2022
After my husband rowed my daughter, myself, our dog, two cats and 5 tubs of belongings in multiple trips through deep flood waters with alligators and snakes to our car (yes this a true story), we were all pretty disgusting but had no choice but to go, it was literally life or death. Luckily a nice man stopped and helped shuttle our belongings to the car with his truck, because we were exhausted. We had to put the most tubs on top of the car in a zip carrier because our car is so small, but we felt blessed to have the car. We had only just bought it 4 months ago. Prior to that we had a 16 year old car with no air conditioning, no horn, that you had to replace a fuze in every time you wanted it to start. We would have been unable to go.
More than a million people in Louisiana lost power because of Hurricane Ida. More power poles went down in Louisiana from Hurricane Ida than in Hurricanes Katrina, Zeta, and Rita combined. And the power stayed out for over a month. (ARTICLE ON POWER OUTAGE AND DEVASTATION ) Because of this and the loss of homes, so many people evacuated, and their was a shortage of shelters and hotel rooms. I called everywhere in Louisiana. Then Mississippi, then Alabama… and found a hotel in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 279 miles away. So exhausted, dirty, hot we drove and began our 31 days of evacuation.
At that time we had no idea this was going to happen!
After a week of living in the hotel, which cost almost my entire Social Security check for a month, they had no more vacancy. Now even more people had evacuated so I called again looking for a hotel: Alabama: no, Mississippi: no, Louisiana: no,…. Texas? … Beaumont Texas - 534 miles away…7 hours and 34 minutes away!!
So we loaded it all BACK in the car and drove.
Now this is the problem. I don’t actually drive. But my husband was falling asleep at the wheel. I have a driver’s license. But I haven’t driven in 5 years. I have a scarred retina that causes spacial perception difficulty. Which translates into me backing our one car into our other car in the past. Me backing the work van into a dumpster. Me rear ending a pickup truck at a red light and his hitch totaling my car. Me driving my car into a ditch - 5 times. Me backing into parking meters. The list is long, but I have totaled almost every car we have ever owned, and the others that I didn’t total, I wrecked severely. Also my retina problem causes night blindness.
So my husband drives. But now he can’t stay awake. SO GUESS WHO’S DRIVING??
The other sad thing is my 12 year old sweet cat was already very ill. He got much worse evacuating. He did not live to see our new home.
On the way from Tuscaloosa to Beaumont we stopped at Dunn Falls in Enterprise, Mississippi. We could only stay for 15 minutes, because we had to leave our car running, locked with the air conditioner on for our 3 pets. But it had beautiful waterfalls and my husband pushed my daughter on the swing. We had a great time. We always have great times together.
Next we were passing close to our home so we stopped to see if the water was down enough to salvage anything. We were able to get in, but there was no power, it was over a hundred degrees in there. We boxed up what we could and put it into a storage unit. My husband worked so hard and got so exhausted, he fell out of the truck the storage company lent us. He couldn’t stand up any more.
So I was back driving to Beaumont! I actually never wrecked anything! I taking this as a one off, and I am going back to not driving. Next Beaumont didn’t last, so it was on to Shreveport, Louisiana. Yes, 199 miles away, 3 hours, 17 minutes. And then… that’s right, we had to move again… and the only hotel is in … Louisiana: no, Mississippi: no, Alabama: no, Texas: no…Arkansas - NORTHWEST Arkansas. Rogers, Arkansas 515 miles away, 8 hours and 31 minutes.
Now to you world travelers this may seem like nothing. But I lived in a town that was 2 miles across by 7 mile long. And I haven’t been on a trip out of that town in 15 years. And I am in a CHEVY SPARK, 3 adults and 3 animals and everything they could row. But we were very lucky to be alive! We didn’t need those material things we lost. We lived in that car and in hotels for a month without a home and possessions. And you know what, we were sad, we were scared, we were tired, we were dirty, but we also laughed, saw new places, grew even closer, and I slept with my daughter and her cat! And we survived my driving!
On the way to Arkansas we actually had to go through Oklahoma. My father is from there. Although he passed away a long time ago, I have family there, so that was cool just knowing I was in that state. Finally we arrived in our last evacuation city! We actually fell in love with it!
Spoiler for Part 3 we move there and never go back to Louisiana!
Unimaginable story of struggle...
My dear fellow LG @lynneannec
Felt very sorry for what has happened...
Nature is some times very, very cruel - innocent living beings get shocked by such events.
One month of homeless & painful days, that too even with the pets - we can't even imagine this... Really adventurous!!!
Appreciate the determination and dedication of all of you.
Eagerly awaiting your part 3 ... good suspence...
PS:
Our love filled greetings to other members of your family, please...
🙏
@lynneannec your perseverance is incredible. I am sorry for the loss of your cat. That must have made the journey even harder than it would have been otherwise
Thank you @Kwiksatik . Yes, losing Clover is the worse thing that happened. I don’t mind any of the other losses.
Thank you @TravellerG . Losing my cat, Clover who was my sweet boy of 12 years was definitely the hardest.
Thank you @CAAG1959 . Many people had it much worse than us, and some people were completely alone. Even now, my husband’s sister is still there and the town has not recovered. Trees are still down everywhere, and they are trying to clean up.
"...Losing my cat, Clover who was my sweet boy of 12 years was definitely the hardest...."
As I mentioned earlier, I can understand your feelings.
Reading happy ending relieve a lot of tention.
Greetings, dear @lynneannec
🤝👍🙏
