It is now personal

Ever since Katrina struck I have been watching television and thinking how terrible it is for those poor people. Now we have Rita. The CNN weatherman just said this storm could strike anywhere between Corpus Christi, TX, to Lafayette, LA. My home is in the middle of this range. Of course I hope that I will be spared; but in a way I am lucky because I have learned quite a few things by watching the Katrina coverage.

I have a very nice low mileage car that I purchased right after I retired. The car still had the original tires on it. The tires had plenty of tread and looked good. I have heard all of the safety information that says tires older than six years should be replaced. Until last week I had done nothing to replace those tires. I finally said to myself you have to keep that car in a safe condition—your life might depend on it. I checked the Michelin website and found the recommended tires for my car. I went to one of the local Michelin dealers and said I want the recommended tires. They quoted a price and told me the tires would have to be ordered. I said order them and I put down a deposit. I was told they should be in by Monday. I called this morning and was delighted to hear the tires had arrived. They said I could come in immediately and have them mounted. I was there within 15 minutes, and they had me out of there in an hour.

In 2002 I had to evacuate because of Hurricane Lili. I drove to Lufkin, TX. I was able to get a reservation for only one night. On Sunday I checked on Expedia and there appeared to be lots of rooms available in Lufkin. At 4PM today after NOAA issued the latest on Rita, I checked Expedia again. There were no rooms in Lufkin. I pulled out my road atlas and decided I might be able to drive to Texarkana, TX. I checked Expedia again and spotted a FourPoints by Sheraton with a low AAA rate. I called Starwood and made my reservations for three nights starting on Friday. The reservation can be canceled by 6 PM on the night of arrival with no penalty. I watched the local television news and found out if we have to evacuate it will probably begin on Thursday. I called Starwood back and made one more reservation for Thursday night.

I then went to the AAA website and printed out driving directions from Beaumont to Texarkana. Texarkana is 261 miles away. AAA estimates the driving time at six hours. I have already filled the car with gasoline. I am going to spend the next two days going around the house with my digital camera and take pictures of my belongings. My insurance policies are all in order. Where I am not prepared is that I do not have a good household inventory. I am going to take some valuables to my bank safe deposit box. I hope the bank vault has been built to withstand a hurricane.

I am not going to load very much into my car. I will take my newest clothes, my computer, my camera, my iPod and of course my precious Henry (Sony Aibo). Since my pet is a robot he will be able to stay in a hotel with no problem. That is one more advantage that a robotic pet has over a bio pet.