Lovely Rita

The metermaid that she was, Rita left us parked on 290 Wed/Thurs for what seemed like eternity. What should've been a 3 hour trip for us, spanned into 26 straight hours of driving, non-stop. We're back safe and sound with minimal damage to the duplex.

Highlights from the evacuation:

• Seeing the Jones Rd exit sign for 3 straight hours and then finally passing the exit on the 4th.
• Finally convincing Gordie that she was going to either have to pee in her car or pull over on the freeway because getting off 290 was impossible.
• Gordie peeing on the side of 290 while Bubba in his truck screams, "Girl, I tell ya. When ya got ta go, you got ta go, but Girl, you take a looooooong time to go."
• Edgy in shining armor does a 3 point turn in the middle of gridlock to face a car in the middle lane and give some guy a jump. Sad moment: no one would let him turn back around. He finally laid on the horn and backed up.
• Finding a back road at Cypress (after 10 hours on the road) and moving at 60 mph in Deliverance country.
• Being able to say that for the first time in my life, I was actually happy to see College Station (Aggies still suck) because we found gas as we were running on fumes. Doesn't matter that we waited an hour in line. I could've danced on the damn pump, but I had to pee too badly, so I danced behind the dumpster.
• Eating our first meal at the only place open, Chick Fil A. How odd that my first job would provide me my first nourishment in 24 hours.
• Making it to Central Texas College 26 hours later to meet my friend, Jo, who put us up at her house.
• showering
• The beautiful hills of central Texas, which made my home for 4 days.
• Making a trip to Walmart (still the devil) after 48 hours of no sleep, which rivaled the 4 hour saunter around Michaels post Guavalamp. I bought produce--thank God for veggies!
• Knowing that all of my friends and family were safe and sound
• The "Your call cannot be completed as dialed" (CCBCAD) tags designed especially for the hurricane: "We're sorry. The person you are trying to reach is a hurricane evacuee. He/she cannot check voicemail or answer the phone."
• The weather channel--the only place where you can watch a hurricane beeline for your house with 70's porno music in the background. Bomchickawawa...Local weather on the 8's.
• Passing Jones road this afternoon at 80 mph. :o)

Sobering moments:

• Going through my house Wed and trying to decipher exactly what possessions were essential and what were superfluous. It's harder than it sounds.
• Watching Rita grow to a category 5 with still hours to go and at a beeline straight for Houston.
• Realizing after 8 hours and 3/4 tank of gas that I had only driven 17 miles and thinking for the first time that I might actually be stuck on the freeway when the storm hit.
• The view of the parking lot at Kroger in Cypress when we could finally exit 290. It looked like Armageddon. People were lined up in denial, waiting for the gas trucks to come, despite the fact that Kroger personnel said that they wouldn't be coming. Others were camped out in the parking lot with fearful looks in their eyes. Shelves were completely empty aside from sushi and diet soda. I guess in times of trouble, aspartame doesn't call to you...
• Thinking after 10 hours (19 miles) on the road that if this were a more urgent (meaning less time to evacuate) evacuation, we would have all died.
• Finally making it through 290, finding a back one lane country road, and then getting stopped (with car turned off to save gas) for 3 hours at a construction site while they let 10 minutes of traffic through at a time. Losing Gordie on that road. Edgy running uphill in 103 heat to try to find her to no avail, only to find out that she had turned around and was sitting miles back at a quickie mart because she didn't feel like sitting through the traffic.
• Losing cell phone connection to friends and family.
• Walking through the hill country and noticing that somewhere internally I was hoping for the hurricane to wipe out my job and home so that I could leave and start over, even with absolutely nothing. Then flogging myself for having such thoughts.
• Gordie's revelation that she was going to fling her car into the ditch because she didn't want to live anymore and being helpless because we didn't know where she was and lost phone connection.
• The conflicting feelings of being glad to return home but hating that home meant Houston.

Anyway, all is safe and sound and cats were wonderful on the trip. I'm exhausted, so nite nite.