Exodus

We left Texas City around 5 pm Wednesday afternoon after a long day of stressing out, packing, putting hurricane covers on the windows, and just trying to get the house ready for the worst. I wanted to leave a lot earlier, but it just didn't happen that way. By the time they announced that Rita was up to a Cat 5 status, we were worried that our house wouldn't be there when we got back so we kicked into overdrive and started packing everything but the kitchen sink into our two vehicles. We stacked furniture in hopes to save what little we could in the event of flooding. We took our CDs and DVDs. We took our bikes. We took one kayak. Both cars were loaded to the maximum. Then we got the kitties into their carriers, Sofia into her carseat and made our way out of the city. Easier said than done. The drive to San Antonio from home was one of the most horrible experiences ever.

We took highway 6 around Houston instead of going straight through the city. We decided to take highway 90 to San Antonio instead of I-10 West. Just getting to highway 90 took us about 10 hours. The traffic was bumper-to-bumper and absolutely unreal. We had gassed up both cars Tuesday night so we started with full tanks of gas. Robert had Sofia and Whiskers in the jeep. I had Trouble and Buxy in the car. We had walkie talkies to talk to each other the whole way. Cell phones just weren't cutting it. Most calls weren't going through due to the flood of activity. The whole scene was surreal. People had horses in trailers, people were pulling their boats, motorcycles, trailers, everything.

The drive was long and painful. For a while I thought we were going to have to leave the jeep behind because it was seriously acting up and the check engine light came on and stayed on. I freaked out because I didn't know how we'd fit our stuff into our tiny car. I didn't want to leave the jeep and all the stuff in it on the side of the road. At first we drove like troopers and did our best to keep our spirits up. We stopped to feed the Sofia and change her diapers every few hours. We stopped to grab something to eat. But as time went on I started to freak out. The cats hadn't eaten and had no place to go to the bathroom. We were barely out of Houston and Robert was nearing half a tank of gas. EVERY SINGLE GAS STATION WAS OUT OF GAS. I thought we would run out of gas and be stuck on the side of the road. The check engine light came on in the car I was driving. I began thinking about how our house may not be there when we got back if Rita hit close. I called my brother-in-law on Robert's suggestion, who said he would bring us gas to get us to San Antonio if we needed him to.

I had called my parents several times to let them know what was going on and where we were. By 2:30 am I was near tears. Okay, I was in tears. We had tried to get gas several times with no luck. We debated cutting across to drive on I-10, not knowing which way would be faster or safer if we ran out of gas. I was terrified of running out of gas with the cats and the baby in the cars. Finally we ended up on a road between 10 and 90 and into a town called Fulshear, where we tried again, unsuccessfully, to get gas. There were people all over the gas station just waiting for the gas trucks to come (it was like this at most of the gas stations we stopped at). Robert calmed me down, bought some food for us to eat, coffee to stay awake, got cat food and fed the cats. I fed the baby once again and changed her diaper. I realized that EVERYONE was going through the same thing. We made the decision to keep driving as far as we could and that we would take 90 instead of I-10. We wanted to try and at least make it to Gonzales , TX on the gas we had and if we ran out, well...then we would ask my family to bring us gas. This was around 3:30 am.

After driving a couple of more hours, we happened upon a Conoco gas station with super long lines. It actually had gas! We waited, filled up (but even that was an ordeal because our bank card wasn't working. Luckily we have more than one bank account), and made our way out of there! After that, things went pretty smoothly. The cats seemed a little better. Sofia was doing well. She was just all sweaty from being in her car seat. We were in Shiner, TX by 6:30 am, and in San Antonio by 10 am. I had never been so happy to see the city limits sign for San Antonio.

All in all, it took us about 17 hours to get from Texas City to San Antonio. I fed Sofia in gas station parking lots, and in a Denny's. Trouble peed in her cat carrier. Sofia was oblivious to it all (thank God). Buxy and all the cats were traumatized. I am thankful we left when we did and made it all the way to San Antonio. I'm happy we had somewhere to go. I'm happy our Sofia is safe. I'm happy the cats are okay. I hope our house is there when we get back and that our belongings are okay. Hell, I hope the storm hits somewhere else. But if it does hit our area, and our stuff is destroyed, I'm still happy that we're all okay. I hope wherever Rita hits, that the damage is minimal and lives are spared.