Re: Diary of a "Rita" Evacuee - "The Rest of the Story"

10/5/2005
Subject: Hurricane Rita

Jeff,

What a painful experience! Thanks from all of us, who only witnessed, via
the
"Weather Channel."

Many of today's problems, may have a single foundation. NO ONE likes to
bring
up the subject of "Over Population." It's not popular with Religious
Leaders or
Political Candidates.

How many people (comfortably), can live in deserts or crowded cites? Some
areas
of our word have been disputing land and water rights, for centuries.

Are we truly reaching the breaking point of Nature's tolerances?

Sorry to stray, so far, from the subject of Mustangs & Shelby's. As a
product of
the sixty's, I grew up thinking of our kid's, kids and what is waiting for
us all.

Hopefully, we can learn & change from these natural disasters


Pete Geisler
407 688 1966

In a message dated 10/4/2005 10:31:38 PM Eastern Standard Time,
jfoxnasa@worldnet.att.net writes:

This is off topic, but it definitely has to do with motor vehicles !!! If
you'd like to get some insight into the evacuation, the please see below ...

------------------------------------------------------

This is long, but maybe an interesting read for you. If you want an inkling

of what the largest evacuation in U.S. history was like, then read on ...



What follows is a diary of a tiny slice of the plight of the "Evacuees
Running from Hurricane Rita". I wanted to take a look at the preparation
and evacuation angle as most eyes are usually focused on the storm and
tragic aftermath.



People and Vehicle Report



1 mile = 5,280 ft

1 avg. vehicle + space between another vehicle = ~ 25'

Assume about 2 people per car, but usually more

Assume 3 lanes of traffic one way, but many times up to 4 and 5 and
sometimes fewer



Continuing ...



5280 ft / 25 ft = ~ 211 vehicles per mile x 2 people = 422 people per mile x
3 lanes = 633 vehicles and 1266 people per mile



Now .... consider that there were approximately 4 or 5 evacuation routes
(say 4.5), then you have 2848 vehicles and 5697 people



What does this mean? An unwanted Guiness Book of World Records Award that I
never wanted to be in.



The clincher .... consider many if not all of these evacuation routes were
backed up for about 100 miles !!!!!!! and all at the same time!



Finishing with the math ...



2848 vehicles X 100 miles = 284,800 vehicles !!! (and I didn't see one
Shelby lol, that was the only humor there was)

5697 people x 100 miles = 569,700 people !!! (probably closer to 700,000)



Above are just my crude estimates of the amount of people and vehicles that
moved through Houston at any given moment during my 30 hr escape! Many,
many more passed the same way in the hours preceding and after me.



The estimates over the day and a half exodus are about 2 million and I
believe that's about right (it sure felt like it).





Time & Mileage Report



I left my house at about 9:30 pm on Wed. evening. Downtown Houston is 17
miles from my house; about a 25 min. trip on an average day. So I think it
will be slower than that, but nothing like I would ever have imagined. 6
hrs 30 min. later I make it to downtown Houston ! (just 17 miles). Whewww
.... That's got to be the worst of it, so I think. I keep on. All I need to
do is get to Mile marker 81 on the I-45 freeway; just 33 more miles (I can
do it). I'll cut to the chase and you can read the whole story below, a
mere 30 hrs after I leave my home I see my exit! 30 hrs and just 50 miles
traveled. It was absolutely an incredible mostly unreported story. If you
watched the Weather Channel you may have seen me interviewed on the side of
the freeway putting gas in my car with one of my two "full" gas cans that I
was lucky enough to bring along.



I used about 23 gallons of gas over the course of 50 miles; for about a
whopping 2 miles per gallon.





Meet me on the Freeway, 'er I mean the Parking Lot (Below is a more
detailed diary of the exodus) ...



Tues. 9/20



~ 2:00 pm - While at work we begin thinking it might be a good idea to
cancel our Wed. meeting and while were at it maybe Thurs. and Fri. too;
good, no meetings, don't like them that much anyway.



~ 4:45 pm - I leave work and decide to top off my gas tank (My daily driver
is a 1992 Cadillac Sedan DeVille that does not get very good mileage). I
then think, hey, I should stop by and get a haircut in case they're out of
comission for a while.



~ 5:30 pm - I make the most important decision; I grab my 2.5 gallon
lawnmower gas can and a 5 gallon gas can that I used to fill the Shelby when
I was having some carburetor problems many months back. I always wanted to
get rid of that can because it was in the way, but what a life saver.



~ 6:15 pm - My parents live close by and ask me to help board the windows,
hmmm, they're getting serious. I leave for home, but before I do I ask them
if I can have their small walkie talkies I bought them a few years ago
(unknown to me it would be an important decision).



~ 7:00 pm - I decide that maybe I should board up too; I'll get up early the
next morning





Wed. 9/21



~ 8:05 am - Dad arrives to help me board up my house; I continue bringing in

things that might blow around (like patio furniture!)



~ 10:00 am - All my neighbors in my cul-de-sac are out. They are making a
list of everyone's cell and home phone numbers.



~ 11:15 am - Mom and Dad drive by my house on the way out of town; Mom is
worried I might want to stay because of my Shelby; I'm worried that it will
either be flooded, stolen or looted



~ 11:16 am - I run through a mix of emotions from feeling angry and sickened
to rattled nerves. I finally start moving furniture in the house. I wrap a
few things in plastic, move some furniture in front of the door in a futile
attempt to keep the wind from opening it. As I keep this up I'm getting
more irritated and realize that I probably should get out.



I then take the next step, decide what to restart a new life with because
if this thing comes in with about 170 mph winds, game over. We're in the
storm surge area and know that everything could be lost. I start thinking
about the car. What to do. I cover it, lock it up in every way
imagineable, jack up the front and put it on jack stands in case the water
just reaches it, but realize I don't have any for the rear. I go to the
auto parts store and buy some more, but am so frustrated that I don't even
put them in. I even took the jack handle with me!



So what do you bring, when all you can carry is what will fit in your 4 door
car. What is important enough after decades of life. It's hard to make up
your mind that quick, but I grabbed the insurance papers, bank info.,
pictures & CD's of the car along with receipts and other detailed info. I
grab some family pictures, a handful of greeting cards, letters from family
and friends, my Dad's poncho from Vietnam (and I used it two days later), I
took my favorite pool cue, shoes and clothes, cameras, a small book on Kauai

(Hawaii) that my Mom had lent me, a little food and water (not enough
though) and a few other items. I must have made 50 trips back and forth to
that car in a hurried attempt to not leave anything critical behind.



~ 4:15 pm - I start the next unpleasant task of taking pictures and video of
every room in my home to document it for insurance purposes, I also capture
the outside of the house, the trees, fences, flower beds and think that it
may never look that way again.



~ 7:00 pm - I try to grab a few hours sleep and decide that I'll leave
between midnight and 2:00 am. I hope that if I can just get 3-4 hrs of
sleep I can make a bit of a long drive. I toss & turn, but just can't
sleep. At this point, I have no idea what is really to come.



~ 9:05 pm - I'm so frustrated and spent that I make the decision to go! I
must do something that I can control and that is to leave. I grab the last
few items including a tin can to take care of you can guess what (and boy
did that come in handy).



I was also thinking I have all these treasures in my car and what if
something happens to the car and I lose these most precious items. What if
my car becomes "ill" and breaks down and is in the the path of the storm.
The momentos are obviously important, but if I break down who will take them
and me and will they fit in another vehicle. I'm more concerned about that
than my own safety.



LEGEND: Local Time (am/pm), Elapsed Time (T+ xx hrs yy min.), Distance
Traveled (miles)



~ 9:30 pm (T+0) LIftoff - The big driving adventure begins - I leave the
neighborhood and stop 2 or 3 times to wish the last few stragglers luck.
Out of 50 houses in my small area there are only about a half dozen
occupied; that number would soon be about zero and this entire area of
several hundred thousand people would become practically a ghost town (I've
seen it before during other evacuations, but it's always eerie). I take one
last look at the neighborhood, I see a few folks topping off their tanks at
the local gas station. There is almost no one on the road. I pass by our
big new church and see the sign that says no Sunday services. All seems
peaceful and I finally accept that if it's all gone, then it's all gone.
That started to give me a little relief.



However, less than 2 minutes later the reality of the world's largest
traffic jam would soon hit like a brick wall, literally. Remember, in
emergency situations a caravan does not equal one car (bad idea).



~ 9:35 pm (T+5m) - The following takes place on Interstate 45 beginning at
mile marker 28 / Clear Lake City Blvd. and ending up in the Woodlands about
50 miles north at mile marker 79 over the course of 3 separate calendar
days. I enter the freeway at mile marker 28 and know that all I have to do
is get about 50 miles to mile marker 81 and then I'll be home free to the
Dallas area. Then the shock sets in. As I enter the freeway I see
headlights and tail lights as far as the eye can see. I slowly move along
(about 5 mph; I would have killed for that speed many hours later). I begin
to see the lights of downtown Houston after about 2 hrs (remember that
downtown is only 17 miles from where I entered the freeway).



~ 11:00 pm (T+1h30m) - I begin to notice a disturbing trend, but
predictable. Car after car that has overheated or otherwise broken down;
sometimes a wrecker was present to clear the bottle necks. I'm not talking
about 1 or 2 cars, but tens or perhaps hundreds. Many made it to the
shoulder. I remember flipping through the radio dials and hearing the "Art
Bell" show. If you know him you know that he has very unusual science /
paranormal types on the show. I can remember his guest talking about time
travel and all I could think is that I'd like to be time traveled out of
here.





Thur. 9/22



~ 12:30 am (T+3h, ~10 miles) - After 3 hrs I realize the skyscrapers are no
closer. After 4 hrs, same thing, then 5 hrs, then a little movement.



Most of what I remember in the 6 hrs 30 min. to downtown is ambulance, after
ambulance, after ambulance, after ambulance, after wrecker, after wrecker,
after wrecker, after police car, after police car (you get the idea) tearing

down the shoulder. In fact, there was almost a constant drone of sirens
that entire night, eerie.



Also, in the night sky one could see and hear police helicopters flying
along the road probably ecstatic they weren't in our mess. After that would
come the news helicopters, then military helicopters; this kept up most of
the night and day for the length of the trip.



Remember the scene from the end of the movie "Deep Impact". Everyone is
lined up on the road with broken down cars everywhere and then the space
rock hits and they drown (from a Tsunami or in our case storm surge!).



~ 4:00 am (T+6h30m, 17 miles) - I'm in downtown, yeah! only 6 hr 30 min and
17 miles later, but I think hey, this is a big evacuation so I'll have to be

patient; little do I know how patient. To add insult to injury my next door
neighbor calls and says they opened the high occupancy vehicle lane and they
zip past me in 20 minutes! Ouch!



~ 5:00 am (T+7h30m) - I start to think that at least it's night time and
cooler, sort of. By this time I have turned off my A/C to conserve gas.
I'm dreading the heat of the day and realize it will get warmer; much warmer

than I know.



~ 6:00 am (T+8h30m) - Time drags on and a top speed of 1.7 mph (that's 1
point 7 mph) is reached, I think; yipee.



~ 7:00 am (T+9h30m) - More time drags on and now I'm glad that I have that
"can" along (lol); but how to do that in a practically parked car with
people all around you in their cars. Hmmm ... Creative uses of umbrellas,
hanging shirts and windshield shades work quite well. Still, not fun.



~ 7:30 am (T+10h) - I call my friend who's a private pilot. I remember him
saying that he could fly down to Houston and take me and about 200 lbs of
cargo; sounds great no matter the cost. We then begin to think about the
mandatory evacuation routes and whether I'll even be allowed to get to the
airport I want to go to which is behind me at this point, but there would be
no traffic if I turned around.



~ 9:00 am (T+11h30m) - Remember those 2 gas cans I have, in the trunk.
We'll I get my little procedure down so that about every hour I stop the car
in the middle of the freeway to hit the trunk release, quickly get out, open
the vents on each can (and boy do they need it), then jump back in the car.
All the while I've snarled traffic and stopped them from moving up 2.3
inches (lol).



~ 10:00 am (T+12h30m) - It's getting hot and sweaty and so is every Mom,
Dad, kid, babies, dogs, horses, goats; you name it and it drove by me in
every truck, trailer, boat, RV ...



~ 10:30 am (T+13h) - I call my pilot friend again and ask him to check out
other airports along my route where he might be able to get gas for his
plane. He finds a spot, great! I can cut off time. However, that full
service spot is in the Woodlands (exit 81) which is the exact spot on I-45
north where I'll end up about 18 hrs later!



~ 11:00 am (T+13h30m) - I notice that my underhood temp is getting a little
toasty. I sure don't want to break down here; what then? I get creative by
popping the hood, but not releasing the final latch. I stuff a couple of
the towels I brought along around the front edges this seems to work (I
started propping the hood open with a soda can and water bottles, but they
kept getting flattened by the heavy hood). The under hood temps is dropping
several degrees. Yeah.



~ 12:00 pm (T+14h30m) - I call a friend and ask them to cancel a hotel
reservation I had made in Houston thinking I would not need it. I later
regret it as it would have been somewhere I could have gone and gotten to
quickly had I turned around even though it would have been in the path of
the hurricane.



~ 12:30 pm (T+15h) - Today is forecast to be 100 degrees. It was every bit
of that on the pavement (maybe 120 degrees and it's still early afternoon;
where's a little bit of cloud cover or breeze from that darn Hurricane).



~ 1:00 pm (T+15h30m) - The under hood temp starts to rise again; this is
where it starts to get fun. Since the fluid levels looked fine I thought
there's only one other thing I can do, run the defroster on high heat. Oh
boy! So I do that, and it's good for a few degrees. I reflect on how much
fun this is, pavement temp 120 degrees, windows down, defroster on and every
bit of carbon monoxide and noxious fumes you can think of coming in my
window; there sure are a lot of cars in need of repair out there. Diesels
roll by and I have to roll up my windows in the heat with the heater on so
now it's about 130 degrees in my car. No problem, I reach for a cool bottle

of water in the ice chest, right. That ice melted long ago on a very warm
floorboard. I grab a bottle of water that was laying on the floor. The
outside of the bottle is really warm to the touch; as if you filled it with
warm tap water. So that's what I drink, which I'm sure isn't helping my
core body temp. Is it too much fun yet? Just wait, it gets better.



~ 1:30 pm - (T+16h) - I pass many more cars that are on the shoulder either
stalled out, over heated, out of gas, exhausted drivers or any other number
of reasons. I'm not talking a few cars, I mean tens, hundreds over time and
later learn more like thousands.



~ 2:00 pm (T+16h30m) - The fuel situation is getting a little precarious so
I start looking for any gas station that might be open just off the freeway.
The miles 'er hours and 1 mile go by and I spot it, a Texaco station. I see
people and they are actually pumping gas. I pull to the shoulder and take
my gas cans out of the trunk and begin to fill my tank (I don't recommend
the trunk as a storage place, but under the circumstances .). I spot a
camera and reporter hurriedly running toward me. They zoom the camera in on
me as I pour gas in my tank. They interview me, ask what I'm doing, find
out I work for NASA and then quip "Houston, We've Got a Problem" at which
point I give them a little bit of my thoughts on the subject. I later find
out these guys are from the Weather Channel and that my relatives around the
country have seen me and now I have a contract to do TV commercials (just
kidding, on the contract part of course lol).



After I fill the tank I walk off the freeway across the access road and to
the Texaco. There is a line of cars and I don't want to make anyone mad so
I ask them is it OK if I cut in front of you with loose gas cans, but tell
them I'll stand between the cars if they want, but they let me pass. I fill
up, run the cans back to the car and then run back to the station to get
some water and a few candy bars.



~ 2:30 pm (T+17h) - As I'm driving along with "thousands of my friends" I
happen to look right, there I see someone I know, I can't believe it. He
sold me several sets of tires from NTB and knows my Shelby well. We talk
with windows down at the break neck speed of 0.5 - 1.0 mph (if we're lucky).
I make sure to get his cell phone number (another possible life line); he
also gives me another bottle of water (every one is precious). He tells me
that the contra flow lanes are open (all freeway lanes north and south go
north only to move more cars). We're happy, but see no evidence of it some
20 miles back (I later wonder why they did not open it earlier in the day
and 10-20 miles further back in our direction).



~ 3:00 pm (T+17h30m) - I pass an amazing array of sweaty, frustrated,
fearful and uncomfortable people ranging from parents and teenagers to naked
babies propped up by the car window to try and cool them off. I see many
dogs panting and foaming as if they are on their last legs. Then there's
the horse trailers, boats, RV's, 5th wheelers and even a trailer full of
goats. I must say that these people were very well behaved and supportive
of each other. There was very little complaining and there were many others
in much worse shape than I.



~ 4:00 pm (T+18h30m) - I spot another gas station; people seem to be doing
something around the gas pumps. I waste no time. I pull to the shoulder
and hot foot it to the gas station only to find out that there is no gas.
However, there is a store and it must have something cold to drink (I'll
take anything at this point for what is truly becoming a case of heat
exhaustion with that darn heater running all the time). When I get to the
door they say "Sorry, we're closed". Ouch. I spot a guy with some cold
drinks. I go over to him and tell him I'll buy that orange soda for $5
bucks and even offer him more, I just really need something cold. He gives
it to me, but doesn't want anything for it; I demand he take something. I
guzzle that drink like it was the last thing on earth. I return to the car
fueled up on a cold drink, but with an empty gas can. I have one 5 gallon
tank left and I'll just have to figure out how to manage the remaining fuel
because under no circumstances do I want to be stranded on the side of that
freeway with thousands of others.



~ 4:10 pm (T+18h40m) - A disheveled woman approaches me and asks for a ride
down the road; I was very conflicted about it, but was not comfortable with
the situation and politely made some excuse.



~ 4:30 pm (T+19h) - The underhood temps in my car begin to rise again.
There's only two options left, stop (not an option) or drive with the hood
up. Yes, that ought to generate some interest, and it does. I raise the
hood, lower the seat, scrunch down and begin driving while looking through
the crack under the hood. I've got at least a whole 3 inches and I get
pretty good at judging how far the car is in front of me (of course that's
not real hard at 0 - 1.1 mph). I get lots of strange looks while doing
this, but it pays off as my underhood temps drop about 10 degrees. I keep
this up for a few hours until the sun begins to dip and the temps begin to
drop ever so slightly.



~ 5:30 pm (T+20h) - Again I'm feeling really parched and heat exhausted; I
start asking cars passing by ever so slowly if they have anything cold to
drink. A lady offers me a half frozen water bottle and asks if she can use
my cell phone (seems like a great deal to me).



~ 6:00 pm (T+20h30m) - As I'm driving along with my hood up someone next to
me says hey Jeff. I look over and can't believe that I know a second person
on this crowded road, his name is Rich. This was the key meeting as I would
eventually find a place to ride out the storm as a result of it. Remember
those radios my folks lent me ... we'll Rich had some just like it and we
tuned our radios to the same frequency and we soon had a caravan of 3
vehicles instead of my lone one (never a good idea to be alone in that type
of situation).



~ 6:30 pm (T+21h) - One, two, three, four, five, six (I lose count); number
of police cars and motorcycles going tearing down the shoulder with their
lights on. Of course we all cheered that. We've still seen no results of
the freeway lanes all going outbound. However, things do start to change in

a little while.



~ 7:00 pm (T+21h30m) - We speed up to about 30 mph (those cops must have
done something) and it feels like we're flying, but my car is not happy
about that and is chugging and lurching, uh oh. However, we soon slow back
down so I don't have to face that problem again for a long time.



~ 7:15 pm (T+21h45m) - We see that the mile markers indicate only 10 miles
to our exit, yeehaw! 10 miles and only 10 hrs to go !!!



~ 8:00 pm (T+22h30m) - My car is running very rough and some in our group
want me to leave it behind. I'm thinking no way, I'll pull over to the
shoulder, add in the last bit of gas I have and then floor it in hopes that
it will clean out the problem and it does!



~ 11:00 pm (T+24h30m) - I tell you the road and surrounding area just looks
different at 1 mph. You are in one spot so long that you don't recognize
it. Especially at night. There were many times where I was not sure where
I was on a route I had driven time and again.



~ 11:30 pm (T+25h) - After 25 hrs of solo driving at the incredible average
speed of about 1 mph (that really is a demanding type of driving; thank God
I had an automatic) and being awake for about 65 hrs I truly begin to
hallucinate. I'm in and out of a dreaming state, but do not want to pull
over as I don't want to get stuck on the side of the road. So we push on
....





Fri. 9/23



~ 12:30 am (T+26h) - Still in and out of a dreaming and awake state; been up
over 65 hrs straight and driving solo for about 25 hrs (not a good way to
drive, but decide that I am not going to get stuck on the side of the road
with the other thousand cars). I did not think I could sleep for 5 or 10
seconds at a time, but it helps a little in between the tiny movement of all
the cars. Each time we stop I shift to park and rest on the steering wheel.
I ask a driver behind me in our caravan to honk or call me on the radio if
the car in front of me moves to far before I look up.



~ 1:00 am (T+26h30m) - I can see the Woodlands (our destination) business
tower; it's only about a mile away.



~ 2:00 am (T+27h30m) - I can see the Woodlands business tower; it's only
about 3/4 mile away.



~ 2:45 am (T+28h15m) - I can STILL see the Woodlands business tower; it's
only about a 1/4 mile away; this is very irritating, it's not that tall and
not that far away, but we are creeping along ever so slowly.



~ 2:50 am (T+28h20m) - I forgot all about the hurricane and did not even
care about anything except getting through this traffic jam. I thought the
risk of drowning in the storm surge was preferable to sitting another minute
in this; many folks did turn around and head back to the coast.



~ 3:15 am (T+28h45m) - Then there was the "hot dog" man; passing out raw hot
dogs for protein? Not sure why, but he was like the .... 'er uh, hot dog
fairy as he told us not to take the exit we wanted to, but to go up a little
further. That move wound up making our lives a lot easier and helped to get
us to our final destination much more easily and quickly.



~ 3:30 am (T+29h, ~50 miles) - We finally make it the 50 miles and pull over
into a Subway / Walmart parking area and arrive just 2 miles shy of mile
marker 81, the point where all lanes lead out of the city (both sides of the

freeway go north). What we see is amazing, hundreds, if not thousands of
cars pulled all along the shoulders, in parking lots, businesses, closed gas
stations, supermarkets, everywhere. Folks are either out of gas or
collapsed from exhaustion and can be seen sleeping in their cars, on their
cars, in the grassy medians, on the parking lot, with their pets as guards,
simply everywhere. People are looking for gas, water, food, shelter and
sleep and almost none of any can be found. The town was completely over
run.



I exit the car and am walking around like a drunk after being up near 3
entire days with 30 hrs non-stop behind the wheel. One of the nice hotels
parked a car to block their front doors and keep people like us out. There
was trash all over, the smell of urine (shades of the Superdome), but I can
see how this happens. Tens of thousands of folks beat us to this town and
sucked it dry of everything and there was nothing left.



The local police came around and said the Walmart we were at would not open
for 3 more days, but gave no indication on where we might go; I'm sure we
were perceived as a nuisance and messing up the city; it looked like New
Orleans all over again and the hurricane was still 24 hrs away.



With no where to stay except inside our cars we begin to make phone calls of
people in the area to see if we can stay with them. I try one, but no luck.
Another person in our party has success, yeah! We get directions and depart
in our 3 car caravan for our refuge.



- 5:00 am (T+30h30m) - We arrive at a beautiful home in nearby Conroe and
our treated with terrific hospitality. They provide me with the best glass
of iced tea and ice that I can remember! Then a little food, a greatly
needed shower and then total collapse for several hours. What I craved most
for days was ice and something cold to drink; I now know why there are truly
so many trucks with ice that are pre-staged before a storm.





Sat. 9/24



After the storm we check power at our homes by calling our phone answering
machines that are plugged into the wall. This is a good trick and we found
out everyone had power in our group so we decided to hightail it back across
the city to the south side.



We begin our trip home in what is still tropical storm force winds. We lose

our way in the very beginning because we get confused on how to exit the
housing area. We turn off the cars to save gas. When we're ready to go
again mine won't start! I flag a guy down who has jumper cables and he
jumps my car, but the others want to take off without me fearing I'll slow
them down. My motto, stick together no matter what; I'm not a Boy Scout,
but I know that's the right thing to do; don't split up. I ask this fellow
how much for the cables and he takes $20 for them. I wasn't overly happy
about that, but I needed them in case I had to turn my car off again.



This time the trip only takes 1 hr (30 times quicker than the previous day).
We now enter the ghost town of Clear Lake on the south side of Houston. It
was very unusual to be in such a large metropolitan area with so few people
and cars and so many places boarded up.





Reflections



You might wonder how I could recall all this ... We'll when there's nothing
to do hour after hour after hour it's easy to get creative; guess that's
what they say about prison life (hope to never find that out).



I also reflected on the coverage of Hurricane Katrina and could not figure
out how all these families got separated and why they did not know where
their family members were or why they could not reach them. Well little did
I know that I would be living that situation a few weeks later.



Looking back, I must say that the overall conduct of the people was much to
be admired. I did not hear one terse or curse word and most people were
willing to offer up anything from cold drinks, to food and even water /
anti-freeze for the radiator. The people's conduct was something to be
proud of.



I also thought about all that gasoline that we take for granted, it fuels
the cars for the escape, wreckers to move the stalled, broken and out of
fuel cars, the police cars tearing up and down the freeway shoulders,
ambulances and our essential and prized vehicles. I live near Ellington
Field where there is a National Guard Air Wing, Coast Guard, etc. After I
get back I hear the constant drone of C-130 cargo plane engines and
helicopters coming and going continuously delivering emergency supplies,
communication and rescue operations all using similar types of fuel.



All in all, I fared very well with no house damage and just a day of clean
up. A far cry from the poor Hurricane Katrina victims. Many things went
right with the evacuation, but many things could have gone better. Katrina
and the media did a good job of scaring the *@#$! out of everyone in the
city of Houston (close to half of the about 5 million decided to leave at
the same time). For one, they could have opened up the contra flow (make
all lanes outbound) a little sooner and closer in to the city limits. They
might also have pre-staged fuel trucks at key places along the evacuation
routes. Surely in their disaster planning this must have come up. An
unfortunate consequence is that many people will not evacuate next time as
they think they will surely be caught in a giant traffic jam. Sometimes a
poorer executed plan is worse than not executing. Of course Hurricane
Katrina and the press did a good job of scaring the heck out of hundreds of
thousands of people on the far side of the city that did not need to
evacuate. When they jumped on the road it kept backing cars up that were in
the true storm surge area that needed to get out. I spoke to many of them
that gave up and turned around.



If you've never had to do it before, a little 9-11 type disaster preparation
would be a good thing so you don't have to do it under pressure.



If this was a long read for you and it felt that way, then I hope you were
able to get a taste of how long the drive really was. I could have headed
to Los Angeles from Houston, driven through Las Vegas, saw the Pacific
Ocean, turned around, headed back east, and made it back to Las Vegas again
in the time in took me to go just 50 miles. If this story was a fast read
for you, then I hope it was at least a little bit entertaining.



Thanks for taking the time to read this.



Jeff



P.S. These events and this story are the sole ownership of the writer and
protected, for what reason I have no idea (lol).