I can see for miles and miles

The drive from League City to Conroe usually takes about an hour and a half. Our four-car caravan left Gavin and Jen’s house at 2:15 yesterday afternoon. We arrived at Gavin’s parents’ house at 8:40 last night.
This hurricane evacuation thing sucks. 😉
Traffic was unbelievably bad as we took Beltway 8 around the east side of town and then Highway 59 north to FM 1314 and then to Conroe. As bad as it was, it sounds like I-45 was even worse so I’m glad we didn’t try that route.
In retrospect, it didn’t feel like we spent 6.5 hours in the car. Something about knowing that everyone was in the same boat, so to speak. It was hard to get annoyed with traffic when you know everyone’s just trying to do the same thing, and get to the same places. Sort of a “we’re all in it together” feeling.
The “good” news is that while Rita has now become the 3rd strongest hurricane on record, the forecasted track has continued to move northeast. Landfall is currently predicted to be slightly east of Galveston, which is better for us than slightly west. Of course, it could change. And with traffic the way it is, and the storm as strong as it is, I’m glad we chose to leave yesterday. Best case, we did all this for nothing. I can live with that!!
Gavin’s parents are taking great care of us. In that sense, hurricane evacuation will be the best thing that happened to me all month! 😉 We’re eating great, we’ve got enough ice cream to last a week, and hey — internet! We are only in Conroe, though. If Rita comes ashore anywhere around Galveston, we will get a lot of wind and rain up here, and probably lose power as well. No threat of storm surge, though, and that’s why we came here.
We’ve tossed around the idea of moving farther north, as even Montgomery County (where we are) is under voluntary evacuation, but I really think we’ll be good enough here — and with the way traffic is, it’s probably better to stay put. Everyone is completely freaking out in these post-Katrina days, so the area is more of a madhouse than it would be if Katrina hadn’t happened.
JSC’s webpage won’t even load, so I’m assuming that means that the servers were shut down and work is officially closed. Good to know.
My apartment when I left looked as if I’d just moved in. All my stuff is in the bathroom (the only room with no windows), and the only things left in the bedroom and living room are furniture. Best case, the hurricane doesn’t do any damage and I have a really good excuse to clean my apartment!!
I realized as I packed up yesterday morning that though I am a pack rat, and though I have a ton of stuff, most of it actually is replaceable. That was comforting. The irreplacable things — old photo albums, my t-shirt quilt, computer harddrives with all my stuff on them — are with me here.
So, we’re all just chillin’ in Conroe for the moment. The house occupants include:

• 7 people (Mike, Meg, Gavin, Jen, Cari, Becca and me)
• 4 dogs (Roxy, Zoya, Apache and Bennet)
• 2 cats (Shmall along with Tang, who belongs to Kennda who is in Spain)
• 1 bird (Ollie, belongs to Nick who is in Lebanon)
• 1 fish (my betta, Voldemort)

It felt sort of dumb to bring the fish along, but I didn’t want him to starve.