Just got word that everything is clear on I-10 and 71. So those of you who want to make a last ditch run to San An or Austin should leave within the hour.
we traveled 8 1/2 hrs east tryin to get through louisiana. we got a little past the border of la and tx, decided to turn around and stick it out. TOOK US 2hrs TO GET HOME FROM THERE. crazy stuff but I must say Im glad to be home...
Made it to San Marcos from Copperfield (NW H-town) in 10 hrs. It was crazy out there, but I'm glad I decided to leave to be with my family. Sunday is going to be hell again with everyone coming into town.
JUST MADE IT AUSTIN - 2 and a half hour drive. God damn that was the scariest driving I have ever done in my life. We live in New Territory and at 10 am this morning my family said screw it, we're leaving. I wasn't worried about the storm so much as the fact we would be without power for a while and we weren’t prepared with food. We had a full tank of gas in the van and we decided to go as far as we can. We took the grand parkway to I-10. Smooth sailing. We then took 10 to 71. There was almost no one on the streets but there were broken down cars EVERYWHERE. People were just standing on the sides of the roads helpless. When we got to Columbus, there were hundreds of cars on the side of the road with people just standing there. I was worried 71 would be jam packed with cars all the way to Austin, so I was prepared to go to San Antonio, get gas, and then take 35 to Austin. This wasn't the case, and 71 was clear all the way to Austin. There isn't gas anywhere from I-10 to 71 all the way to riverside. I finally stopped on Riverside and filled up with gas. Well, that's my story. I wish the people who stayed behind good luck and here's to hoping Rita passes by quickly.
I made it from Clute to Jacksonville in 27 hours, it's normally a 4 hour drive. I tried taking backroads with a little success, most of the time was spent getting to Magnolia, after that 149 north was moving fast, then I took 1791 (I beleive this is the road) to Huntsville, then 19 to Palastine. I did run out of gas at 9 last night and spent the night at a gas station, they got a load of gas at about 4 this morning and the rest of the drive was normal.
I made it to Laredo...a 5 hour trip took me 12 hours . BTW found out here that the preseason game with the Hornets was cancelled and moved to the day after against the Sonics
My sisters and brother-in-law made it here, in Denton, TX. I moved here two years ago to go to school (boy am I glad now). They left at about 8 p.m. last night and arrived at 10 a.m. this morning. My parents left yesterday about 5 p.m. to go to Lufkin, TX, and they didn't make it until this morning about 7 a.m.
I evacuated to South Carolina a week ago. Actually, I came to SC on Monday for a business trip and didn't think much about Rita at the time. When it became clear it was heading to Houston, I tried to change my flight to get back Thursday night to join Mrs. Valdez, but the flight was canceled at the last minute. I was told (by a questionable source) that IAH didn't have enough staff on hand to take in the flight because support crews there didn't show up to work. So, I've switched it to Dallas where I'm supposed to be next week anyway. Mrs. Valdez will be braving the storm without me at my parents'. If they're all killed, I'll feel pretty bad. I tried to get to Houston, but just couldn't. One guy on my canceled flight said he was going to fly to Dallas, rent a car, and drive to Houston (I think he was a doc at the med center) but found out all the rental cars in Dallas have been taken already. My brother-in-law tried to go to Arkansas with a friend. They took a bad route, thru a county under mandatory evac, and got no further than Lufkin. He's more inland at least, but now the storm will be going right thru him. He'd have been better off staying put, probably. He should be helping his sister anyway.
The exodus back to Houston might be worse than the evacuation...millions of people driving back into gasless houston, with all the rain, flooding,ect... hope we're all prepared to help out!
35 hours from LaMarque to Pflugerville. The worst part of the whole drive is puttering along at 6-10 miles and hour, and looking to the left and seeing absolutely nothing in the oncoming lanes.
