9/24

Well, we made it to Fort Worth. Total traveling time was 40 hours and 35 minutes with three adults, one newborn, two cats, two cars, and more family pictures and baby clothes than you can imagine. I haven't really had time to process how I feel about everything, but I'm thankful that I had a bed to sleep on last night and that Zac got out of the car and out of the carbon monoxide. I've never seen traffic like that....It was miles and miles of cars in 100 degree heat. People pulled over to the side of the road to wait for gas, creating make-shift shelters from the sun with towels and sheets draped over there windows. We heard on the radio that three people died of carbon monoxide poisoning and one person died of heat exhaustation. The evacuation process was more dangerous than hurricane for people in southeast Texas.

With a quarter of a tank left in my Mom's car on Thursday night, we pulled over just north of Conroe, TX, only about 60 miles from our house in Friendswood. The night shift at the Ramada Inn let everyone mill about in their lobby, some stretching out on their couches and using their microwave to heat up canned food. We spent the night in our car, with Zac laying on my Mom's chest for half the night, and then mine for the rest. In the morning, the Conroe police gave us enough gas to keep us going, but they wouldn't give us any gas in my Dad's car, saying that he had "too much". Well, about another 60 miles up the road, my Dad was down to a quarter of a tank and we finally found some food and gas in small town north of Huntsville and Bryan College Station. We waited in a gas line for four hours, only to get near the front and found out that they didn't have anymore. We drove to another gas station on the otherside of town and waited for a hour for the liquid gold.

Zac is crying and it is time to go eat some breakfast. It's another sunny and hot day up here...not a cloud in sight.