patf

My Feedback: (4)

just a note to anyone getting away from rita. we are aware that hotels and rv parks are all full in central texas. we have a limited number of hookups at the arca field. these will be open on a first come first served basis for those escaping the hurricane. the field is located just east of austin on highway 290. maps at www.austinrc.org

RPM

My Feedback: (3)

patf -

That's a great offer and I sincerely appreciate it; I completely forgot about that on-site capability that you folks have there. What a way to ride out the Hurricane - stay at the Field and fly jets while Rita is doing her thing.

A friend of ours has a Motel Room in Round Rock and we might drive up there from Sugar Land if we loose Power for an extended period of time after Rita hits shore.

Thanks again,

Larry

Tom Antlfinger

My Feedback: (24)

Pat:

Anyone heard how Greg and family are planning to spend the next few days......

Tom

patf

My Feedback: (4)

have not heard. they live northeast of houston proper. if they were gonna leave i hope they got out early. apparently 15 hours to get from houston to austin, on a normal day it takes two.

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

From all the TV footage of the evactuation, it sure looks like gridlock... but I can't help but wonder .... when there's a freeway with e.g. 5 lines at gridlock going North, say, and one vehicle per minute in the 5 lanes going South, why aren't 3 or 4 of the lanes in the south-bound side of the freeway being converted to north-bound traffic ?

BTW - good idea to post about your flying site's hookup - mihgt just make a world of difference to someone in need.

seanreit

My Feedback: (60)

I went out and flew all day at the field and am doing it again tomorrow. Anyone want's to come over, let's get it on

I'm parking my RV in front of my house. If we lose power here, I can run that generator for days on a full tank

All the best to those getting out of dodge,


Sean

bcovish

My Feedback: (8)

Pat

I'm still holed up in Florida. Looks like it will be a while before I can get back. Great idea about using our field for a camp site for people with RV's.

grbaker

My Feedback: (29)

Greg lives southwest of Houston in Missouri City. Most of the Houston jet guys live on the west side of Houston.

I think ChuckC and jetflyer (JR) live in mandatory evacuation areas.

col_tomb

My Feedback: (9)

It took my brother 12 Hrs to get to Austin from Houston. He left 8:00 a.m today (Thursday). My Sister decided to stay...Just hope the best for everyone.
Daniel

u2fast

My Feedback: (37)

im in the sw corner of the loop 610. my wife and baby flew out. i stayed and worked a little longer. i was planning on leaving as well, but the traffic jams are a hundred miles or more. i have all the cars topped off and spare gas in a couple of empty jet a jugs, heck for that matter plenty of jet fuel for flying afterwards. i guess i am gonna ride her out here. everything around here is as secure as i can get it. so bring it RITA and lets get this done. oh, i have my cameras charged and i will get some video and still pics. maybe i will toss a park flyer in the wind and be the first rc flyer to fly in a cat4. good luck to all those around me, and i am sorry for praying for the storm to go east, but i will pray for those i am sending her too as well. what a dilemma. take care, barry

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

Hang in there Barry ... and let us know how you're doing afterwards.

RPM

My Feedback: (3)

Gordon -

You're 100% right on the Gridlock.

The City has talked about their plans to use the "Contra-Lane" concept for Emergency Evacuation for years. As with all bureaucracy's, it took way too long to put into effect because they didn't open them until late yesterday and then it was only only on I-45 North to Dallas. I think they finally got I-10 West to San Antonio opened later too.

One lady on the news said she left Sugar Land yesterday for George Bush Intercontinental Airport (normally 45 minutes away) at 1:30 AM and arrived at 10:30 AM. Needless to say, she missed her flight.

BTW, this might also be a good time to remind everyone that they should have their Cell Phones programmed with "ICE" numbers. This was developed after the recent London Bombings when people were hurt and had Cell Phones on their person. An EMT, said it would be a great idea if everyone programmed "In Case of Emergency" contacts in their phones so that they could contact next of kin to find out about Alergies and the need for required Drugs like Insulin etc.

For example: ICE 1 - Wife or Husband's Name, ICE 2 - Parent's Name

Good luck to everyone.

Larry

seanreit

My Feedback: (60)

Larry, I've been preaching the ICE concept since I heard about it with my Brother's situation. When my brother was star flighted to Brackenridge Trauma hospital, he had no ICE. Thanks for reminding everyone.

u2fast

My Feedback: (37)

well fellas, just mowed the yard. all this obsessive compulsive nevous energy is killing me. well off to find more to do, or maybe a little building. barry

u2fast

My Feedback: (37)

sad news, just saw the bus fire from bellaire. i live in bellaire, im sure that was parents of residents here. just a sad day. life is short and precious, be grateful for it. barry

RPM

My Feedback: (3)

Sean -

Thanks.

Sure hope your brother is recovering nicely.

Good luck with him too.

Larry

jetflyer

My Feedback: (5)

We left Houston last Thurday morning at about 8:00am. Since everyone was going North and West I decided to take my family South to my parents house. As Rita seemed to be moving more Northwest I figure it was a better route. The normal trip from Houston to South Texas is about 5 to 6 hours. It took us 16 hours to make the trip. My step Daught and son went with their Dad to Austin and it took them 28 hours.

The main problem I found with the evacuation routes was all the exits were blocked, BUT the entrance ramps were open. So as time went on you constantly had more people joining the route causing the people who were already in the mix not to move. I can understand the need to keep people moving in one direction, but to not allow them to exit as needed that was THE major problem that caused all the backups. Over the past few days I noticed the return to home travel was not the same as the evacuation travel. I feel that was because all the exits were open and so people were able to get on and get off as needed. Providing for forward movement.

Sadly, I think next time around a lot of people will decided to stay and not evacuate after having set in their cars for hours. The night before I left I ran into a gentleman at HEB who evacuated New Orleans during Katrina and spent 19 hours on the road. He said this time around he was just going to stay at his new house.

It's good to be back home and I'm glad we dodged what could have been a great disaster.

JR Gautreaux

hornet driver

My Feedback: (7)

well ....i hope all had fun on the roads...what a mess... i evacuated to one of my 5 bomb shelters i have scattered around the city....they have solid concrete walls and are then cinder block lined with waterproofing sandwitched in between ....each bunker has an i-beam reinforced 12" inch solid concrete roof....my bunkers can withstand a direct hit from a 155mm cannon and i can assure you 200 mph hurricanes are no problem in fact my bunkers that i built are the safest place in texas...my bunkers are plumbed with running water and electric.....each has emergency generators....each bunker has 3000 gallons of oil for generator use.....each bunker has a fully stocked frig and and each bunker has over 2000 air filters ....(yep you read it right 2000) in it to make sure the air is clean...each bunker has a full compliment of tools....each bunker has phone service and internet service..each bunker is equipted with safety glases and hard hats....each has a fully stocked first aid kit.....each bunker has an exhaust fan for ventilation....each bunker has 20 uniforms so clothes arent a problem.....each bunker can sleep 20 in the downstairs basement area ...but when the bombing starts or the hurricane is blowing 200 mph i doubt anyone will be sleeping .....

and the best of all is 100% tax deductable .....thankyou uncle sam

and when they are not used for emergency shelter....they serve as 10 minute oil change stores....:-)

producing lots of income thus lots of taxes so i can do my part and help pay for all those debit cards

while we were closed over the weekend...i did some thinking

1) in all the stop and go traffic 18,326 sets of brake pads were worn out

2) 729 cars over heated and now need radiator service

3) 1,423,558 cars wore out their oil in very servere duty while sitting in traffic

4) 1,927 cars lost their ac fan belts

5) 938,253 transmissions now need to be flushed form sitting in traffic


.....so please visit your local oil change store for service asap and help us help you :-)

and bob violet....i think i wil be ordering that f-100 next week............yeeeeeeeehaw



gregg bingham

hornet driver

My Feedback: (7)

btw

the next safest place in houston besides one of my bunkers is barry`s house......there is no stronger house built in houston...not only did he use nails but he aeropoxied each piece too...then heat shielded it...then a ceramic blanket in the walls

if all of houston is gone there will be barry standing amongst the rubble....i can hear him now

" hey...where did everybody go?"

gregg

u2fast

My Feedback: (37)

yeppers gregg, i stayed home and everyone left. one of the local hobbyshops met me at their store sunday morning, i was out of glue and building like a mad man. darn near built a whole reaction 54 kit in 2 days of kaos. i have decided one thing, if the russians ever fire their icbm's, i will bend over and kiss it all good bye, i will never get in a traffic jam like i saw on tv. that was crazy, they sat for 12 hours and went 5 miles. i will take a nuke before i do that. it looked like a bunch of sheep. a funny story, one of my employees, who by the way was suppose to help me see everyone at the hospital thursday morning, decided to stand me up and evacuate with his wife. so i had to hustle and see patints at three hospitals, the reason i had to hustle was my wife and 1 yr old daughter were flying out to stay with my father inlaw, ok, long story short, i finished seeing everyone and was back at the house by 9:30, i loaded up the family and drove to the airport, hearing all the freeways were parking lots, i used nothing but backroads, i would head north and when i saw a slow down i would head east. zig zag and in 50 minutes i was kissing my better half an child good bye. in less than 30 mins i was back at home preparing for the storm. as i passed under i45 making my way to the airport, i passed my employee who had left 7 hours earlier. after 15 hours and never making it past kingwood (norhteast side of houston) he turned around and went back home. the return trip took him 45 mins. SWEET REVENGE for hanging me out. in the same amount of time he sat and went no where, i flew my wife out , saw 14 patients, mowed the yard, secured the house etc, showered and had one fine bowl of hagendas DULCE DE LECE ice cream. it pays to not panic, just get er done. barry