This is 39: Beach & Evacuation
A couple months back, Trav and I were thinking about our upcoming birthdays (one day apart, five years) and how they coincided with his break from school. We decided a condo in Orange Beach for a long weekend was just what we needed to decompress and ring in 39 & 34! It had been a few years since I rented a beach condo directly on the Gulf, and I was so excited for our time together.
We were slated to leave on Thursday for Orange Beach (3 hours east of NOLA), and it was Tuesday that I began hearing about Invest who knows stirring up way down south with potential of forming into something possibly mid the following week. Bummer I thought. And then sorta moved on. By Thursday morning, that Invest whatever had begun to form into a major storm, SE Louisiana in the cone, and talks of it being a TS - Category 1-2 hurricane by Sunday evening. Gulp. Not able to get a refund or cancel our trip, we pressed on to Orange Beach. Trav drove in from Houston, scooped me, and we checked into our condo at 5pm on Thursday.
We had pretty much resigned ourselves to the fact we'd be leaving a day early. But by the time we woke up Friday (my birthday) and started to enjoy the beach, reports rolled in the Invest whatever (now Ida) was a Category 3 storm and likely intensifying. The Gulf was already seeing impact, double red flags meant the Gulf waters were closed, and we wondered what awaited us. We took advantage of the beach walking in the morning with coffee, crashing into the waves (before the lifeguards made us get out), building a sandcastle and flying a kite. By Friday afternoon, Ida was a full blown Category 4 (almost 5) storm headed directly for NOLA. So we packed up and left OB Friday afternoon (23 hours after arrival). The initial plan was to cook a nice dinner in NOLA and get some sleep with plans to be on the road to Houston around 5-6am Saturday morning (Trav's birthday). While driving back to NOLA, things changed and we decided we'd be making a short stop in NOLA to secure my house and pack for an evacuation, grab a buddy needing a ride out of town, and would drive through the night to Houston.
I've never moved faster in my life. We raced around from 7:30-8:30pm re-packing, emptying the fridge, securing all outdoor items, and grabbing valuables and essentials. We were on the road to Houston at 8:30pm with my buddy and a former coworker who also needed a ride out. The 5.5 hour ride to Houston through the night turned into a 7-hour adventure with steady traffic, premium only gas (several gas stations were OUT of gas), and a 3:30am arrival time to Houston. Exhausted, but safe. I'm so glad we drove through the night as I heard horror stories over the next day of gridlock on I-10 E/W and it taking some 12-16-hours to get to Houston.
It feels like I spent most of Saturday in a daze but focused on trying to give Trav the best birthday possible (sans beach). Brunch, pool time with his friends, and a great Italian dinner salvaged his birthday celebration and distracted us from the impending storm. Stay tuned...
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