Thursday, noon: I got off work and headed to my apartment, called my family and found they were evacuating to my uncle's. Wanting to avoid traffic, I told my mom that I was waiting until the evening, even though she insisted it was a good time then.
4 pm that afternoon: I got anxious and threw my packed suitcases into my car and headed north. I decided to take back roads to avoid rush hour traffic and other evacuees. It usually takes me 50 minutes to get to my uncle's. It took me two and a half hours. I amused myself by taking photos though, so road rage did not overtake me.
Thursday night: News, news, and more news. With a little bit of Mario Cart and bowling on the Wii for some entertainment.
Friday: The waiting game. More news. We readied the yard for the hurricane, and knowing we'd be stuck inside for awhile, visited the high school track and got out for a bit. Later that night, we ate our last hot cooked meal, watched more news, made hurricane shelters in Legos, and Heath and I watched Happily Never After with my cousins to keep them preoccupied.
Friday midnight: Finally fell asleep while waiting for signs of wind and hurricane to hit.
2am: Woke up to Uncle checking front door, wind crazy outside, all kinds of things hitting the roof.
3:10am: Watched news with Mommy and Deedee until electricity flickered out. Went out to balcony to feel the wind and was too afraid to walk out for fear of getting hit by something since it was pitch black outside. Scary windy craziness!
Saturday, 8am: Woke up to heavy rain and wind still outside, windows fogged up from no A/C.
All day rained, light drizzles. Damage check found nothing on our house, but trees were down everywhere in the neighborhood. Covering streets, yards, landing on houses, and smooshing cars.
Saturday daytime: I don't know what we did, but watch the news on a 4x4 inch square TV run on Travis's batteries. I studied for my LEED test some, but we all just passed the hours slowly and took lots of naps.
Saturday night: Grill night and dinner over lamplight while eating gallons of Blue Bell ice cream as it melted away. No more news for me.
Sunday morning: Still raining, but lighter. Not as windy. Picked up branches, but everyone had cabin fever. My mom and brother leave to Dallas. I leave for home, to my aunt's who had power. Deedee fights to go home to her house without power.
Sunday afternoon: I walk into my apartment to find the roof leaked and have extensive ceiling water damage and on carpet near fireplace. Fortunately only got on a few picture frames.
Sunday night: Drove to Aunt Cathy's. Electricity and cable but no water!! Making flushing interesting...
Monday: Aunt Cathy's. No work, so did some Photoshop for work on my laptop. Hanging out with my cousin. Fine tuning my Guitar Hero skills.
Tuesday: No work. Helped Aunt Cathy with fence, then headed to check on my apartment. Nothing changed and management unhelpful. Left Aunt's and headed to Ann and Adam's.
Wednesday: No work. Hung out at Ann and Adam's and studied LEED. Yummy Villagio's for dinner, where there was no A/C and really slow service b/c of the hurricane but it was a fun experience. Slept at Ann & Adam's
Thursday: No work. Hung out at Ann and Adam's. Studied LEED. Lunch with Ann and Caleb at the Galleria. Almost left for my grandparents, but stayed only to find out we had to work on Friday. Slept at Jackie and Julia's.
Friday: Work, full day. Sad. But left for grandparents', stopped in Aggieland, and relaxed to the smell of burning brush and hay.
Saturday: Watched my grandpa ride his new 250cc scooter, played Nintendo, search for the holy grail with Heath in the pasture, and slept 3 to the bed with my sisters who came in from college for the night and refused to sleep alone.
Sunday: Left heaven and back to reality, visited my other grandma and slept there for the night. Ending the last day of summer with "Just Dan" movie with Heath.
Monday: Worst day of traffic ever. 1 hr from grandma's to 610. Sleeping finally at my apartment, stained ceiling at all. But I bought Asian lilies to brighten and freshen up the place!
So that was my first hurricane experience. Overall not too bad. An adventure to say the least. And nice to have a whole week of holiday pay for missing work because of the weather. And I have a place to stay, unlike so many others on the coast. I feel blessed, and I'm praying for the displaced families. Hurricane Ike definitely is not our friend!
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