Tales of Rita 4 - Janette Sexton's Story

I left my home at 2:00 AM Thursday morning and decided to take Highway 90 on my neighbor's advice. Didn't take long to get to the 90 exit off BW8 East, but after that it was bumper to bumper traffic.

Heard they'd opened the I-10 contraflow lanes after 12 hours, so I headed north to Sealy. They were out of gas. They told us the next nearest fuel was at Weimar, so we all piled off there. The service stations were closed, and a church a block away was handing out coffee, softdrinks, small snacks, and allowing us use of their restrooms.

I had half a tank of gas, but I wanted to top it off. I was tired for lack of sleep Wednesday night, so I camped out in line at a Shell station. When I awoke six hours later at 7:00 AM, I was told that I was in "the wrong line" and had to move to the end of the line. I finally left Weimar at 10:00 AM.

Chili was not eating, drinking water, or using potty, so I stopped at a rest area and dug out his litter box. He used the litter box and gobbled down a small portion of his cat treats.

We arrived in SA at 1:00 PM on Friday afternoon. I was exhausted, filthy, and frazzled.

Charlene, who lives on the third floor of a nice apartment complex, actually left her front door unlocked for me. I took a shower and made myself presentable before they returned from lunch.

She is a math teacher and her 16-year-old daughter attends the International School of the Americas. This was through the www.moveon.org web site. Four of the five people I contacted actually responded.

Left SA at 8:40 AM yesterday and arrived home four hours later. There was no flooding, no damage, and I had power.

Took some time to unpack the trunk, back seat, and passenger seat. Watched The Sea Inside (best foreign film) and returned it and another film last night. Nothing was open, and I was hungry, but I came home and snacked on my small nonperishable food supply.

{Work} was closed today, which is going to severely impact my budget, but I cannot help it. I would have gone back to work today if it had been possible.

Glad you all made it through the storm all right. Just heard on the radio that five people were found dead in Beaumont...caused by running a generator in their apartment.