Rajah
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 17, 1999
- Messages
- 9,632
I don't recommend participating in the evactuation of the 4th (or so) largest city in the US unless you have to. (Like we did). And especially not when the weather is record high. (Around 1pm yesterday, while in the traffic and on the blacktop, the Explorer's thermometer read 119.) Talk about greuling! Bah.
I also didn't know that the human body could survive staying awake for 42 straight hours without even any 15 minute naps. That's how long we were awake. And we were on the road for 28 hours. Straight. I think I'm *still* vibrating.
I know I still have exhaustion-shakes and am still mildly dehydrated (can't drink *too* much when you're stuck in the car like that).
But. We're safe, we're together, and we have plans for long term. And I'm positive the Lord had His hand in our safety. We had no problem with the evacuation. We never got below 1/4 tank of gas, and the Explorer (which is usually a gas guzzler) was only at 1/2 tank after 19 hours on the road. So was my mom's car, though my husband got to 1/4 tank. My mom and I have never had the stamina to go for more than about 18 hours (like at WDW), and we both were doing just fine mentally and physically until we got here to the hotel. I don't think that was just due to need and adrenaline.
We're currently in Fredricksburg, and our long-term plans have changed. It turns out that my mom's friend's mom's house is available. Her mom is living with her now for medical reasons, and they hadn't put the house on the market yet. So she's offered us the use of that house for up to 3 months!! That's somewhere here in the Fredricksburg area, so rather than moving in with any family, we're going to take her up on that offer. Even if it's just for the week. We're staying in the hotel until Monday, then we'll move to that house. We're positive that even with the best situation, we won't be able to go back to Houston for a week. DH's thinking 2 weeks, I'm thinking 3. We'll see who's right.
For those watching CNN -- we just saw a clip about the nightmare traffic and situation in Lufkin. Fredricksburg is nothing like that. Traffic here isn't even as bad as I imagine it is during the peak of tourist season (Fredricksburg is a tourist town with cute shops and lots of heritage). DH's car and my mom's car were just refilled, we'll do mine shortly. And there sure weren't lines a mile long!! We didn't even have to wait at all.
As for what we took -- DH had his CRV (BOY am I thankful that he traded in his Camero!!), my mom drove her Grand Marquis, and I have her Explorer. We left my car as the most expendible (a Regal) and as the lowest cargo space. All vehicles were packed pretty much as full as possible, and a large portion of that space in the Explorer was for the cats. I had 4 of our 6 (Leo, Gabi, Ana, and Bagheera) in the Explorer (my best friends, who are in Memphis for now and heading to Chicago to go to her parent's for a week, had a spare large cage like you see at animal shelters... it was easily big enough for 4 to share and have food and water), and DH had Skye and Sienna in a large carrier in his car. The biggest problem we had was the kitties getting too hot and stressed, and they refused to eat or drink on the drive. Now they're doing just fine, but we had to stop and use a straw to force a little water at least in their mouths to try to prevent heat stroke. And we put harnesses and leashes on all of them as a precaution (easier to handle them), though I had no problem with them trying to escape the carrier when I gave them water --- rather I had to use the leash and harness to pull them *out* to where I could reach them. LOL!
Our route... it took us 1 hour to get from our house to my mom's on Wed. That usually takes about 10 minutes, maybe 15. We left her house at 8:45pm, and didn't get to the intersection of 6 and 290 (our route) until about 10am. That drive usually takes about an hour. Then about 8 more hours to get to Brenham, about 70 miles away!! At that point, I said NO MORE. We'd been averaging 1 to 2 mph. But I knew the back roads there fairly well (not great, but enough to feel that with the map, we could get out) so we broke from the official route and took back roads down to La Grange on 71. At the rate we were going on 290, I think that saved us about 3 hours or more for the same distance west. And we got about 3 miles outside of Bastrop before we hit that same 3-5 mph traffic in Bastrop. At that point, I called my mom's friend and she had an alternate route for us to go to get from Bastrop to Fredricksburg without having to go through Austin. Took us 2 hours about to get from Bastrop to Fredricksburg -- I don't think we would have even been in AUSTIN by that time. And we had *no* traffic the rest of the way in. We did have to watch for deer (saw about 10 of them), but that was MUCH preferable.
My mom and I stayed together the entire time. We had walkie talkies so were able to keep in touch, but we couldn't find our other set (actually, we borrowed these from my friends) to have Michael in the loop as well. Consequently, he got ahead of us at one point and we didn't see him again for 14 hours (though we were able to keep in touch now and again via cell phones). Cell service was *horrible*, very hard to get in touch with anyone.
DH's parents (they're in west Houston area) opted to wait it out, and we're praying they didn't make a mistake.
I have internet temporarily here at the hotel, no idea what we'll have in the temp house, so I may lose contact again.
Thank you for all your prayers. While I feel for Beaumont and Port Arthur, I am very thankful that the storm has shifted.
This whole thing has been so surreal. Driving all night, all day, and until 1am... just the whole idea of having to evacuate with over a million people... watching the exodus from Houston (let alone *being* in it)... hearing about what's happening in some of the other cities people evacuated to... the whole concept of Katrina victims coming to Houston, only to have to evacuate *again*. And the storm season isn't over yet!
I do have to say that as much of a hassle as it's been, I think the evacuation has gone *really* well. Yes, there are people stuck on the side of the road and stuff, but considering the logistical nightmare of evacuating such a large city.... it's been a headache and backache literally, patience has been pushed to the limit, but it's still been very well done. Could it be better? Sure. But I'm still impressed with how well it's been done. We saw several rescue vehicles driving along the medians and stuff to help people. We saw gas being delivered to a lot of drivers, water to others. We saw people giving others water when they ran out. As a whole, people were very nice and patient. Yes, we saw a few fights (verbal only), usually over gas, and yes some people were being idiotic pushy jerks, but considering the number of people involved, the vast vast vast majority of our encounters were helpful and friendly and patient.
As for now... I'm gonna browse the DIS for a little, then I'm going to sleep some more.
Thanks again for y'all's prayers, and I'll keep in touch.
I also didn't know that the human body could survive staying awake for 42 straight hours without even any 15 minute naps. That's how long we were awake. And we were on the road for 28 hours. Straight. I think I'm *still* vibrating.
I know I still have exhaustion-shakes and am still mildly dehydrated (can't drink *too* much when you're stuck in the car like that).But. We're safe, we're together, and we have plans for long term. And I'm positive the Lord had His hand in our safety. We had no problem with the evacuation. We never got below 1/4 tank of gas, and the Explorer (which is usually a gas guzzler) was only at 1/2 tank after 19 hours on the road. So was my mom's car, though my husband got to 1/4 tank. My mom and I have never had the stamina to go for more than about 18 hours (like at WDW), and we both were doing just fine mentally and physically until we got here to the hotel. I don't think that was just due to need and adrenaline.
We're currently in Fredricksburg, and our long-term plans have changed. It turns out that my mom's friend's mom's house is available. Her mom is living with her now for medical reasons, and they hadn't put the house on the market yet. So she's offered us the use of that house for up to 3 months!! That's somewhere here in the Fredricksburg area, so rather than moving in with any family, we're going to take her up on that offer. Even if it's just for the week. We're staying in the hotel until Monday, then we'll move to that house. We're positive that even with the best situation, we won't be able to go back to Houston for a week. DH's thinking 2 weeks, I'm thinking 3. We'll see who's right.
For those watching CNN -- we just saw a clip about the nightmare traffic and situation in Lufkin. Fredricksburg is nothing like that. Traffic here isn't even as bad as I imagine it is during the peak of tourist season (Fredricksburg is a tourist town with cute shops and lots of heritage). DH's car and my mom's car were just refilled, we'll do mine shortly. And there sure weren't lines a mile long!! We didn't even have to wait at all.
As for what we took -- DH had his CRV (BOY am I thankful that he traded in his Camero!!), my mom drove her Grand Marquis, and I have her Explorer. We left my car as the most expendible (a Regal) and as the lowest cargo space. All vehicles were packed pretty much as full as possible, and a large portion of that space in the Explorer was for the cats. I had 4 of our 6 (Leo, Gabi, Ana, and Bagheera) in the Explorer (my best friends, who are in Memphis for now and heading to Chicago to go to her parent's for a week, had a spare large cage like you see at animal shelters... it was easily big enough for 4 to share and have food and water), and DH had Skye and Sienna in a large carrier in his car. The biggest problem we had was the kitties getting too hot and stressed, and they refused to eat or drink on the drive. Now they're doing just fine, but we had to stop and use a straw to force a little water at least in their mouths to try to prevent heat stroke. And we put harnesses and leashes on all of them as a precaution (easier to handle them), though I had no problem with them trying to escape the carrier when I gave them water --- rather I had to use the leash and harness to pull them *out* to where I could reach them. LOL!
Our route... it took us 1 hour to get from our house to my mom's on Wed. That usually takes about 10 minutes, maybe 15. We left her house at 8:45pm, and didn't get to the intersection of 6 and 290 (our route) until about 10am. That drive usually takes about an hour. Then about 8 more hours to get to Brenham, about 70 miles away!! At that point, I said NO MORE. We'd been averaging 1 to 2 mph. But I knew the back roads there fairly well (not great, but enough to feel that with the map, we could get out) so we broke from the official route and took back roads down to La Grange on 71. At the rate we were going on 290, I think that saved us about 3 hours or more for the same distance west. And we got about 3 miles outside of Bastrop before we hit that same 3-5 mph traffic in Bastrop. At that point, I called my mom's friend and she had an alternate route for us to go to get from Bastrop to Fredricksburg without having to go through Austin. Took us 2 hours about to get from Bastrop to Fredricksburg -- I don't think we would have even been in AUSTIN by that time. And we had *no* traffic the rest of the way in. We did have to watch for deer (saw about 10 of them), but that was MUCH preferable.
My mom and I stayed together the entire time. We had walkie talkies so were able to keep in touch, but we couldn't find our other set (actually, we borrowed these from my friends) to have Michael in the loop as well. Consequently, he got ahead of us at one point and we didn't see him again for 14 hours (though we were able to keep in touch now and again via cell phones). Cell service was *horrible*, very hard to get in touch with anyone.
DH's parents (they're in west Houston area) opted to wait it out, and we're praying they didn't make a mistake.
I have internet temporarily here at the hotel, no idea what we'll have in the temp house, so I may lose contact again.
Thank you for all your prayers. While I feel for Beaumont and Port Arthur, I am very thankful that the storm has shifted.
This whole thing has been so surreal. Driving all night, all day, and until 1am... just the whole idea of having to evacuate with over a million people... watching the exodus from Houston (let alone *being* in it)... hearing about what's happening in some of the other cities people evacuated to... the whole concept of Katrina victims coming to Houston, only to have to evacuate *again*. And the storm season isn't over yet!
I do have to say that as much of a hassle as it's been, I think the evacuation has gone *really* well. Yes, there are people stuck on the side of the road and stuff, but considering the logistical nightmare of evacuating such a large city.... it's been a headache and backache literally, patience has been pushed to the limit, but it's still been very well done. Could it be better? Sure. But I'm still impressed with how well it's been done. We saw several rescue vehicles driving along the medians and stuff to help people. We saw gas being delivered to a lot of drivers, water to others. We saw people giving others water when they ran out. As a whole, people were very nice and patient. Yes, we saw a few fights (verbal only), usually over gas, and yes some people were being idiotic pushy jerks, but considering the number of people involved, the vast vast vast majority of our encounters were helpful and friendly and patient.
As for now... I'm gonna browse the DIS for a little, then I'm going to sleep some more.
Thanks again for y'all's prayers, and I'll keep in touch.
