Hurricane GUSTAV

[clancy_boy]

We sit and wait for the 48 hour forecast. If this does not change we may stay - BUT - any wiggle east and we are gone to the east. I-10 looks like a parking lot, I had a confrontation at a local gas station earlier this evening - people cannot handle the stress.

The F250 is at the ready, trailer is ready to go - in the morning I set up and hook up the CCD and move the Caravel out into the yard to get her off the slope of the yard where she sits. My 5kw generator is ready and has been run, fuel for days, Mr. Remington (12ga) in the truck, and the wife and I will be gone.......

What a mess, too many temporary structures around here.

Ya'll keep us in mind - all the prayers are welcome, it's not going to be good for alot of people.

Be safe, Mike

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by clancy_boy

We sit and wait for the 48 hour forecast. If this does not change we may stay - BUT - any wiggle east and we are gone to the east. I-10 looks like a parking lot, I had a confrontation at a local gas station earlier this evening - people cannot handle the stress.

The F250 is at the ready, trailer is ready to go - in the morning I set up and hook up the CCD and move the Caravel out into the yard to get her off the slope of the yard where she sits. My 5kw generator is ready and has been run, fuel for days, Mr. Remington (12ga) in the truck, and the wife and I will be gone.......

What a mess, too many temporary structures around here.

Ya'll keep us in mind - all the prayers are welcome, it's not going to be good for alot of people.

Be safe, Mike

Mike, can y'all head over to Fortson a few days early? At least you won't be driving up and down the road with the trailer, though you would probably want to go home and verify no damage was done.

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by clancy_boy

...What a mess, too many temporary structures around here...

Not for long

This one has the chance to be real ugly. The good part is folks are taking this one serious and (trying) to leave.
Mrs. HiHo looked at the 'stream in our back yard...right where our previous RV got hit by a tree from Katrina..."I just couldn't stand to loose the Airstream..."

[moosetags]

Our Daughter-in-law, Juliet, and her Mom are on the way over here from New Orleans as I write this. They left at 1600, and they are not expecting to get here until well after midnight. New Orleans is only 275 miles from here, so the going is brutally slow. When we spoke to Juliet a little while ago, she was in Biloxi making about 25 mph. She told me that it had taken her over 2 hours to get from Algiers to Orleans Parish line on I-10. Our son, Travis, has to stay to work. He's with NOPD.

When Juliet came over here for Katrina, she was here for over three months. We are praying that poor old New Orleans fares better this time.

Brian

[easyride]

Getting the outer bands now ,tornado warnings,rain and gust of winds.Good luck to all in the path.Dave

[clancy_boy]

Just had our first "outer band" pass over - gusty winds to maybe 40mph, with big cold raindrops. It's over now but a prelude to what's to come. Local TV weatherman says it's just standard late afternoon storms but influenced by GUSTOV. OK - how can you tell........

OK - We are staying now and buttoned up for the ride.

See you on the other side.

Mike and Tina

[Alumatube]

Mom and Dad headed out of St. Charles Parish late yesterday for Austin, Texas and arrived at my sister's house in Houston safely around 4:45 this morning. Bleah. They were thinking about going on to Austin this afternoon. They said traffic on I-10 was terrible, starting around Lafayette and getting really bad after the Texas state line.

If anyone needs a place to stay, we have plenty room to park trucks and trailers, can run electric/water to several, and there is a dump station 12 miles away. We are about 8 hours north of New Orleans in I-530 between Pine Bluff and Little Rock in Arkansas. All we expect here is rain. Please PM me or bkahler if you need room!

Good luck to all, and stay safe!

Susan

[juel]

I've got the Argosy loaned out to friends in Oklahoma City, who have relatives coming this way from the coast. He have tornadoes; however, we don't have to sit and wait for them to show up. It's always over pretty quick here and you can track those suckers right on TV. All you coastal people are in our thoughts. Hope this one isn't as hard on the country as Katrina and Rita.

[gparker]

The rain has just now started to fall here in Denham Springs near Baton Rouge. No wind yet, but it is coming. If all forecasts hold true, we will have sustained winds of 70 to75 mph here. I moved the Airstream to the middle of our property--away from any trees. It may be our lifeboat if (when ) the power goes out.

I am going to bed -- I have go to work at 0400 at the LSU basketball arena where we are sheltering hospital patients from New Orleans. Part of being an ER doctor. I will probably be stuck there for a few days.

Good luck to all of my fellow Gulf Coast Airstreamers!!

Greg

[overlander63]

Looks like the eye has passed here, heading North. We had more rain from this storm, hundreds of miles away, than we did last week with Fay circling us like a giant airborn shark...
Good luck up North, it is going to get hairy in the next 12 hours or so.

[HiHoAgRV]

90% of the highway traffic in Jackson today was from Lousiana tagged cars. The volume of traffic was HUGE. I spotted a '60's Safari among the dozens of SOB's headed west on I-20, kinda hoping it was one of our New Orleans pals splittin'.
It's gonna be a busy next few days...I got selected to assist in 'post event damage review'

Unfortunately 'post event' means 'there went the eye, where are you?'

[Overlander & Sea]

Originally Posted by gparker

The rain has just now started to fall here in Denham Springs near Baton Rouge. No wind yet, but it is coming. If all forecasts hold true, we will have sustained winds of 70 to75 mph here. I moved the Airstream to the middle of our property--away from any trees. It may be our lifeboat if (when ) the power goes out.

Good luck to all of my fellow Gulf Coast Airstreamers!!

Greg

Greg, good luck to you & your family. Looks like you may get more wind than us.

Originally Posted by overlander63

Looks like the eye has passed here, heading North. We had more rain from this storm, hundreds of miles away, than we did last week with Fay circling us like a giant airborn shark...
Good luck up North, it is going to get hairy in the next 12 hours or so.

Just sitting here waiting for that next 12 hours. The house is boarded up, the AS is inside, we at my business....a little safer building. Curfew starts at 10:00pm.

[Airslide]

Keeping you all in our prayers..

Vinnie and Cindy Lamica

[overlander63]

I was watching the Weather Channel this morning. You know it's going to be a bad day when Jim Cantore and a camera crew shows up in your front yard.
New Orleans looks like a ghost town.

[clancy_boy]

Windy here in Kiln, not so bad - yet. Like a late summer thunderstorm that won't quit. Gustov shifted to the west a little and spared us the worst. Right now it looks like a yard clean-up day on Tuesday. Twisters all around but none here - Gulfport and areas out in the county have had reports of touch downs but none sustained for long distances.

Back to the TV to watch.

Mike

[toastie]

Originally Posted by clancy_boy

Windy here in Kiln, not so bad - yet. Like a late summer thunderstorm that won't quit. Gustov shifted to the west a little and spared us the worst. Right now it looks like a yard clean-up day on Tuesday. Twisters all around but none here - Gulfport and areas out in the county have had reports of touch downs but none sustained for long distances.

Back to the TV to watch.

Mike

Your a brave one..............toastie

[clancy_boy]

Originally Posted by toastie

Your a brave one..............toastie

Brave has nothing to do with it. My 81 year old Mother and oldest sister refuse to leave. Before my Father passed away last year he had asked me to take good care of them - they are not to far away and so I sit just in case I can help. Not the best plan - I would have probably left yesterday if they would have gone but now I sit with the F-250 ready to roll out if necessary.

Gusty still, lost power for a few minutes but the backup generator for the whole house took care of that. Best money a person can spend.

Back to the fun looking out the windows and listening for that tell-tale sound of a "FREIGHT TRAIN"

[Overlander & Sea]

Originally Posted by Overlander & Sea

The next few days & weeks may keep us all glued to NOAA, weatherunderground and The Weather Channel. I don't like it when Jim Cantore shows up on the beach in Gulfport or Biloxi.

Originally Posted by overlander63

I was watching the Weather Channel this morning. You know it's going to be a bad day when Jim Cantore and a camera crew shows up in your front yard.
New Orleans looks like a ghost town.

Jim Cantore, who was in Biloxi, was the last person I saw on TV before the power & cable went out when Katrine was headed our way. I know that feeling. Not too bad here, windy-gusts up to 63mph, raising water on US Hwy 90 along the beach & low areas and some tornado warnings. The fact I have internet, power, cable, and water pressure shows it's not too bad here. Hope everyone else is OK.

[clancy_boy]

Windy, VERY WINDY - 50-60mph. Lucy (Caravel) and Desi (CCD) are holding their own in the wide open yard. That was for those of you who may be concerned about the Airstreams.

We are not to bad either. Went into an internal bathroom space for about 10 minutes for the heavy winds. Still not so good outside. Weather reports that it may be 5 more hours of this stuff.

Mike

[clancy_boy]

CCD vs. GUSTOV - So far so good. Stills just do not represent the terror.