We finally decided sometime after 7:00 pm, Wednesday evening to "get out of Dodge". The chosen destination was rural Oklahoma (the wife's grandparents). It took several hours to pack a few belonging, clean out the freezer and prep the yard for gale force winds. Unfortunately, this meant that we left home at about 2:30am. I had hoped this odd departure time would mean less traffic but it made no difference at all.

What did make a difference was our choice in routes. Our normal route north would be Beltway 8 to I-45 north. A neighbor suggested we take a rural route and I am so glad we took his advice. We took Grand Parkway (99) North to FM-1092 (Westheimer) and then headed West. 1092 was really slow - at least we thought it was pretty slow. It turns out we didn't understand the meaning of the word...yet.

We finally came to FM-359 and headed North. I suppose it would be more accurate to say that we pointed our vehicle in a northward direction. At 2:55am, I decided to measure our progress and reset the trip odometer. An hour later, the digital readout indicated we had traveled all of 0.1 miles. At rougly 2 minute intervals, we would crawl forward maybe 3 car lengths.

The pattern was so predictable and I was so tired that I decided to nap between periods of forward progress. The SUV in front of me had very bright brake lights so I would close my eyes and relax and instantly doze. When the brake lights turned of, it would wake me up and we would all move forward a few feet and then it would start over again.

It was about 5:00 am by the time we came to, and passed under I-10. At this point, the road opened up and we were able to travel at much higher speeds (like as fast as 40 mph at times) for about 30 miles. It was slow again when we turned onto 290 and Hwy-6 was very slow at several points.

Gas was a big issue for many, but I had filled up the tank on Wednesday afternoon. Throughout the morning, we passed some stations that actually had gas but they were very busy and we wanted to continue to make progress to a place where gas would be plentiful. We finally stopped in Hearne for gas. The station was busy but we did not have to wait long. The van only needed 7 gallons.

We were able to travel at reasonable speeds (probably averaging 30 mph) the rest of the way to Waco and reached that milestone at Noon. From there we could take I-35 North through Fort Worth and on to Oklahoma City. The traffic was all behind us, and the remainder of the trip was very smooth and fast. We made it to Fairview, OK as the clock was approaching 7:00pm, after nearly 17 hours of traveling.

And we were very fortunate to make it that quickly. My brother-in-law took I-45 North and it took them 24 hours to reach Wichita. Some other friends left at 8:00 pm on Wednesday, took 99 up to I-10 and made it just past Katy-Mills Mall by 6:00am. Their destination was College Station, which we drove through about 5 hours after departure. (Can you tell how thankful I am for my wise neighbor?)

Now it appears that my location will not take the anticipated direct hit. We would have been ok staying, but no regrets. You have to do what you think is best, and with the information we had, leaving was a prudent move. It is nice to know that the house and all our things (which really don't seem all that important when you are picking just a few to take with you - like kids) should come through in good shape.

From what I have heard, over 2 million people evacuated from Houston and the surrounding coastal communities. I'm not sure how long we will be out of town but I'm not terribly eager to travel home through the same conditions we endured to get here. We may wait and keep an eye on traffic patterns for a few days until it looks like an easier trip. I'm spending my weekdays with The Jack (who also lives in Oklahoma) so I can keep doing my job and earning a paycheck.

A special thanks for all who send emails or instant messages and especially to those who offered a place to stay. I am overwhelmed by the number of offers we received from places both far and near.