Yesterday we tried to evacuate because of Hurricane Rita. Our house wont flood, it is on high ground. The problem is all the trees. We were worried about one of them falling on the house.

I say we “tried” - we weren’t able to make it and had to turn back home. We left yesterday morning about 5:30. In our “caravan” was our truck and following behind, the 2 boys in their cars. We had our route mapped out and reservations had been made.

We got on road and there was grid lock even on our main road that runs through town. (found out later that it was a planned “evacuation” route road) We knew a back way and figured we would take that and wind around to get to where we wanted to be. That was when things started to go bad.

It seems those “in charge” had “evacuation routes” all ready planned and they had all other roads blocked off. They would not let people go the way they wanted to go. You were not allowed into any of the little towns for gas. The police had the paths blocked off. They would not answer any questions, they would not let people go another way. You HAD to go where THEY wanted you to go. Period amen.

This stupidity led to MAJOR backups on all roads leading to the major freeways. Because that is where they wanted you to be, either on the freeway or on their planned routes. And there was NO gas, anywhere.

You would stop for 30 minutes and then go maybe 20 feet. People would get out of their cars and visit with one another. Everyone was VERY nice and helped each other. We all knew we were in the same boat - screwed.

It was so hot. You just can’t imagine. And you could not run the air conditioners for fear of overheating the cars and also running out of gas.

Two of our pets died from the heat. The sugar glider and the bunny. We tried to keep them cool with water but it was just too hot for them. We managed to save the 2 dogs and cat.

Many other people had pets die as well. There were people with horse trailers and the horses were getting too hot. They tried to keep them cool. One horse collapsed but they got it back up.

I have to let you all know this - they would NOT let people turn around and go back home.

Around 5PM, we heard the Mayor say on the radio that if you had enough gas to turn around and go home, to do so. But the police would not let you.

When they turned us down yet another “detour” around yet another town, I knew we had to take action. We waited until we went a little ways around a bend where the cops could not see us. Then turned the cars around. Others did too and we just flew by the cops without stopping. This was around 6PM. We finally made it home around 8:00.

We had spent 12 hours on the road and only gotten about 50 miles north. In the middle of nowhere, no town in sight. No place to seek shelter.

On the way back we saw many cars beside the road broke down or out of gas. There were a steady stream of lights coming out of Houston, but many could not go home because they could not get off the freeway.

I truly believe that if they had let people take the routes they had planned, the cars would have dispersed out and there would not have been such gridlock.

It was a nightmare.