacuated.

“When we left Florida, it was very thick and gray out,” Michelle said. “The hurricane was only 600 miles away from Gulf Breeze.”