I am in Dallas tonight for a business meeting. Today a local radio station indicated that the normal 4.5 hour drive from Houston to Dallas is 15-20 hours long, and not much gas at all along the way. At least living here, you have the chance to get out of the way, if you have the resources to do the getting quickly. Rita is scary!
Our hotel is nearly full tonight, with more people arriving as darkness falls. I just spoke with a fellow in the hotel lobby who decided on Tuesday to get his family (wife and three little girls) up here by today. He just sold his house in Houston, bought another one, and did not have time to board up the windows before he left. He thinks the house will be ok. He is in the oil business, and evacuated all his people out of the gulf region on Tuesday as well. Sounds like a good and smart boss to me. The Dallas Morning News is indicating that upwards of 1 million people are headed north. Good Lord!
I met a fellow in my meeting today who is from Tyler, Texas, and he said that his town is still full of evacuees from Katrina. These folks in Texas have big hearts.
We think we can control our lives, and something like, oh say, a hurricane or an earthquake comes along, and we are reminded how little we control.
