Hurricane Rita

Wrap up

I'm home, the bike is home, and I begin work again tomorrow.

The bike made it to its destination (Houston) this time without any strange detours. The box was shredded. So much so, in fact, that the guy who brought the bike to the "large luggage door" at the airport was actually carrying the thing by handling the frame while the box hung limply around it. All the pieces were there, which is the important part. The only actual damage was part of one of the back brakes, the part maintaining tension on the cable (but not the cable itself), broke. It should be fixable. There were some scratches on the frame as well, but no apparent structural damage. I secured a ride home from the airport for me and my bike, so I didn't have to again brave 100 degree temperatures for 25 miles.

Thanks again to everyone for your concern. I won't be posting to this Rita page anymore.
10 pm (Central) Tuesday

Found!

A day before I'm due to leave, my bike has been located. Delta has it and is flying it to Sacramento from Atlanta. So, did you follow all that? I flew Frontier, I checked a bike in a United box, and Delta turns out to have the bike. It still isn't clear to me what path it has taken across the country or on which airlines. Perhaps I'll ask the gate agent on Tuesday morning. I've requested that they simply leave the bike at the airport for me to pickup on Tuesday morning when I check in. That way, I'll have it when I get back to Houston. Well, that is if it doesn't get lost again...

The rest of my weekend went very well. I spent almost none of it thinking about the hurricane. I visited an old friend in Chico, went hiking with her this morning, and then played a little bit of pickup ultimate in my tennis shoes when I got back to Grass Valley this evening. The hiking was great fun, by the way. It has been way too long since I've gone on a good excursion. Good excursions are incredibly therapeutic and refreshing.

Finally, I want to thank everyone who has contacted me in relation to Hurricane Rita. I appreciate all the nice thoughts that you've sent my way. I've also enjoyed reconnecting (or connecting for the first time) with each of you.

I'll probably post one more time when I successfully return to Houston on Tuesday afternoon. After that, you can forget about me again as I'll be safely tucked into my lab. ;)
11 pm (Pacific) Sunday

Update

One of the things that I did before I Houston was unplug everything in my house. The one exception was my telephone answering machine which I left on so I could call it. When I called around 1 am Pacific this morning (shortly after landfall), it was on. However, when I called less than 9 hours later, it was off.

I don't read much into this, as the news is stating that over 500,000 customers in Harris Country (Houston's main county) are without power this morning. The Rice website also states that the graduate student apartments (which are a few blocks away from my apartment) are without power.

The Rice website says there have been a few downed tree limbs on campus, but otherwise no significant damage. Most of that applies to my place, other than if the wooden structure of the garage took more damage. The bottom line is that Houston really only saw the weaker west side of the hurricane, and it probably never saw hurricane-force winds. That's good news.
10 am (Pacific) Saturday

Pictures

I'll get around to posting some pictures of traffic at some point, but this couldn't wait. It was the highlight of my bike ride.

Picture
4 pm (Pacific) Friday

Made it

I successfully made it to my parents' house. Unfortunately, the bike did not. Maybe it will arrive tomorrow.
12:40 am (Pacific) Friday

At the airport

I made it to the airport. Let's take the suspense out of that one. My bike's odometer tells me that it's about 25 miles from my front door to the front door of the terminal. I started at 1:24 pm and finished just after 4 pm. The same odometer tells me that I was actually moving for 2 hours and 10 minutes and averaged 11.7 miles per hour. I can definitely say that I probably averaged 13 for the first hour and 10 for the remainder of the time. Now, for some observations. You can draw your own conclusions:

My advisor finally saw reason this morning, so I never gave my talk.
As I left the Rice area, there was some traffic, but it was pretty dead. It was kind of like a holiday.
As I biked north, I bike through some less fortunate neighborhoods. In those neighborhoods, the activity was much higher, and there were a lot more people looking like they were doing "normal" things.
ATMs in both high and low class neighborhoods were totally out of cash.
It's f***'in hot in Houston. Good thing I brought my Camelback filled with water (1 liter?). It was empty around the time I rolled up to the airport.
Traffic was light for the first 15 miles of my ride, give or take. Then, as we started running out of surface streets in the northern edges of Houston, the traffic started piling up. That's when it was totally worth it to be on a bike. I was doing at least double what the cars were.
The afore-mentioned cars represented the full socio-economic range.
These cars were often filled with only one or two people.
Cramping sucks! My quads were about to give up totally about a mile from the terminal. As in, total incapacitation. I couldn't extend them, I couldn't compress them. Everything hurt. This had happened earlier in the ride too, but not as badly. I took breaks, ate a power bar, ate a pear, drank lots of water. Bottom line: not enough salt.
There's something viscerally satisfying about biking up to an airport terminal.
Airline personnel are really cool. Read on for more.

I made one miscalculation, however: I forgot my bike lock at home. So, I parked my bike at the bottom of a stairwell, left one of my personal "business" cards on it, and went to check in. No problems there, I went through the short, fast security line (was that an oxymoron?), saw long lines at the food court, and then saw one of the lines make a mad dash to the magazine store because the food places had just run out of food. I think the magazine store ran out of snacks in about 5 minutes. After a refresher in the bathroom, I called my mom. She managed to convince me that I should try to check my bike. As an aside, parents usually have pretty good ideas, especially when they're willing to pay for them if necessary. ;)

So, I left the secured area (after double-checking that I could get back in), went to the Frontier counter (my airline this time), and asked, "So, do you sell bike boxes?". "No, sorry, try American next to us". I go to American. Same question: "I don't think we stock them anymore, but let me check". "No, sorry. Your best bet might be to try Continental" (since Continental's home airport is Houston). Same drill for Delta, America West, and US Air as I hit all the airlines in the terminal except United.

The United counter is the most crowded, though not really all that crowded by airport standards. "Do you have bike boxes? I biked to the airport and have my bike in the parking lot right now. I don't really want to leave it there." Apparently, I have a good puppy dog face because the guy decides to be helpful. I mention the idea about asking Continental (that would mean going to another terminal, though). Immediate response, "Don't waste your time. Reportedly, it's a complete zoo over there. 4 hour lines, people losing it completely, etc...". Me: "Any chance that you know of a better place than the parking lot for me to store my bike?" (by the way, I asked about storage lockers earlier: no). He tells me to wait where I am and disappears into the bowels of the airport (okay, just the room behind the United counters. "bowels of the airport" just sounds cooler). 5 minutes later, he comes back and brings bad news. No good places. Damn! But, then, he says, "Well, I'm kind of bouncing around doing different things, but give me 15 minutes. If I'm not back, assume I was unsuccessful". Meanwhile, I dash back to the Frontier counter to ask them if they have any ideas on where to store the bike. No luck. I go back to United and wait. A couple of minutes later, he returns from the bowels with a box. "Here. Now, go bum some tape off of Frontier. Oh, and don't tell anyone where you got it." Which is the stupidest thing ever because on the side of the box, it says "United: Bike Box".

By this time, I think the Frontier folks think I'm pretty silly. I come back dragging a big box and wearing a goofy grin on my face. "Do you have any tape? Yes? Oh good. Can you hold this box for me? I have to go fetch my bike." I enter the stairwell, dreading that it will be empty and that someone will already have left with my bike in the hour it was unattended. But, lo and behold, it's still there. Sweet! Packing it was an ordeal in itself, but not really necessary to the story (really, is any of this? I hope you're entertained...). I drag it up to the Frontier counter (still wearin' the goofy grin, mind you) and the guy takes my boarding pass and starts punching stuff in. "Um, I don't have you as checked in." I don't say anything, but in my head, "What?!? I checked in an hour ago at this very counter!". The other gate agent leans over: "Yo, that's tomorrow's flight. _No one's_ being checked in for that one."

I'm now typing this up and not cramping (much) anymore. I refilled the Camelback at the drinking fountain, and I'm going to eat more of those damn airplane peanuts than I ever have before. I'll work on pictures during the flight (what, you expected me not to take pictures of traffic?).
6 pm Thursday

More fun

I had a plan. In fact, I had three plans. I'm using a fourth plan now that my mother called and said she found me a flight for 7 pm tonight instead. That makes the rest of my day today much, much crazier. Traffic is reportedly hellish, taking several hours to move a few miles. Therefore, I don't think I will drive. I'm going to bike there and lock my bike somewhere at the airport. Or find a storage locker, or something... It's 30 miles to the airport, so it should take me just over 2 hours to bike up. That's not so bad, though it will be hot.

The harder choice is which bike to take. On one hand, I have a crappy road bike that I couldn't care less about losing. But, I do care about riding 30 miles on it. That would be less than nice. On the other hand, I have a nice mountain bike that I care about. It would be much nicer to ride it up, but then I would have to spend more time finding a place to lock it up. I have the luxury of time, for now, but that's still something I would rather not think about.

I will try to post from the airport.
Noon Thursday

Pictures and Commentary

Virtual Tour of Pascal's Abode

I don't actually leave for California until Friday morning at 8:30 am. The storm isn't supposed to make landfall until Saturday around 1 am. They say (the ubiquitous "they") that the winds are supposed to be bad for 6-8 hours before and after the storm comes through, meaning that the nastiness will begin around 4 or 5 pm on Friday. I think that means I can slip out of here in the nick of time.

If I am unable to leave, for whatever reason, I will be reverting to my original plan of sheltering at Rice. Rice has said they have enough food and water for all its students (grad students and their families too!) for three days, so I'm not too worried. My hardest decision, in the event that I remain in Houston, may be what books to take with me to the shelter to keep myself entertained. ;)

Finally, I have to rant a little bit: my advisor (for all intents and purposes, my boss) didn't post-pone the lunch time research talk that I'm due to give in less than 12 hours. Rice has shut down, sent home all "non-essential" personnel, and life goes on in our lab. Apparently, we're trying to maintain a semblance of normalcy. Good thing I'm prepared (enough) to talk...but I really would have liked to have gone home earlier tonight. And, no, none of you may "give him hell" on my behalf. Stay out of it! And now I'm getting silly and writing improper sentences, so with that, I'm off to bed.
1 am Thursday

Anti-climax

So, I've decided to fly to California instead of staying here. I should have a better and safer time there, though I think it would have been an interesting experience to be in Houston for the hurricane. Next time...

I will still post before and after pictures of my house...at least if they're at all interesting. You can expect the "before" pictures some time tonight.
5 pm Wednesday

Introduction

Hi everyone (or someone, anyway). I put this page up to try to keep people informed and to avoid answering the same questions multiple times. If you still have questions, feel free to e-mail me. I will do my best, internet-connection-permitting, to update this frequently.

The most important thing to remember is that Houston is not New Orleans! Houston is 45 miles inland. Houston is above sea level (about 45 feet up at Rice, where I am). Houston has more and better ways to get away from the city if necessary. The bottom line is that even with a near-direct hit, Houston would be fine, and just as importantly, I would be fine.

So far, it looks as if Rita will make landfall 150 miles southwest of Houston near Matagorda Bay. Houston is not all that far away and will be on the northeast side of the hurricane which often has the strongest winds. Houston is far enough away, though, that we ought to see tropical storm force winds (~70 mph) and not hurricane force winds of over 100 mph. Of course, the storm could change paths which would change things substantially.

Rice is taking care of its students. I will probably head to campus to shelter there on Friday night. The campus is slightly more prone to flooding than the neighborhood I live in (b/c it's closer to the bayou), but the buildings are made of brick and stone whereas my garage apartment is not.

My stuff at home will be fine. I am doing the following things:

Take pictures of everything as it is now for (possible) insurance purposes.
Put as much stuff in the closets and the bathroom as I can (that is, away from windows).
Fill up any empty containers I have with tap water so that I have something of a clean fresh water supply afterwards.
Take certain key items with me, including insurance papers, my passport(s), a rain slicker, a flashlight, toiletries (namely, contact lenses), towels, Camelback (water), a book or two, and my laptop. The criterion for "going with me" is that it must fit in my backpack.

11 am Wednesday