[Stargate] Ike Status - Stargate

[MICHAEL TUCKER]

We flew the coop yesterday. Three nights without air conditioning (or even fans) was enough. :-(

When we left there was no power or phone service to our neighborhood, nor in any of the surrounding area -- except for one strip center nearby, which bizarrely never lost power. Lots of big trees down on power lines and utility poles (carrying power) snapped in two, so probably a while before the area is made whole again.

We're staying with my brother in Arkansas. We owed him a visit anyway, and he gets to meet his nephew for the first time.

All of east Texas was pretty much devastated. From our house in Friendswood to US-59 @ I-20 (Lufkin), we passed three (3!) gas stations along the whole way that had any gas. All of them had long lines -- one a mile long of cars waiting for gas (no, I'm not kidding). State and local troopers were on hand, no doubt to prevent a riot. We just kept driving (with gas cans that we filled up before the storm came).

We didn't find a town with working street lights and signal lights until somewhere north of Lufkin. By the time we got to Longview, things were pretty much normal -- although most gas stations were still out of gas from all the refugees. We continued to see trees, billboards, roofs, etc., blown down/off/destroyed all the way into Arkansas.

We met convoy after convoy of utility trucks (cherry pickers, electric utility trucks, low-boys loaded with power and phone cables, etc) -- we guessed we met about 200 trucks on US-59, headed for the Houston area.

The last word we had was that NASA/JSC was to be shut down for the week. No definitive word yet on Sahirah's (off-site) employer, but we're keeping our ears open.

See you all soon. Take care.

Love,
Michael Silverhands, Sahirah and "Little Bit"