THE RITA TRIP
Details: (Written 9/26/05 after returning home the day Rita passed through East Texas)
This may be rather lengthy as I had nothing else to do and the computer was the only thing working.
Tuesday Rita was looking like it was going to center punch Bob Jantz in Corpus Christi and we were feeling sorry for them. Later that day as the track moved more toward Matagorda Bay, we decided to go to the beach and board up the cabin. Remembering what Pop taught me, I filled up all of the vehicles and all of the available gas cans. I gathered up all of the scrap lumber I could find at the warehouse and we headed out. The job took longer than first anticipated and the temperatures were at record highs, so we spent the night at the cabin planning on finishing up the next morning.
Wednesday the storm was still looking like Matagorda Bay. We finished the work, gathered up our valuables. (Photos, Satellite receiver, wall hangers and a large bag of Doritos) and headed back to Beaumont. We felt the cabin was in danger, but did not plan on leaving Beaumont. Jennifer was concerned but I assured her that I had ridden out Carla in 1961 and Rita was taking the same path at about the same intensity. No sweat, unless you went outside as it was 99 degrees. We held our family meeting and decided we would delay any decision until Thursday morning to see if any new developments occurred.
Thursday the track had started turning and Galveston was in Rita's cross hairs. We had agreed to take one of Mike's Arizona friend's Mother with us if we left. Decision time. We decided to finish our preparations, run some errands and meet back at the house around noon to leave. I received a call from my brother, Chub, asking us to bring his Mother-in-law with us. We had received offers to stay in Dallas, College Station, Tyler, Lufkin, Joaquin, Hemphill, Garland, South Carolina, Tennessee and Florida. The traffic was awful; even on the back roads, so we decided to take the destination of least traffic resistance.
Around 2:30pm we left with three vehicles, Linda with the ladies and Mike's dog, Jennifer with her dog, Reno, and me with Joe Fred. Garrett’s house in College Station was a good choice as they looked to be the least vulnerable. When we left Bevil Oaks and got to Hwy 105 the traffic was backed up to our subdivision (College Station Eliminated)
The next two best choices were Lufkin and Tyler. Now we had to decide which way to go. We knew that Hwy 69 out of Beaumont was already a parking lot from our morning chores, so that route was out. We decided to take the back roads to I -10 and go east. When we got to Hwy 12 outside of Vidor it was backed up on the freeway, so we kept going. Highway 87 was a possibility but when we got there it was a log jam. So we continued east into Louisiana. Tennessee, South Carolina and Florida were now viable options. Just across the Texas line we took LA Hwy 109 to Starks. Great move Wright! No traffic, Yee Haw! Good decision, you are the man Jimbo! Oops, five miles from Starks it was Wal-Mart parking at Christmas time. We were committed at this time, but tempers were getting edgy. Did I mention it was 100 degrees? The first time I have ever been on a highway and actually looked for the shady spots as it was all stop and go. Once we got to Starks the traffic picked up and moved pretty well.
Did I mention that I had not refilled my truck after the trip to the beach? No problem, I had five cans of gasoline in the back. It was a good thing because there was not a station with gas for 150 miles.
We continued to take the North bound Louisiana highways that ran parallel to the Sabine River. This worked well except when one of them turned into a dirt road and at one point a forest fire was burning next to the road. A couple of pee breaks and about six hours later I was getting really tired. We came to LA Hwy 6 West of Many, La and decided it was time to get back to Texas. I didn't think I could last to Tyler and it was still 4-5 hours off. This turned out to be a good decision as we had minimal traffic all the way to Lufkin. By luck we found a gas station that had gas and we all topped off, (I filled up) Got to Lufkin around 10:00pm. Linda's niece, Lisa and her Husband, Kenneth were very gracious hosts.
Friday morning we learned that Beaumont was looking down the gun barrel of Rita's fire power. Chub came from Dallas and picked up Mrs. Knight. Jennifer and I went grocery shopping. It seemed that every person that evacuated the Gulf Coast was in Lufkin. The stations that had gas to sell had lines for blocks. It was reported that a couple of shootings occurred there over line cutting, etc.
We hunkered down Friday night and watched Shepherd Smith reporting from Beaumont. Boy were we glad that we left Bevil Oaks. It was looking really bad. I had quit worrying about the beach house and focused my worrying on our home.
Saturday morning I awoke to no electricity. What about "Shep"? The winds started increasing steadily as the early morning went on. My niece had parked her Brother David's brand new pick truck across the street in their neighbors drive. You know what comes next, Yep, the big tree fell on the new truck. David is in Mexico with his new bride. I think it would be best if we wait awhile to tell him.
Around noon the winds had let up and radar was showing a clearing back to Beaumont. I decided to head home. Linda and Jen would wait for me to tell them what I found. I took Hwy 59 south to Cleveland and 105 West to avoid going through some of the hard hit areas and going through Beaumont. The radio was saying the police were not letting people into Beaumont and I could get to Bevil Oaks without going through Beaumont, providing 105 was open. I had made up my mind I was going even if I had to turn around and come back. I couldn't stand not knowing what happened to our house.
East of Batson Hwy 105 was rough. No clearing had been done and there were a lot of trees on the road. Down power lines, but nothing that stopped traffic. I was feeling pretty good about getting home. When I came upon the first road into Bevil Oaks, a tree and a transformer were in the middle of the road and no way could I get across. The second road entrance was passable, for a few blocks. It was evident no road clearing had been done. Even the volunteer fire dept was gone. I was close enough to walk to the house if I had too. (foreshadowing) I managed to work my way around downed trees and electrical lines all over the main road going back to our house. When I reached our street and turned left, all I could see was trees. I got within two blocks of the house and had to stop. Joe Fred and I got out of the truck and started walking to the house. I couldn't see anything but trees down. When I got to the house, I discovered trees down every where. There are at least 70 trees down on our property. But, the house was in good shape. The only damage was a tree that fell toward our patio that had taken down the gutters on the North side of the house. The irony is, this is the same tree that the top broke off in 1986 during Hurricane Bonnie and took off the gutters on my garage. It had grown back out and came back to haunt me again. Tomorrow this tree will get to know Mr. Stihl.
I had to get my chain saw and tractor to clear enough room to get my truck to the house. I had to get the generator in so I could have some electricity.
We are very fortunate not to have any damage. This place is unbelievable and I can't describe to you how bad it is. I am not kidding when I said at least 70 down trees. It looks like a war zone. Once I got my truck in front of the house, Joe Fred got back in and wouldn’t get out. He was a little spooked.
Right now I have the generator running and the computer (phone lines) obviously work. I have no running water but I got a lot of jugs and I have 15 gallons of gas for the generator.
I also have about 8 cans of tuna fish (Babe taught me this). So all will be fine. Linda and Jen will need to stay awhile until we can get some more services. They haven't been adequately trained to pee in the back yard.
Tomorrow, Joe Fred and I will begin cutting up some trees. If anyone needs firewood, come on down.
Epilogue (11/15/2005)
After three days I was running low on gas and decided to see if I could find any in town. Nothing, and I mean, nothing was open. I made the mistake of getting on I-10 and the cops wouldn’t let me exit. I ended up driving to Anahuac to find some gas. I also drove to the beach and found the cabin had survived very well. Only some shingles missing from the roof. Had to sneak back in through some secret roads. After relocating to College Station for a week, Linda and Jen returned home to help. The over/under on how many days they would stay without air conditioning was two. It was still HOT. The electricity was off for three weeks. When it was restored, the air conditioner would not run. At least I didn’t have to keep putting gas in the generator. A few days later our favorite AC man, John Faraci got it working.
All told, we had over 70 down trees. Half of them were completely uprooted. Our fences were destroyed. We managed to get the front, back and sides of the house cleared within a month. I paid some guys from Cleveland, TX to clear the pasture and pile up the debris with their bulldozer, track hoe, bobcat and trucks. They made three very large piles to burn.
Heath Killingsworth helped me make temporary repairs to the fence to contain the dogs. Linda, Jennifer and Bobby Katz became skilled front end loader operators. Many thanks to Kenneth, Lisa and Shelby Lambert for taking our entourage in under difficult circumstances. Kenneth brought his crew down for firewood and cleared a large section of debris. They also drank a large volume of beer that night. Many thanks to all of my new amigos. My neighbor, Tommy Cooley, was a big help the first few days until Exxon-Mobil found out he was home and called him in to work. Theo Baker worked his tail off for three of the hottest days you can imagine. He is the strongest person I know.
The pasture sure looks barren with all of those trees gone. It will take a while to get all of the little things done. We will have to patch the roof, repair fences, replace gutters and do a lot of landscaping. Still got firewood if anyone wants it. We got red oak, white oak, swamp oak, hickory, sweet gum and hackberry.
