The highway was strangely quiet when I was out on I-20 an hour or two ago. I have this vision of a sea of autos descending on the Metroplex. I went to the pet store for an extra dog kennel (several folks from Houston have already stopped there, they said), stopped by Albertson (most of the drinking water is gone from the shelves), stopped by my other small grocery store--they're doing fine except they're out of rice. The big highway signs that usually alert travelers to accidents 20 miles ahead or to Amber alerts are posting a phone number for evacuees to find local hotels.

I have kennels for the cats and the dogs now, in case my creek floods and I have to leave for a while. We'll have some stuff prepacked and I'll load the computers and pets and head over to my ex's where the kids spend the weekend anyway. He's on higher ground.

I haven't been able to reach my Hurricane Katrina family at their shelter since early yesterday. The cell phones in the area are so jammed up that they're not working well and I think there are so many folks trying to use the landline phone at the shelter that they haven't been able to call. Today I have wrapped up my storm preparations, and I'll drive over and check on them tomorrow. They're looking for housing now that they've cleared the FEMA and Texas housing folks.

UT System is asking for folks to house other UT System folks if necessary. There is a campus in Galveston, and in Houston.

All of this leads up to the old adage Texans should have remembered: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished.

SRS