Our Gustav Adventure

Our Gustav adventure actually began days before the storm was scheduled to arrive, as we contemplated what to do about our long-planned vacation to Louisville. We were hoping to leave on Friday for a few days of couple time at the 21C Museum Hotel, mixed with visits with Sarah and Charles, who have made Kentucky their home since Katrina. We ended up buying a second set of plane tickets for a Sunday return, a day earlier than originally planned, but a full two days ahead of when the storm was then expected to hit, if it hit at all.

We arrived in Louisville and had a lovely dinner with Sarah and Charles at a restaurant where they knew the chef and all the ingredients were local and delicious. We woke the next morning to the news that our planned flight home on Sunday would likely be cancelled, so we transferred the tickets to that afternoon (our original tickets were unfortunately not transferable). We had time for a quick stroll through the hotel art gallery and lunch at a nice downtown bistro, then it was back to the airport. Flying does not agree with my headaches, so after two days in a row of being 10,000 feet off the ground, I was in pretty poor shape. The flight into New Orleans was memorable for its emptiness and gallows humor – we were two of about ten people onboard the Southwest flight, and the flight attendants served everyone free cocktails. We arrive at our house around ten p.m. and packed until after midnight.

The packing and boarding up continued until Sunday afternoon. The mandatory evacuation had been called at daybreak, but our bet was that leaving later would help us avoid most of the traffic. We were partly right, and sailed through a ghost town all the way to Slidell, with only National Guard troops along the way to wave to.

But when we got to the Mississippi border, we encountered what so many callers on WWL radio had been complaining about – contraflow had been shut down in some sections of I-59, but the opposite lanes remained mockingly empty even as thousands of evacuees sat in traffic for hour after hour. Luckily, we had a GPS and were able to take back roads through Mississippi. It still took us six hours instead of the usual three to get to Alabama, but we were luckier than most who remained on I-59, with the exits blocked by Mississippi state troopers so there was no hope of gas, food, or a bathroom.

Traffic stayed pretty steady all through Alabama, surrounded as we were by a sea of Louisiana license plates, many vehicles with gas cans strapped to the roof. By 2:30 a.m., after we’d been in the car for twelve hours, with Mom and her two dogs and cat pulling up the rear, we’d only made it to Birmingham and were so exhausted we didn’t think we could keep going. Every hotel I called was full, but Matthew managed to get transferred to a Springhill Suites only about ten miles from our gas station. We pulled in wearily. As a reward for finding the hotel, Matthew had to sleep in the car with the three dogs, as the hotel didn’t take pets (we managed to sneak in the cat, however). Henry slept on a couch while Mom and I took the king bed. Four hours later, it was time to hit the road again.

We drove from Birmingham to Knoxville without many problems. When we arrived at Jason and Ellen’s, they had leftover barbeque and nice cool beds ready for us. I immediately took some medicine and a shower and a nap. In the evening we felt refreshed and went to Ellen’s parents’ house for more barbeque and a dip in their pool and hot tub. Henry had never been in a hot tub before and thought it was the coolest thing ever. A word about Henry: that kid was my hero on the drive up to Tennessee. He never whined or complained. The DVD player helped, of course, but his spirits were remarkably high the whole time, given that he was strapped in a chair for twelve hours, with only a few rest stops. At one point, after sundown, while we were eating fast food hamburgers, he remarked, “Isn’t this a nice drive?” Matthew and I nearly gagged on our burgers but managed to ask, without sarcasm, what exactly he found so nice about it. “Well,” he said, “Daddy’s having fun driving, and you’re having fun sitting up there with Daddy, and I’m having fun feeling French fries to Dinah!” I could have kissed him.

The next day we drove the hour from Knoxville to the cabin, where the rest of Matthew’s family had gathered. There were seven dogs between us, but amazingly they managed to all get along. I was pretty miserable with headaches the whole time, so I didn’t go on any hikes with the others, but it was so nice to have a comfortable, air conditioned, free place to stay after such a long trip. We stayed there Tuesday and Wednesday nights and drove back to Jason and Ellen’s on Thursday. Yesterday morning we put ourselves back in the car for what turned out to be an uneventful, standard ten hour drive back. Although the rest stops on the way through Mississippi were crammed with fellow returning evacuees, we never encountered bad traffic. And two hours from home, we got a call from a neighbor that our power was back on at home. Yippee! That raised our spirits immediately. We pulled in a little before 9:00 Friday night. Mom cooked up some red beans and rice and we all fell into a blissful sleep – even Henry slept past nine the next morning, a rarity for him. This morning we’ll restock the fridge, which we emptied of everything except beer and soft drinks before leaving town. We’re told the lines are twenty people deep at most grocery stores, so shopping and watching the Saints game (!) may be all we accomplish today.

Our neighborhood was relatively unscathed. As Matthew predicted, it was Baton Rouge that took the brunt of the storm, with many of our friends there still without power as they try to remove trees and debris from their yards and houses. The Times-Picayune delivered a real treat yesterday – we had five days’ worth of printed papers bundled into one package when we arrived. The general feeling is one that I share – the advance evacuation of those without means was well coordinated, and the preparation of state, local, and federal officials deserves kudos. But the situation with evacuation through Mississippi has got to be improved. They closed I-10 through much of Mississippi, forcing everyone onto I-59, and then blocking most of the exits so people had no hope of food, water, or a restroom. Some people spent upwards of ten hours just getting through the state. I feel like many right now, seriously doubting that we will evacuate again unless the exit routes are improved. I am also disappointed that the mayor did not follow the advice of Councilmembers Head and Fielkow, who urged allowing people back sooner. It just gives people one more reason not to evacuate if they think they’ll be stuck out of town, many in hotels they can’t afford, for almost a week.

They better figure something out, because Ike could hit in a week.