Catching up...

My parents left for their hotel a few hours ago. Then, my wife and step-daughter went to bed. Now, my mother-in-law is finally asleep on the sofa. So now, I have a few minutes to write.

I just finished moving to Meridian, Idaho. My parents were kind enough to drive the moving truck, so that I could take the car and minimize my time off of my new job. They left last Monday- Katrina was just a tropical storm in the Atlantic. My flight back to New Orleans departed Monday evening, and I arrived Tuesday morning. My wife and I spent most of the day with our lawyer preparing for the relocation, custody, and child-support hearing the following day. A criminal trial forced a continuance of the case for another month (already two months delayed). Disgusted, I finished getting my stuff together to head back up the Idaho the following morning. Thursday at about 8:00am CDT, I loaded up the 4 dogs, the 2 rabbits, and the snake, and I started towards the new house. Thursday evening I got a call from the realtor saying that there was a delay with the money we wired for the closing and it could screw up the deal. Later that night, I heard over the radio that Hurricane Katrina was bearing down on New Orleans. I mentioned it to my wife and she started making preparations to get herself, her daughter, her mother, and her mother's dog ready to leave town. Friday night, 10:30pm MDT, I get to the house (2222 miles). I called my wife and she said that they were leaving the following morning. About midday Saturday, my parents arrived with the moving truck. Amidst unloading the truck, my wife gave me regular updates on the lack of progress on the drive. Because of contra-flow, she was diverted to Hammond and on towards Jackson, which made it take a lot longer to get to the hotel in Dallas.
Eating dinner on Monday at a local eatery, my parents and I caught our first glimpse of the devastation on the big screen TVs during halftime of Monday Night Football. It took a few seconds to recognize Clearview Shopping Center and some of the other areas. Once the reports of the extent of the devastation and the time it would take to recover, the decision was made for my wife, step daughter, and mother-in-law to head here, rather than stay in a hotel for months.
They got on the road Wednesday at about 7:00am CDT and arrived here around 5:30pm MDT today.
We have been hearing occasional news from friends and family, but there are still quite a few who we have not heard from.
According to one of their firefighter friends, my parents house fared well.

On a side note, I actually got to use Google Maps for a non-trivial purpose last night. My wife was driving at night through Denver and the road construction had shut down the route she was taking. I had just got the computer and internet connection setup only a few hours beforehand. With her on the cell phone and using the hybrid view, I was able to guide her through 4 separate construction zones and back to the planned route. Anyways, my mother was looking over my shoulder for part of it and could not believe "what they can do these days."

I hope everybody is well. Thank you Rain for including me on the list. My old email address was housed at the University of New Orleans, so if anyone would like to get in touch with me, reply to this and I'll send you an alternate email address.

Well, I've gotta get to bed.