Today started at six. Actually that was the time I was suppposed to be at work, but either I slept through my alarm or it didn't go off. I woke, rolled over and saw the time was at fifteen till six. Ooops. I jumped up, dressed quickly and was on the road within minutes. I made it to the store just a little after six. Steve and Heather were waiting for me outside the building. We were supposed to have about eight associates coming in. We were going to open only till around 11, see if anyone needed to come in for hurricane supplies and to finish getting the building ready for the hurricane. Jessica and Timmy showed up not long after I did. We decided that we weren't going to open at all, over night they had announced that Katrina was up to cat 5 now and heading right towards us. Slidell south of hwy 12 was under mandatory evacuation, that was only across the street from us. So we figured we'd finish getting the store ready to weather the storm and than head out. First off we got some money from petty cash and sent Timmy to the McDonalds to get us some food. It was open when they passed it on the way to work. We had to finish wrapping the registers and finish putting plywood over the front of the store. I had to do the Sunday fax, which is payroll and sales figures for the week. Need to send that so everyone gets paid for the week. While we were getting things ready Jessica's parents called, they wanted her home so they could leave, they had decided to leave the city now. We turned on one of those small portable tvs we sell to watch the news. They said the Cresecent City Bridge was like a parking lot, they were advising people not to take it. I knew my brother was still on the westbank, he hadn't left yet. I called him to tell him he better get on the road. We finished everything by around nine. My brother called me and said he was already in Slidell, I wasn't expecting to make it till later that day from the way they were talking. He said traffic had not been a problem.
Kenneth went back to my place to help me bring some stuff outside into my house so it wouldn't get blown away. I also had to pack. I know, I always wait till the last minute to do anything. Than we headed towards my parents. The plan had been to go to Picayune and stay in a hotel there with my parents, but since the night before they had changed their plans. A cat 5 hurricane changes a lot of plans.
We got to Picayune without any trouble. The Highway going out that way was using both lanes to head traffic out of the city. It looked strange seeing traffic on both sides of the highway going the same way.
We were on the road by twelve. Instead of the interstates we were going to take the small state highways and head to Tennessee where my Mother's family is. We took hwy 11 to hwy 13 to hwy 35 and than briefly got on I 55 till we got back off and on hwy 7 to Memphis. Actually outside Memphis. We ended up at my Aunt Shirley and Uncle Troys. They took us in without the bat of an eye. I haven't been back up this way since I graduated high school, so it's been a few years They were even willing to take in Buffy and Sheba, my parent's dog.
It took us eight hours to get there, which wasn't that bad. We never ran into traffic and the way was easy and smooth. We made one stop at Wendy's to eat and let the dogs out for a walk. Buffy sat in the passenger seat and just watched the scenary pass by without a bark. Every now and than she would try and curl up and sleep, but it never last for long, she would jump up into a sitting position and stare outside the car.
I think we were all in bed by ten that night. It was a long day.
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