Gustav, Katrina Musings

I have spent the last couple of days preparing for Gustav and having panic attacks. I really have no idea what I am doing.

I really don't want to be here during a hurricane and I really don't want to sit in my car with my girls and my pets for hours on end in non moving traffic off to parts unknown. I checked the hotels for 600 miles and none are available. The closest hotels I could find were in Tennessee. Some of my friends are leaving tonight to miss the traffic and they already have hotel reservations. I could make a reservation and go hang out in Tennessee until the storm hits. I could stay here and wait to see where the storm is going to hit. They are now saying it will hit in Western Louisiana and we wont get wind over 50 MPH here. In that case it seems prudent to stay home. If I chose to stay home, to wait and see and only evacuate if we get the order to evacuate then I will have to evacuate with the masses. Another friend told me that during an evacuation it takes her 22 hours to get to the 200 miles north point. She and I have the same evacuation route. That would still be several hours from any available hotels. You see what I mean, a part of me thinks I should just grab the girls and the pets and take off tonight. We could go to Dollywoood.

I am not really sure what evacuation route to take either. The route I am supposed to take according to the hurricane plan based on where I live is a crappy route. It is back roads with no gas stations for 200 miles. That is all well and good except that the roads become a parking lot and you run out of gas. Then you are stranded in your car with no gas in a hurricane. With you is everything you own and all your important papers. Probably my house wouldn't even get wet. I could take the main roads instead, break the rules. Maybe if everyone takes the main roads in fear of running out of gas I would have smooth sailing on the back roads??

My gas tank is full. I have cash money. I have enough food and water to last for a good month. Three days is what we are told, but better to be safe. Just in case I stay and they predictions are wrong and I survive the storm and we are stranded with no power for days.

I also had to plan for Jeff. He has to evacuate to the base and weather the storm there. I had to prepare him with a box of supplies and food for his hurricane shelter. If I evacuate it will be me, the kids and the pets without Jeff.

I also have to chose between family photos and family pets. I guess I have chosen the pets. They sure do take up a lot of room in our evacuation vehicle. Room that could be used for photos and mementos. Plus the hotels that take people with pets are not always nice and are sometimes,usually in my experience in crappy neighborhoods. Whose idea was it to get pets any how?

So as you can see my brain is no longer functioning. I have bought everything I can think of in every store. Wal Mart is out of tp, canned fruit and flashlights. Our gas prices have gone fro $3.35 per gallon to $3.75 per gallon in the last two days. People here are not panicked. Everyone but me has a plan and feels good about their plan. The media, TV, weather, newspaper, even the governor are bat shit crazy.

Today is the 3rd anniversary of Katrina and I wanted to say one more time what an amazing experience it has been moving here so close to the eye of that storm. Right in the middle of the devastation. While the news really concentrates on New Orleans we lost a lot here too. Everyone has a story to tell. Most are full of see the good in a really horrid situation. Still today people from all over our country come here and build houses. They raise money and the come and swing the hammers.

I have always thought that we need the government to protect us and help the poor and needy. I have always thought that if it weren't for the government the poor and the sick would starve in the street. Here however, the government helps the rich, those smart enough to work the system. Smart enough to fill out all the paperwork. Connected enough to get the billions of dollars of government money funneled into our area. While the churches are helping everyone else. People volunteer to come here and help those that cannot read to fill out paper work. Or they come here and raise the money themselves and just build someone a house.

While Insurance companies top the Forbes list of richest companies. So many folks here are still fighting to get the money they are owed from their insurance company. The government is no help, they seem to be more in league with the insurance companies. The people of this country have come together to try and help.

When a dozen old and mentally handicapped women were being evicted from their FEMA trailers last month. Evicted because the trailers are emitting toxic fumes. These ladies had no where to go. None of them could read or write. It was church and not government that helped these women.

I have never belonged to a church but my perception of government and church have been forever altered. I don't even go to church but it seems to me that when the chips are down and people need help it comes from people especially organized within a church and not from government.

Peace, be safe, hug someone you love today.