On the Road

I'm so glad my friend Jimmie in Houston dodged the Rita storm! I know it probably feels like that whole evacuation mess that Houston had was a big waste since the storm mostly missed you. (But what if it hadn't?!) I know I felt that way last year during all the Hurricane Ivan evacuation mess. Our evac during Ivan was a complete disaster and we had many of the same problems that Houston did. It was so bungled, that my family decided we were better off staying home than getting stuck on the highway during the storm. We got lucky and missed it.

I think it was a big dress-rehearsal. Louisiana learned so much from that bumbled evac, and this time when it was really important, it went SO much better.

Last year during Ivan it took people 20 hours in their cars to make it 25 miles. Rediculous. And only 80% of the people evacuated. This year, the estimates are that 90% got out and there were no long traffic delays to speak of. It was all very orderly. So, Houston, think of the Rita evac as practice for the next one.

Speaking of being on the road, I'm taking the kids on a long car trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house in North Carolina for the week. Their school doesn't start for one more week, so we're going to hit the beach and try to relax if possible. It's a long drive and we'll probably take two days to do it. Just letting you know since I probably will be away from the blog temporarily.

Also, I don't know if anyone has noticed or not, but I changed the title of my blog from "Hurricane Katrina Refugee" to "Hurricane Katrina Returnee". It just seemed more fitting. :-)