Monday, September 1, 2008

Heading into the Storm

Okay, so most people were heading North away from the hurricane while we were heading South right into the storm. Complete Idiots!!!! We woke up Saturday morning, and Myron decided we were going to Elberta, AL to see his family. After hearing the news about his cousin, he just needed to be with the family. So 11 1/2 hours later, we pulled into Elberta.

The craziest thing happened on our way down... We were told to fill up with gas before we got to AL because people were emptying the stations. So, when we got to Cantonment (just North of Pensacola), we stopped at a Circle K because Bethany had to use the bathroom and we needed gas. As we pull in, I see Wes Greeson. I was so shocked. (A little background information: Wes and Myron worked together at International Paper in Cantonment before we moved to Asheville. They also went to Auburn University together.) Of course, he does just live right down the road where we stopped so it wasn't highly unusual. The timing couldn't have been planned ... it was GREAT!!! We did get to talk to him for a few minutes. I just hate we weren't able to see his wife, Jennifer, and their kids. Wes' parting words to us were "Just be smart." He was talking about the storm. Wes, you let me know how smart we were...

Sunday, we went to church and got to see lots of Myron's family. And during the Mass Gene was remembered. So there were lots of tears shed that morning. After church, we went over to Aunt Trish and Uncle Gene's to see the rest of the family. We got to meet Joseph, Little Gene's son. He is, I think, 6 months old. Such a doll. And I did get my "baby" time in with him. He was so happy and easy going. He has the reddest hair. So cute.

While we were there, some people were watching the weather channel. So I got to see how close the storm really was. I got a little nervous to say the least.

After we got back to Grandma and Grandpa's house, Myron and I talked trying to decide whether to leave Sunday night or head back Monday. We decided it would be better to leave on Monday to miss all the evacuation traffic. We came to a conclusion: don't leave before the storm, too much traffic; leave during the storm, there is no traffic. So with wind gusting and rain falling and water covering roads and tornado warnings all around us, we head toward home. It was a little scary a few times. But we made it.

We were able to meet my family for lunch in Auburn. We got to spend about an hour with them. Then we were off again. It took us 10 1/2 hours to get back including the hour for lunch. We tried really hard to keep our stops to a minimum. The girls were good. They watched their movies, listened to their violin music and sang High School Musical music. But they were tired of being in the car just like Mommy and Daddy were. Our backsides were so sore.

We finally got the girls to bed close to 9:00 p.m. which is an hour later than we normally do on a school night. Unfortunately, Bethany is still awake and it is almost 9:30. I am going to have a time on my hands in the morning trying to get them up for school. I will definitely have to work hard to get them to bed early tomorrow night.

1 comment:

Tonya Roberts said...

Wow! Big trip huh?! Sorry to hear about Myron's cousin. That is so sad!