Watching the Hurricane

We're all in a tizzy around here, watching the progress of Hurricane Dean. We think we learned a lot from our Hurricane Rita evacuation, two years ago, but we're hoping not to put it to the test.

The wonderful family we stayed with last time has emailed us, offering to take us in again. They live in a very different type of area: scrubby woods with cacti, lots of deer, even scorpions. I thought it was beautiful...a great change from suburban Houston. In a way, I'd love to go back. On the other hand, twenty-five hours in the van would be a lot more difficult now that the boys are much more active (and opinionated!) We would leave earlier this time, hoping to beat some of the crowds (most of the twenty-five hours was spent sitting still or inching along).

Last time we were given some gas by a local man along the way. This time they say that fuel tankers are being sent to areas along the evacuation route. Lots of people have bought gas cans to bring their own extra fuel.

G. will only drink milk, so we'll bring a lot of that in a cooler. B. will drink soy milk in a pinch, so I can have some cartons that don't need to be refrigerated. Last time I thought we could buy food along the way, but most stores were closed. I wonder if they would drink water or juice if they got thirsty enough? I hope so!

According to the projections, we may not even need to evacuate, but you have to prepare, just in case. If we do go, I'll update from Austin.

Edit on Saturday: Looks as if it will miss us. Yay!

A photo from the last evacuation: