What an insane day. I made it to my mom’s after over 5 hours on the road and that was with my trusty key map and lots of back roads. The main road here – 2978 – was jammed and I was on it for 2 hours plus.
Now, that I’m here, it is wait and see as well as listen to the harrowing tales of friends and family still stuck in traffic.
I spoke with Rebecca earlier in the afternoon and she was miserable. She left to go up 59 to Arkansas at 4am and after 12 hours was still south of Liberty!!! They finally got off the freeway and came back home to the Heights.
My father, his wife and my two step-sisters are likely somewhere out on I10 going east and trying to get north to Jefferson City. Now, it looks like that may be in the path of Rita, albeit a ways from the coast. Last I heard, they were just this side of Winnie after 8 hours on the road – a LONG way from where they needed to go.
A friend of mine posted a blog about her crazy journey out I10 west with her cats. I felt terrible for her when I read it as she finally had to turn around and come back for fear of her cats dying from heat stroke and her car overheating.
My friend Kate’s daughter had left with a very good friend to stay in Amarillo, but no cell phone service meant no contact for hours. Fortunately, she recently heard they are only a few hours from their destination and traffic is clear…finally.
What a nightmare on the roads. Just incredible stories of people on the road for 12, 15, 20 hours and only travelling 100 miles. Unbelievable.
Well, we can hope and pray Rita keeps her eastern track and stays away from Houston though the forecast is looking like a lot of rain.
I’m up here in Montgomery with the cats and my mom and her family. Some of my cats are about 10 minutes from here at a boarding place and supposedly doing well when I checked in this afternoon.
So, now, we wait. As Tom Petty said, it’s the hardest part.