Teresa, Beth and Joe entered some of their creations in the Kay County fair and all won prizes.
I forgot my camera this morning but I'll put some pictures on the blog later. Teresa completed a couple of new quilts this week and cut out some more to take to Idaho on our next TAH.
Unlike Craig and Diane we put on our pounds at home and take them off on the road. Joe is such a great cook and loves to try new recipes and we like to eat them. Great, or not, combination, so we have some work to do for the next 3 weeks.
Joe and Beth drove us down to the drop lot in OKC. On the way we had to drop off their son's bed in OKC and Teresa's sewing machine at the shop. She zigged when she should have zagged and messed it up.
We arrived and signed in, Whoops there it is ! a new work assignment. There was a trailer there that was relayed to go to Houston. We picked it up and headed on to the Dallas OC and fueled and spent the night, with 5 hours left to Houston. We had estimated to be at the consignee at noon. Got there at 11:55 - not bad.
Houston is a mess! Since we only travel at 60 mph we are always passed by everything, even turtles on the road. Funny though, since we can get close to 1,200 miles on one fillup we usually see the same vehicles more than once.
Here's a collection of the types of folks that passed us heading into Houston:
- Search and Rescue folks including Divers and dogs
- Trucks full of water, generators, roofing supplies
- Empty garbage trucks
- Hundreds of phone/electrical trucks, from every state
- Feed the Children trucks
- RVs and trailers for housing
- National Guard convoys
- Replacement glass
The sights into and out of Houston was tough and tough to see. Many, many billboards trashed and some of the big ones blown over on buildings. Throughout most of the day there was no power so most business were closed. Looked like a ghost town, except for the lines at the gas stations, at least those that had gas and power. We passed one line for gas that was a bit over a mile long.
Trees blown over or snapped off. Trees up to a foot in diameter snapped and the biggers one blown over. Barns in yards where they were not supposed to be. Trailers toppled over. Houses crushed and surrounded by fallen trees. Quite sad.
There were lines to get into the Home Depot - couldn't tell why but there were at least 60 people standing to get in. Lots of roofs blown off. Blown off roofing materials everywhere. Metal roofs literally rolled up from the wind. We were on the north end of town and didn't see the flooding and some of the worst stuff, but even what we saw was tough.
As I indicated there were literally hundreds of electrical/phone trucks/repair persons. They've got a heckuva job ahead of them. Phone poles were blown nearly horizontal. I guess from the wet soil and high wind they were just blown over. Downed lines on the road, but without power I figured it was safe, for now.
What a sight !
I knew it was going to be tough to get a load out of Houston but we were patient. We headed to a Flying J a bit north to wait it out. Like Diane (in her blog, http://shantztravels.blogspot.com/) says people watching is interesting and we took this occasion to do so, tempers were running a bit short.
About 3:30 we got out next w/a to dead head to Deridder, LA (185 miles) to pick up newsprint and bring it back to Beeville, TX. Happy to be on the move we headed out northeast. Interesting and revealing trip but every light for 60 miles was out and had lots of traffic. I think it took almost three hours to go 60 miles.
We spent last night in Vinton, LA about 20 miles from the shipper - Boise Cascade. The Funny Lady is still sleeping and so I have this opportunity to update our blog.
Good luck, Houston. Keep the faith.
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