My Evacuation

Wednesday night I went to sleep for about two hours. I woke up and I felt like I was having a chill. My body was shivering. I did not go back to sleep for the rest of the night. I checked the NOAA weather site at 5 AM and saw that Rita’s projected path had shifted east so that my house now had a target painted on it so that Rita can be sure to find it. I made a cup of coffee. I only drank a third of it and threw it out. I felt like I was going to choke when I tried to eat a bowl of Cheerios. I then took my bath and shampooed my hair. I carried the remainder of things I wanted to take downstairs. I turned on the TV, and they were saying the county commissioners were meeting and it was expected the evacuation order would change from voluntary to mandatory.

I finished loading the car. County Judge Griffith and Beaumont’s Mayor Goodson made the announcement. I had planned to wait until daylight to leave but I went ahead and got in the car and took off. I forgot to zero the odometer so I did not get the mileage for the trip. I am usually very organized, but yesterday was different.

I went up Major Drive to 105 and got on the freeway going north with no problem. I had left home at 6:15. Highways 69 and 96 split in Lumberton. According to the AAA driving directions I had printed I was supposed to take 96. I got on 69. After Lumberton the traffic slowed to a crawl. It was a big event when my odometer increased by one mile. The road was two lane so the northbound traffic had just one lane. Four or five times convoys of ambulances with their sirens blaring and lights flashing passed using the south bound lane to go north. KFDM-TV’s broadcast can be heard on 87.7 FM. I was listening to them while I drove. Normal programming had given way to Rita coverage. My car was rolling a length or two at a time. I finally started shutting off the engine to conserve gasoline.

I decided I would call my neighbors to see if they had made it to Dallas safely. I punched the last dialed option on my cell phone. A man answered. I asked for my neighbors. He told me his name; and when I heard his last name I realized I had called my hairdresser’s home phone. I explained what I had done and who I was. This couple lives in Lumberton and are very familiar with the small towns north of Beaumont. I asked him his opinion on using 190 to go from Woodville to Jasper so that I could get on 96. He assured me that was the right thing to do. At the time I was about ten miles south of a town called Warren and another 20 miles from Woodville. Someone had sent a message using their Blackberry to KFDM that said the traffic started moving after Woodville. When I finally got to the intersection with 190 in Woodville there was a sheriff’s car preventing people from turning on 190. I was forced to stay on 69. After Woodville I actually was able to increase the car’s speed to 70 mph for a short distance. Then there were patches of stop and go traffic. I planned to stop in Lufkin for gasoline and lunch. In Lufkin 69 merges with 59 North. I got on the bypass loop and missed the business area of Lufkin so I did not get lunch or gasoline. I went on to Nacogdoches. There I stopped at a big Shell self-service complex with several fast food restaurants. They were out of regular unleaded and only had premium gasoline. Along the way I saw several gasoline tank trucks with the tank painted in a Texas flag motif. I had never seen those before. The state was resupplying gas stations along the evacuation routes. My car requires premium so that was no problem. I still had more than half a tank but I did not want to get in a bad situation. I went in the Subway restaurant and got a sandwich. I still did not feel like eating. I took the sandwich back to the car and resumed the journey following 59 North.

At Tenaha 96 merged into 59 North, and I saw the first mileage marker for Texarkana. I think I drove another 150 miles or so to Texarkana. I was supposed to get on I-30 East. I did something wrong and ended up on a bypass loop. I finally found I-30 East and found the exit for the hotel. I could not find the hotel. I parked the car and called the hotel. I had turned right instead of left when I left I-30. I got turned around and still could not find the hotel. I had to call them a second time. Finally I arrived.

I checked in I had one reservation for Thursday night and a second reservation for the following 3 nights. The desk clerk was able to merge the reservations so I will not have to change rooms. I was upgraded to the top floor of the hotel which is limited access. You have to punch a security code into the elevator to go to my floor. I used to have platinum elite status with Starwood hotels. I guess they are still giving me special perks.

I made several trips up and down in the elevator to bring my possessions to my room. Every trip I met someone from Beaumont, Nederland or the Houston area. Some people had little dogs in their arms. Starwood has a pet friendly policy. I finally ate my sandwich. I turned on my computer. I brought the lan cable with me so I connected the computer to the hotel’s high speed internet access. I found this connection is much slower than my RoadRunner and WiFi network at home. iTunes took a very long time to update the podcasts that I have subscribed to. I forgot to watch Survivor but did get to see the season premier of CSI. I feel asleep during Criminal Minds. I woke up with those terrible shivers again after midnight. I finally did manage to go to sleep.

Someone asked me why I blog. I wrote back that it is therapy. I now feel better now that I have written this. I have a feeling my blogs are going to be lengthy throughout this ordeal. It is now time to pray for a miracle.