Surviving Ike

While we were in San Antonio watching the hurricane hit Galveston and Houston, our neighborhood was being abused by the storm. Dave and I decided Monday that we need to get back home and we made the long journey. It seems we were not the only people from Houston trying to make it home. Around Hempstead, about 45 minutes away from our house, we started noticing incredibly long lines outside of gas stations. We realized that people were coming out of Houston trying to find gas. This sent a bit of terror through our minds as we realized just what we were going back to. About 20 minutes away from our house, we started noticing the damage from the storm. Roofs blown off, trees knocked down, stop lights out, gas station lines even longer. We made it safely home in a little over 4 hours (regularly a 3 hour trip). Dave went in first to survey the damage and came out with the good news of our power being on! That was one of my biggest fears is having to live without power for a while. Other than some shingles on the roof being blown off and some of our landscaping messed up, our house was fine. Our neighborhood looks a little ragid with tree parts everywhere and fences knocked over, but that is about the worst of it. We are still under a boil water notice but we bought a bunch of water before leaving San Antonio. Last night I made a trip to Walmart to descover bare shelves. A grabbed a few things including one of the last things of milk. There was a Walmart employee gaurding the last shelf of milk making sure each family only took one. I saw a sign that said the store would be closing to restock in an hour, so I didn't worry too much about not getting everything I needed. I made another trip today to get some more food and they still didn't have much but we have all we need for at least a week. Our main concern right now is getting gas. There are 3 hour waits at gas stations and Dave is running on empty. I have half a tank and I am trying to make it last as long as I can. Dave is going to have to try and get some gas tonight, so hopefully he can find a station that doesn't have a bad wait.
Our phones are now getting service in our neighborhood and we have the internet as of 5 pm, so that is a good sign that things are returning back to normal. We are so blessed to not be in the same condition as some of the people a little bit south of us. 66 % of Houston still does not have power and most of the people who lived in Galveston do not have homes to go back to. We are thankful to have a way to cook food and and light to see the food.
Hurricane Ike brought one good thing to Texas. A cool front! It has gotten down into the 50's at night and upper 70's during the day. This is what fall should be like. I am trying not to think about next week and the return of 90 degree weather. I guess if I had a choice though, I would rather not have had Ike and the cool weather.