He is off the interstate not all that far outside of Katy, TX and doesn't know whether to push on and risk running out of gas and not reaching a safe place to stay. His family is also there in another car. I know that cliffw offered assistance if needed but he is 200 miles away. Is there anyone in the San Antonia are that might be of assistance if it became necessary.

I just had lunch with Jonathon a couple of weeks ago when I was in Houston. He is a great guy and I hate to think of him being in this situation...

I'd help if I could but getting there from SA is a PITA right now... Best wishes anf god be with him though

I would help, but I am more then 200 miles.. count that around 2000 miles away..

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Custom Fiero Fiberglass

The bad thing is that anyone who tries to go meet him would end up stuck in traffic as well trying to get back. The bad thing is that if he had reservations in S.A. I am sure they have already given them away and he would have nowhere to stay when and if he can get there. From what I hear, there is no gas available at any price between Houston and San Antonio.

from SA to Seguin they said they been selling fuel at one price. all three levels to try and sell all of it.. the state troopers and Texas deprtment of transportation were trying to get tanker treucks with gas to start parking along the hwy to fill up any evacs that need gas, but havent heard anymore about it

He's at exit 731.. 120 miles from Seguin. I don't think I would want to chance it on a half tank either.. But I will see if I can get that message to him. Phones are useless but sometimes I can get a txt message through.

man, i wish i could help. somone needs to hop in their car, buy as much fuel as possible, put them in gas cans (as many as possible) and head out there to help him out!

Where were JScott and his family headed? Austin or Dallas? If they are trying to make it to Dallas I can get as far south as Corsicana with gas (pumps have been backed up since 6pm but only one place is out as of now) and there are still hotels available in my area... I'd be willing to go further but that's as far south as the highways are open.

Best of luck to him and his family....

-Amber

Ah come on guys, ain't nobody got a darn ultralight down there. Zip down with a 5 gallon can of fuel and zip back. Head right on over the traffic. I know a 5 gallon can of fuel is 30 lbs and quite the load for a person and tank but it should be able to be done. If ya got a big enough ultralight, IE a 2 persons one ya could zip down drop the fuel grab one of his kids and fly back. You can go what 100 miles averge in of them them things. Zip Zoom up up and away.

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85GT 5spd MSD Everything,4.9 With Nitrous. www.captfiero.com

any word from him? can he get off the interstate to a town that has fuel? 182 miles from SA from katy..

My dad has an ultalight but it's here in PA!

Please keep us posted if you hear anything from him. We are all worried!

Jen

Just spoke with him. He is in Luling, Texas, and has a little over a quarter of a tank of gas. I suggested he get off IH 10 and go northwest then come into San Antonio from the north, what I did yesterday. Gas seems (yesterday) more available and traffic much lighter and flowing at the speed limits. He will go farther but get there quicker. I worked him out a route out and he said he was gonna try it. He will call me if he fuels or if he needs gas.
EDIT
Luling is 57 miles from San Antonio via IH 10

[This message has been edited by cliffw (edited 09-23-2005).]

quote Originally posted by cliffw: Just spoke with him. He is in Luling, Texas,

According to the map and the projected path, It looks like he is out of the path of the dangerous portion of Rita. They show Rita heading closer to Port Charles. Keep us updated.

Best wishes and god be with him.

quote Originally posted by Oreif: According to the map and the projected path, It looks like he is out of the path of the dangerous portion of Rita. They show Rita heading closer to Port Charles. Keep us updated. Best wishes and god be with him.

That would be Port Arthur or Lake Charles hehe. I think he will be safe in SA.

--Will

Katy-nowdays considered a Houston suburb, is only about 30-40 miles from downtown Houston on I-10, so that tells a terrible story of unbelievable gridlock. According to what I've read, traffic is backed up for 100+ miles on the northbund interstates. Unless a person is evacuating early-very early-Never go north of a storm's projected landfall path. In this hemisphere, the storms always, always, always take a northeastern turn once they hit land. You have to drive much further to be in a safe area. On a relaltivly north/south coastline like Texas, southwest is the best escape route, which is what Jonathon chose--and evidently a lot of others did too.

A lot will be said about all this in the coming weeks, and lessons learned from it, but it is fair to say that an exodus of this magnitude has never been attempted before. My nieces and their families left Baytown, just east of Houston, Wednsday morning for Texarkana Texas. Not the direction I would have gone, but they arrived safely 12 hrs later-only because they left a day ahead of most folks. They've been thru this before. Normally, an 8 hr drive, but all their stop and go time was within 50 miles of Houston. Understandably, not everyone has the luxury of leaving that early.

AAFO members--Someone got a place for JScott and his family?

Best wishes. Stay safe.

cliffw, I'm glad you heard from him and were able to give him some directions. I was looking on the TX DOT site trying to make heads or tails out of it but first-hand experience is always better. I'm going to try to call him a little later today to see if he has found a place to stay.

The bad thing about this will be if Rita continues to be downgraded and turns into not a big deal, then the next time a storm is coming people will decide to stay home instead of getting into this kind of headache. Evacuating cities of the size of New Orleans or Houston is just almost impossible in any timely fashion.

Best wishes. Stay safe.

quote Originally posted by maryjane: AAFO members--Someone got a place for JScott and his family?

My hospitality has been offerd. He feels that his rooms in San Antonio will be available as they are prepaid. Last I spoke to him he was in a gas line in Luling, north and away from IH 10. As I was talking to him, someone went by and gave him free cold drinks (all in line). I felt his spirits rise. He plans to backroad it northwest to San Marcos on IH 35 north of San Antonio then go south to San Antonio.

He needs to try and fill up when he is on the northside - I'm in SE San Antonio and I just went to four stations before I was able to get gas at Wal-Mart. I would have offered to try and meet him on the 10 somewhere with some gas, but I'm in a world of hurt for money right now and just don't have the extra.

Rita downgraded to level 3.

I just got off the phone with Jonathan. With the help of Cliff W and Songman....Jonathan and his family made it safely to San Antonio TX. Jonathan told me to say to everyone, "Evacuate early, have cash, extra gas tanks, and food provision." He said that the choptop might have not made it due to the limited gas tank size. He said you needed a 300+ mile range.

The hotel keep his room and didn't sell it (he payed by credit card) and Jonathan may stay a little longer to avoid traffic comming back to Houston on Sunday. He might be back late (00:00HR) Tuesday or Wednesday if the situation seem okay in TX?

Right now he is resting and will head-out to a local restraurant.

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Archie's Choptop conversion #11, #15, Redux & The Stealth

[This message has been edited by madcurl (edited 09-23-2005).]

Good news! I didn't call him too early in case he had a long night and was finally getting some rest. I am glad to hear that he made it through...

Glad to hear that he made it to his destination safely!

The fun is not over yet
We have to get back. I am working south of his home and am "on duty". I storm stacked my oil rig and will have to get her drilling again as soon as feasable as the energy company we are drilling for is still paying us $18,000.00 a day. I wonder what joys the trip back holds.

I would like to see some of the large helicopters landing along the freeway and have some troops distribute gas to those in need. Have they done that yet?

I am glad to here he made it safe. From what it looked like only North Houston received the wind and rain and most of the rain went into Louisiana. Let us know when you make it home safely Jonathan. Hope to see you at the Ruckus.

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Report from last night---

Well that sucked...the evacuation that is.

Finally reached San Antonio after about 24 hours on the road. It's normally about a 4 hour dirve. I'm watching landfall on CNN, it looks like Houston will dodge a bullet. Maybe tropical storm force winds.

During the evacuation there was no gas within a 100 mile radius of Houston. Traffic was moving at about 2 mph and the main fear was running out of gas as there was no place to refuel. After about 15 hours and a half of tank of gas left I decided to park and wait for traffic to die down. The parking areas looked like the convention center in New Orleans during Katrina. The officials have some explaining to do how this could have been so poorly planned. About three in the morning after 17 hours or so on the road things opened up and then it became a fuel management task to get to a gas station before running out.

Thanks to Cliffw and others who were calling me for moral support I was able to find gas and I made it. Good thing I was not pulling a Fiero, I would have never made it.

I hope the folks near the Texas Louisianna border are alright.

- Jonathan

UPDATE -

Went to Red Lobster for a feast after living on emergency rations and water for 24 hours. I plan to stay a couple of extra says here in San Antonio to avoid the rush back. I plan to stock up on groceries and 5 gallon gas cans before heading back. The evacuation has turned out to be a bigger disaster than Rita. From what I hear my house should be okay, but there is no power, gas or food anywhere in Houston. I'm going to wait for things to settle out before I even attempt to go back.

Thanks for all the support from the forum!!!!

- Jonathan

[This message has been edited by jscott1 (edited 09-24-2005).]

I'm glad you made it out safe. I couldnt believe how poorly planned that evacuation was. Seems like the govt. would have a better plan than that.

Jonathan,

Glad to hear you and your family are safe and sound. Sorry to hear about all the problems, but again I am happy all is well.

Mark

did they open up both sides of the intersate at the beginning? That is what they do here, they don't wait. Then again, there are also less citizens here than Houston. You can only do so much with a large population. That is when people really need to start car pooling, but everyone wants to save their personal vehicle or take as much of their belongings in more than one vehicle. Yet, when you do that it means more cars on the road and more of a backup.

I just can't figure out what is causing the slow traffic. I mean, if everyone drove the same speed it should stay quick.

My plan of strategy if I have to evacuate any time soon is to wait till the last possible moment in hopes that most people are already on the road. I will then just try to gun it to safety. Probably take a highway since it will have less cars on it. Or if I know any backroads go that route. That is what some people I know did last time and they had it easy.

Also stock up on gas very early on.

Good plan Jscott on staying away for a few days. That would be nothing but misery.

Traffic headaches again, no gas by the time u get back, no power, hot, miserable !

Call or text some neighbors to make sure your place is ok, then just relax and wait for the services to be restored and the crunch to get back over.

Glad you and yours are ok !

Tony

Well, gas is getting scarce here in San Antonio, but it is available. There are no gas cans to be found anywhere either. Based on the Mayor's advice to not hurry back and that schools will be closed until Wednesday I'm staying until Tuesday. From what I hear there was no flooding in my area and my house and cars should be okay.

I will enjoy the hospitality of San Antonio for the mean time. One funny story, I programmed my GPS for my hotel "Alamo Lodge" and last night I was using it to get back and inadvertanly punched in "Alamo" next thing I know I'm in front of the actual Alamo instead of my hotel. Oh well it was a beautiful sight..

quote Originally posted by jscott1: I will enjoy the hospitality of San Antonio for the mean time.

Wanna see Medina Lake

I'm back, and happy to be here! We never lost power at my house, and although the wind was whipping around pretty good, the only damage was my back fence. I had all kinds of things to say in this post, but can't remember them. We're all just glad Rita didn't hit the major population center.

Keeping this Fiero related, I found out tonight that I can't go to the Ruckus because I have to work that weekend. Oh well, I need the money.

quote Originally posted by cliffw: Wanna see Medina Lake

I retract the offer, just got called back to work. No way can getting back be as bad as getting here.

glad to see everyone is ok so far.

becareful going home and/or to work

Glad to hear you and family are OK - welcome back