August 26 – “Evacuation Day”

We woke to a 5:05 a.m. phone call from the City of Galveston.  The Island was now officially under a Hurricane Watch.  That was an upgrade from the Tropical Storm Watch of earlier.  It was in the Gulf and expected to strengthen into a category three hurricane before making landfall.  Oh, and Tropical Storm Laura had shifted its course a bit and was heading closer to us.  Time to kick into evacuation mode. 

 

Nathan came over and helped board up our windows.  We already had boards cut to fit, so it was just a matter of clearing away all of our typical garage junk so we could get to them.  Once they were within reach Nathan commented, “You know, I’m glad they are numbered and all, but I don’t remember what the numbers mean.”  I chuckled.  Chris replied, “You do recognize the handwriting, don’t you?  It’s yours.” 

 

As we finished up and Nathan was getting ready to leave, we saw the widow who lives across the street and her daughter-in-law trying to board up their windows.  Nathan and I looked at each other.  I told him, “You go on.  I’ll get Corey and we’ll help them.” He looked at me and without missing a beat replied, “Dad … you know that’s not how this works.”   Corey joined us and we got theirs up in no time.  Well, once they decided to let us just screw them in instead of using the clips they had.  We couldn’t figure them out. 

 

Core and Janell headed out soon afterwards for their place of evacuation.  They heeded the warning we got from Christina about a big wreck on Interstate 45, though.  They altered their route. 

 

We then moved into our final phase – finding a place in the truck and car for everything.  It’s harder than you think when  everything has some sort of sentimental or useful value, or it wouldn’t be in the house anyway.  In fact that became the criteria for our first wave of cuts – if we could buy it again, leave it.  I was proudest of Chris, though, when she decided it would be OK to leave our actual physical photo albums behind.  45 years of pictures.  Actually, I have already scanned and transferred all of them to our external hard drive anyway.  When she made that decision, our load got smaller … much smaller.  The only thing in the bed of the truck was my tool kit and our suitcases. 

 

We finally finished loading up everything except the frozen and refrigerated foods.  Hey, we had four pounds of shrimp in the freezer.  Not leaving that.

 

So … all ready.  But … we had to wait for UTMB to call in their emergency crew.  April was scheduled to work today, but she is not on the crew that works during emergencies - like when a hurricane is approaching.  A little detail named Cailyn and a husband who is considered an emergency worker.  So April couldn’t evacuate with Cailyn until that decision came.  The plan was for Cailyn to come with us if April was forced to go into work.  So we all waited.  And waited.  And Mama April was … not happy.  She even called in to check the status.  They hemmed and hawed around, so she “gently” reminded them, “I am under a mandatory evacuation order.  My in laws are about to leave, so if you don’t make this decision right now, then tomorrow my daughter will be forced to stay at home all alone with a hurricane coming through.”  Wow.  That’s my daughter-in-law.  I’m proud of you, April.  They finally called around 5, so they headed to Corpus Christi to see April’s Dad, and we left for Waco.

 

So … on the road.  Chris had Freddy.  And Freddy was not exactly the most ideal of traveling companions.  She was … excited.  Before we even left the house she was sitting on Chris’ back.  Sounds like the two of them had a wild ride.  When we got to Buc-ees I had a long talk with Freddy and instructed her to behave.  And she did really well on the last leg.  Well, except when Chris turned on the blinker.  That was kind of scary …  Oh, and me?  All I had to do was follow behind and stay awake while driving the truck.  It wasn’t that hard.  I just watched the doubleheader on my phone app.  Hmm.

 

We arrived in Waco somewhere around 10 p.m., pretty much exhausted.  Kel and Christina and the LaMarque cousins were already there, so the Hurricane Laura Evacuation Craziness had officially begun.  De ja vu.  Back to 2008.  Hurricane Ike.  Nooooooo ……

 

Jeremiah 31:25 says, “I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.”

 

Father, thank you for getting everyone to their designated safety points.  We’ll be trusting you over the next few days … a lot.  Amen.