Leaving soon

And it isn't looking good at all. Jim Cantore is in Galveston, so that must be where Ike is going. They have already said we should expect to be inundated with salt water.........fun.....
anyway, we are heading north, to My Dad's house.

Stay safe and keep us posted!

I hope all is well when you get back. I've been reading the news and it looks huge. Be safe.

Best of luck to you!!

Be safe and I will be praying!!

Good luck!

Try and have fun on your hurricane vacation

Be safe! You will be in my thoughts!

I wana know where Geraldo is!! Thats where the 'canne is gona hit!!

(how on earth he has survived SOOO many is one of lifes mysteries.... )

Anderson Cooper should be down here too..

or maybe they will send the heavy hitters to NO just in case.

Geraldo survives because of the Fox Network. They pay him big time to promote anything. It is my opinion Fox, their employees are nothing more than the employees of a tabloid, trash - pure trash.

Seems like no matter where you live in North American; weather is a factor. Hurricanes, forest fires, floods ~ you name we have it!

Good Luck and please post when your time is available.

awwwwww, I like fox. I just dont like Geraldo.

It just tickles me that he is always trying to find crap to get into. I cant stand him.. But its like a train wreck, sometimes you just have to watch him. LOL

LOL I didn't even know he was still on TV until you mentioned him a couple weeks ago. But, the only time Fox is on here is for House. We don't do Fox news. It's gotta be local news or BBC/PBS at my house. I made an exception tonight though and watched ABC

They are ALL vultures

http://news.mywebpal.com/index.cfm?pnpid=974

scroll down to the loop of the huricanne.

Now, on the TX La border (thats the really big state and the one shaped like a boot for all you northerners. )

Erin is on the border at the coast line. She could pert near chunk a rock and hit Lousianna.

I am abotu 100 miles up and 50 miles over. Right by that lake.
If you put your courser arrow on the coast adn the top of it hits another body of water, I am very close to that body of water. like 5 miles.

Erin has came up here closer to where I am. Her county mandatory evac'd and as of 9:30 mine has.

I thought Italy was the boot shaped one... oh wait wrong continent. : ) We know where you are... I had to get Saige a map and a globe to find all her 'friends' all over the world. Oh and she is still waiting to go to Zoe's birthday party and finally decided today that she should come to hers, What do you say Karen... a few hundred in gas for a slice or two of pizza? LOL

I swear I'm tempted. She talks about Saige all the time. When is her birthday? Maybe I should let Zoe call her. We have unlimited long distance. I wonder if she'd talk non-stop or clam up?

According to that map I'm going to be getting the remnants of Ike on Monday. Something tells me you both will have it worse than me though...

I am so sorry you have to leave your homes... that is never fun. We have family that lives down there... you all and your homes with be in my payers.

I'm having a hard time imagining the logistics behind these evacuations.
What happens when people don't show up at their jobs for several days or a week because of forced evacuations? Do they still get paid? Do a lot of people just move inland until they can find a motel with a vacancy? What if you don't have anywhere to go or no money to pay for a room?

It has to awful when kids' schooling keeps being interrupted and businesses have to close and are not bringing in any money. I mean, we have snowstorms, but at least we can just stay put until we can dig ourselves out. Yes, the schools close, but it's normally only a day or two unless we're talking lots of ice.

People who are salaried get paid, and insurance covers some of the losses for the businesses. People who work by the hour don't get paid and have to struggle through. (Like in everything else, those who can afford it least have the fewest options.) Roads are clogged so bad in the areas expected to be hit hardest that many people can't get out. A friend of mine tried to evacuate Pensacola a decade ago. She was in traffic for hours and hours and finally decided to just go home. Her boyfriend stayed with the car. She walked home in about 45 minutes. Those who can afford motels do sometimes go to them, but the ones who can't leave on their own are bused to massive shelters in states like Kentucky. Some end up in churches who just lay out sleeping bags. Churches also gather supplies to donate to the shelters and to send south to the damaged areas.

The thing that would get me is choosing what to take with me. Necessities? Heirlooms? Photos? Valuables?

The other thing is the traffic issue. I know I wouldn't want to leave until the last minute on account of the storms being so unpredictable - I'd be hoping that the storm would die down or change direction and I wouldn't have to budge. Then to try to get out and find that you're low on gas or are stuck in unmoving traffic. Yikes.

Please stay safe.
I am praying for you all.

Lori, Its FUBAR

They tell you if you live in a county they tell you to get the hell out. you head it or you dont. LOL This one is coming in with a large storm surge. The surge is possibly just going to come up on land and flood.

As far as jobs, Alot of places shut down. everyone leaves. Like right now, in Jasper my 'town' (I am 20 miles away) Burger king is borded up, The gas pumps have saran wrap around them (there isno gas left), walmart is closed, there is nothing left on the shelves. All the businisses in town are closed down and some boarded up. (not as much from the massive wind, cause here it will be less than the coast, BUT cause we have alot of undesirables and they will loot)

Back to jobs, During Rita, we didnt have electric for 2 weeks to a month. So very few could work. But no, if its a mandatory evac, they are not allowed to fire you.

If you leave you are also not allowed to come back home until they decide its 'safe'.
Yesterday my sister in law and my inlaws had all went to the largest town north of here. SIL for work, Inlaws for a Dr Appt. they were told they couldnt come home. They found dirt roads and got in.

tis is part of why BR couldnt work last night. That and there are up to 5 million people evac'in and alot of them head through my little town.

during gustav they evac'd about 1.9 million out of La. (alot of them coming through my town.. LOL )

Sometime they will enact 'contraflow' which is where they open up all the lanes on a road and everyone drives north.

Yes, you have two choices. You can either go on your own. Drive North until you find a hotel room (we evaced for Rita and drove almost 30 hours before we found one under construction) and you pay for that out of your pocket until you are allowed to come home.
(or go to friends or family)

OR if you dont have the money to evac, you can get on a bus, They will take you to a shelter (the ones you see on TV, usually a school gym with cots), the shelter is anywhere from 4-25 hours north. And you are stuck there until they decide to allow you to come back. and bring you back.

And yes, school closing is sooo agervating. Already they have had to take away our 2 bad weather days. so they took back good friday and a teacher work day.

Last time, (for RITA) we were out of school a few weeks. (town got electric back before we did), and they ended up extending school for 15 minutes a day for the rest of the year. to make up the time. It was that or take away Christmas or Spring break. It also REALLY screws with our highschool football schedule, and in Texas, Football is almost a religion.


But the thing is, we dont have these things EVERY year. We havent had a 'real' one in 20 years. then we had Rita. that was 3 years ago.

So Chelle, are you saying you aren't evacuating? I realize you are pretty far inland but Im still getting worried.

No connie we are not evac'in. We are far enough inland and the wind isnt te bad part of this one. its the storm surge. And I am very safe from that. Now rain wil be a factor. And we will very likely loose electric. we are litterly forrest, so trees fall on elec lines all the time. Ad we have some pretty wet ground right now.

Thanks for the responses guys. Every time I think of it, I think of another reason why leaving would be awful. I just remembered all of your animals, Chelle. Poor guys. I would want to stay with them, too.

I hope you all stay snug and it blows over fast. We'll look on the bright side and hope you don't lose power, although I know you have to assume you will. That's another thing. When we lose power during a snowstorm at least our frozen foods are fairly safe. We buy 4-H animals and keep a very full freezer.