|
As if Katrina wasn't enough for one year, another monster is
churning along on a path to take out the Texas coastline and
spread the misery. If there is anything good about the earlier
storm, it is that more people are taking this new one seriously.
As of this morning, it is category 5, with 175 mph winds at the
eyewall. The most likely path appears to be homing in on the
Galveston / Houston area.
My company, which has lots of chemical plants along the gulf
coast, began planning for getting things down and as safe as
possible on Monday. Others will be doing the same.
Yesterday morning, the director of our facility came by and
personally advised each of us one on one that if we planned on
evacuating, to go ahead and leave. I didn't need any more
encouragement. I put a trash bag over my computers, both
at work and at my apartment, gathered up important things like
my pictures, packed a few clothes, and headed north.
The traffic wasn't as bad as I had feared until I got near the
first town with a stop light, Corrigan, and there it was backed
up for 5 miles. Why the DOT didn't disable the stop light
is a mystery to me. The locals can find back roads if they need
to get around. I suspect someone will do it for them if
they don't get with the program. Evacuating a few million people
requires some planning.
As I was scanning the news stories on the internet this morning,
there were quotes from one family that the wife and child had
evacuated, but the husband planned to stay behind to watch the
storm, wanting to "experience" it on Galveston island. Another
woman was quoted as saying she was staying in her house near the
beach, and planned to "get on the roof" if the water gets too
high. What roof?? Although I don't wish harm on anyone, it just
shows that there will always be some percentage of people who
are too stupid to live, and we can't blame the government for
their folly. |
|
I've finally run out of space to hang pictures on the walls here
in the apartment. While digitizing my slides from adventures
past, I've uploaded favorites for turning into 11x14s for the
bargain price of $5 a throw at Yahoo Photos. I've relived
multiple trips throughout the Rockies from Glacier National
Park, southward through the Tetons, Yellowstone, the Wind River
Range, Rocky Mountain National Park, and half a dozen forays
into the Weminuche wilderness in southwestern Colorado. I've
been back through the breathtaking, austere beauty of the desert
southwest - Zion, Bryce Canyon, Arches, Hovenweep, the San Juan
River, Great Sand Dunes, and the Grand Canyon. And then there
are the trips to the California Sierra, from Bakersfield north
up the Kern River, or up the eastern side out of Bishop through
Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and on to Yosemite. I haven't got to the
boxes of slides from the Cascades and the Olympic Peninsula of
Washington yet.
After getting enough sun at the pool yesterday, I came inside to
do some more matting, framing, and measuring for aesthetically
pleasing positioning, and it occurred to me that there is a
reason I cover the walls exclusively with pictures from my
outdoor activities. As much as I've been blessed to see and do
so far in my life, which is considerably more than the average
person, it is never enough. Perhaps it is an addiction - like
that rocky mountain high John Denver crooned about. Retirement
cannot come too soon!
The week of Labor Day, M and I took a little car camping trip
north into Arkansas, a beautiful state with a state park system
that is second to none. Without really planning it, we ended up
on top of the three tallest "mountains" in the state in the same
day, staying the first night at Petit Jean, then visiting Mount
Nebo, and staying the second night on the tallest, Mount
Magazine, a whopping 2700 ft above sea level. The Ozarks aren't
the Rockies, but they'll do for now. With tourist season over,
you could count the other campers on one hand. The ground seems
like it's harder than it used to be for sleeping. Maybe a little
more padding under the sleeping bag would be a good investment.
But I'm not willing to herd a monster RV down the road or drag a
heavy trailer. To me, that just isn't camping.
* * * * * * * *
|
