Well, I'm back home.
I worked one job yesterday evening and was given the night off of my regular job. I have to call on Sunday to see if I'm needed that soon. So I went home, finished boarding up the windows, picked everything off the floor and loaded up the Pilot and Tundra with our irreplaceables. I drove the Contour to my wife's parking garage in downtown and parked it in a great spot. Returned home for finishing touches.
At 3:30am, we set out. I was driving the Tundra. My wife the Pilot. My brother his Escort and my mom her Focus. We are actually a stone's throw away from Evacuation Area C (mandatory evac . Literally. We take the HOV to downtown and are feeling great. We top off our tanks in downtown and head off at 4:00am. We take a few shortcuts and finally hit the traffic on I-45 North. BTW, we were heading towards Groesbeck, a town close to Waco where we have relatives.
By 2:00PM, we were barely approaching Beltway 8.
According to my Trip Odometer, we drove
12.4 MILES in
10.5 HOURS. The really sad part was the last 3 miles that we drove took 5 hours. Meanwhile, temperatures hovered past 90 degrees. And we all had our windows down because every gas station in the area had already boarded up or was out of gas and we were trying to conserve. It doesn't help that I have a 3 year old whose poor cheeks were rosy from the heat.
So, after checking on some obscure routes that I know of and not getting any luck, we all threw in the towel and came back home. At the rate we were going, Rita would have passed us by while we tried to evacuate.
I knew I shouldn't have given in to my wife. I wanted to stay. But being so damn close to a mandatory evacuation zone, I didn't want to risk it. I still don't. But we have no choice. Even if the freeways cleared overnight, there's no gas to be found.
So, I'm home and will ride it out. I'm going to sleep now. I've slept 3 hours in 3 days.
