For those of you who are interested, I’d like to see if I can give you a summary of our lives over the past few days. It really started on Sunday, soon after I arrived in Madison, Wisconsin for a conference which was to have lasted until Thursday. We started hearing about the tropical storms that were out in the Atlantic, as they almost always are at this time of year. By Monday morning, it was becoming clear that one of those storms might mean business. Several members of our group carry Blackberry email devices, so we were able to track the evolution of the storm regularly throughout the day. By Monday night, it was pretty clear that we would probably need to come home, but we weren’t ready to pull the trigger yet. I’ve never personally been though this before, but I trusted that the rest of the group knew when it was time to go. We met first thing Tuesday morning and decided that the time had definitely come to get home. Midwest Airlines allowed us to change our flights free of charge. While on the phone with Midwest, one guy in our group asked what their hurricane policy was. The operator checked with her manager, then said, “We don’t have a hurricane policy.” Our group spokesman said that now was an excellent time to develop such a policy, and he had a few suggestions to offer! We were on the road to the airport within the hour.
By the time I got home later that day, things were in a bit of an uproar. Kim had very wisely been working hard all the previous day to collect supplies and prepare for possible evacuation. She pulled together all of our critical documents, photocopied licenses, packed clothes and toys for the boys, and so on. She had also gotten water and fueled up the cars. This was a great move, because by the end of the day there was no bottled water in any store and gas stations were running dry. It was becoming clear that we were going to have to leave town, and soon. I initially thought about leaving early Wednesday morning, but as we worked on the house it became clear that we would never be ready in time. We moved as many items as we could up to the second floor (or at least up off the ground on the first floor). It was a very strange and melancholy experience trying to picture the house filled with water and move things appropriately. We also had to consider what would happen if some of the windows blow out or if part of the roof gives way. Not a fun thing to do by any means. We got to bed after midnight, and got up 6 hours later, unable to sleep any longer.
We still had a lot of work to do, but knew that we had to get out as soon as we could. We chose lunchtime as our target. We had been working under the assumption that we would probably go to Kim’s aunt’s house on the west side of Houston. But as we looked at the evolving weather situation, it began to dawn on us that we needed to get farther away. We knew from making some calls the day before that there were literally no hotel rooms available anywhere in this gigantic state between Houston and El Paso, hundreds of miles to the west, and Dallas, several hundred miles to the north. Campgrounds were similarly booked. Fortunately, some friends of ours recently moved up to the Fort Worth area, normally about a 5 hour drive to the north. After some heavy consideration, we made this our goal. We talked to our friends, who readily agreed to welcome us into their home for as long as we needed shelter. We got everything out into the vehicles and were on the road by 12:30. We took both cars, not knowing if I would need to return earlier for work. We also took the trailer, both to provide us with shelter in a pinch and also because we can’t really afford to replace it. We locked up the house, took a last look, and hit the road.
Although traffic was fairly heavy, we were pleasantly surprised to get onto I-45 (the major north-south artery) without too much trouble. We moved along slowly but steadily, taking about two hours to get up into Houston (normally about a 30-minute trip). Things even opened up for awhile and we were able to cover a few miles at 55 mph. This was soon to change, unfortunately. Toward the middle of Houston, we slowed to a pace of 5-10 miles per hour. You have all experienced this in rush-hour situations, and you always have the feeling that things will open up soon. This time, it never did. We averaged 10 miles per hour for the next 6 to 7 hours. Other than a short stop on the north side of Houston to give Benjamin a bottle and pee in the woods at the side of the road, we were unable to stop. North of Houston, all on-ramps to the highway were blocked to help encourage the smooth flow of traffic out of the danger area. If we got off the highway for any reason, we would be unable to get back on. We had to pull over to the side once to try to feed Benjamin, who was not feeling well and was consequently not eating or drinking much of anything. Sometime between 7:30 and 8 pm, we realized we were never going to make it to Fort Worth. Benjamin and Samuel had been in the car for over 8 hours straight. Benjamin seemed to be taking a turn for the worse, alternately screaming/crying and laying limply in his carseat. He had had one wet diaper all day, which any in the medical field will recognize as a danger sign. We were coming up on Huntsville, which was the site of the first hurricane shelter. We decided to see if we could use the shelter for one night, then continue on to our destination in the morning.
We stopped at the weigh station that was being used as a staging area for the shelter. Several buses were already there, but we got in and out within ten minutes. Because we had the cats, they directed use first to the local animal shelter, since they weren’t taking animals at the hurricane shelter. We drove for 15 minutes on unlit country roads and finally arrived at the animal shelter, which was just past a sign that said “warning: flood area”. Great. We pulled into the shelter parking lot, and immediately realized that we were in trouble. We were the only car in the parking lot. The door was locked and the lights were off—the animal shelter was closed. Super. On to plan B, which was to head for the hurricane shelter itself. After 10 minutes of driving and one wrong turn, we got to a gas station a couple of blocks from the shelter. We filled up the cars (big relief there—we were both at half a tank after a day of creeping along the highway), then got out to stretch our legs. Benjamin perked up and actually took some bread and a little formula. As we were hanging around having a snack, we decided that we just couldn’t take the boys to the shelter. The reality of sleeping in a shelter-type situation overcame our fatigue and we started to brainstorm again. Looking at the map, we saw that we were still too far to make it to Fort Worth that night. Then Kim remembered that our next door neighbor had gone to stay with relatives in Corsicana, about 2 hours north. We called, and they immediately agreed to take us in for the night. Renewed, we hit the road again. It took us a little time to get north of the blocked on ramps, but eventually we got back on the highway. The rest of the trip is a little blurry, but we finally pulled into the right neighborhood around 11:30 pm. Benjamin and Samuel had a little something to eat and then went right to bed. Kim and I got some essentials out of the car, then gave Katie a quick bath since she had urinated in her cage and was sopping wet. I can only say that she enjoyed this even less than we did. We all got to bed at around 1 am.
The next morning (Thursday), we all got up and had a good breakfast. Hats off to our hosts, who took us in without even knowing us, and to our neighbors. You really saved our lives! After a good shower and change of clothes, we were off. Traffic was very light, and we breezed through the 2-hour drive to our destination just south of Fort Worth. We spent the day moving things into the house and getting settled in for a few days of waiting for the storm. Although still not 100%, Benjamin is feeling much better. Samuel has a few new toys to play with (they were supposed to be Christmas presents, but they give him something entertaining to do). Kim and I are tired but recovering.
As I write this, we are still uncertain whether the storm will hit our neighborhood directly or if we will be spared the full fury of the hurricane. Water is already starting to rise down on Galveston. Regular messages from UTMB coworkers indicate that they have had quite an adventure over the last few days, evacuating first the patients and then all but a handful of employees. The last employees except for a skeleton crew were flown out of Galveston this morning on a C-130 transport to Dallas. Maybe I should have volunteered to stick around after all…!
We have been watching the news all day. People are stuck on highways all over southeastern Texas. Some are stranded because they ran out of gas, others have just been creeping through traffic for hours. As I see this on the TV, the reality comes crashing home that we could have easily been delayed in our leaving, or run out of gas, or have experienced mechanical troubles, or any of a dozen other things. Everywhere people are trying to get to safety while hoping that the storm will turn aside at the last minute. Shelters are opening up closer and closer to Houston as officials realize that they just need to get people off the roads and into a setting where they can be protected from the worst of the hurricane’s effects. National Guard trucks are roaming the major highways, trying to get gas and water to the stranded people who need it. I am so thankful that we got here safely.
I want to thank all of you for your calls, your emails, and your prayers. I will try to keep you updated on our progress. Please continue to pray for all the millions of people who will be affected by the storm.
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