Running from the Hurricane Rita

This is a post that I should have started a long time ago, and since have had time to think and ponder this. This will be a long post and will contain a lot of things about our families thoughts about the escape to austin.

background
1. ally doesn't like to be doing 1 thing for long and bedtime is not something u mess with
2. I am not a long distance driver. ask anymore. i drive to austin and jess has to slap me in the head to stay awake
3. lexus lx470 i think on premium get ~12-15mpg on a 25 gallon tank?
4. jess didn't sleep cause she was up all night packing. i slept at 10pm

First thought
1. if we drive to austin in my dad's suv, it might take 12 hours MAX leaving 3:30am thr
2. we will risk the long crying hours and long traffic lines

FACT
1. it took 19.5 hours going to austin
2. 10hrs was just on grand parkway, but ricardo and his mapping skills cut that down by having a nice back route to I-10. It would have taken us longer. we were averaging 1-3mph. we were on this one bridge for at least 3-4 hrs.
3. we stopped 1 time for a piss break. and that was like 2 min.
4. jess was an uber planner as she had enough food and water for both us and the baby for the entire ride. trash bags and snacks all ready for use.
5. we drained the battery or something now cause the car doesn't start when we got home to houston.

Our reasoning we made it
1. i think god heard our prayers. we must have prayed alot since we didn't move much in the backroads with no gas in the gas stations.
2. how does a 9month old sit in a car for 19.5 hrs? we get anxiety when we travel for 3 hrs in hopes she didn't cry. she cried for maybe a total of 1 hr?
3. how does a vehicle go to austin on 1 tank of gas running the a/c? it took half a tank to get out of houston.
4. how does obi sit on his dog bed for that long? sure the car didn't move for 30mins at a time and we walked him on some guys front lawn, but yeah that is amazing.
5. how come the car breaks down right when i get to houston? we had to tow it to the dealership cause it was stuck at my dad's drive way.
6. we had enough cell phone battery after chit chatting to get great directions from ricardo.
7. jess was flipping out, she wanted to go home but i was determined to make it to austin. she didn't lose control until after we were knee deep in country land. i was feeling really bad when we didn't hit belville and the sun was going down. but there was something inside telling me, we would make it without the car going down.

all in all, i would do it again to make sure ally was okay. she can't protect herself so i feel i have to do the best in my ability to do so.

things i learned
1. jess is a very mentally weak person. in football we call it "mentally tough". i don't think she was ever pushed and she cracked in no time
2. ally is a blessing with her good behavior. if she had gotten sick or cried the whole time, my descion to leave would have been harder.
3. god can can grant super human strenght when needed
4. lexus vehicles are freaking awsome. it was cool in the car at a stand still when it was 95 degrees+
5. obi really can be mellow for long periods of time even with people looking at him
6. i really need a mini van. we can't afford the LX and being able to change a baby in a car is a blessing.
7. navigation and/or a good map would be nice considering i had neither in the car at the time
8. all cars need a ac/dc power converter, they cost less than $20 and u never know when u need one
9. a small percentage of people really don't care about others and only server to best help themselves. case in point people whole cut in line. but then again, after 12hrs in the same line we did the samething and it cut at least 4-6 hrs of waiting. so everyone has a breaking point.
10. people would leave water and services on the road to help people stuck or needed help. very nice

we are just glad we are okay considering the amount of people who died on the road and that nothing happended to our house.