Hurricane Update

Okay, so I'm assuming that most of you have heard about Hurricane Ike. Yes, he looks to be headed straight towards Houston. No, we are not running.

As long as we have power and wireless Internet, I plan to update as often as possible to let you know what is going on here. Right now, it's beautiful, sunny, and hot. There is also an aura of busyness in the area. Everyone is stocking up on water and food, filling up their cars with gas, and beating a path out of town for many. Pretty much everyone on the south and southeast sections of town are taking refuge wherever they can. I've heard from several of my friends over there, and they have found places to stay already.

We are on the far west/northwest side of town, so we are not even in a voluntary evacuation area. It appears that most people around here are staying put and are planning to just weather the storm. Because of the increased traffic from all the evacuees that NEED to get out of here, the roads are pretty much packed already. That's one of the main reasons that Matt and I decided to try our luck here instead of picking our way across Texas to somewhere safer.

We've taken most of the preparations we're going to. Around lunchtime tomorrow we should see the beginnings of the storm, and at that point we'll see just how well we prepared. We're expecting lots of rain and some fairly high winds (although I doubt they're that bad, considering both of our experiences in west Texas). Power will probably go out at least for a little while and possibly for a long while.

At least we know what we're getting into. And it's sad, but part of me is actually excited to go through my first hurricane. I wouldn't feel that way if we were closer to the coast, but this far inland, it may actually be a fun adventure.

And of course, if anything changes and it looks like things will end up worse here, we are ready to leave at a moment's notice, traffic and all. But then, just like Rita three years ago, the hurricane could just be psyching us out and hit somewhere else altogether after all.

Either way, we'd appreciate some prayers sent down this way, for us and for everyone else who is about to be affected by Ike.