Mom: Leave. Pack up your stuff and get out of there asap tomorrow. Dad knows some alternate ways to avoid traffic. I really, really hope you guys will go. Don't wait too long or you'll face the storm in your vehicle instead.

and...

I love you Brandie!

Leave...please leave.  We live close to St Louis, can you make it up here?  We don't have much, but you're welcome to our couch...or we also have a lodging facility here on base that's pretty cheap.

Don't feel that you've got nowhere to go.  Email me at dharmagirl69@gmail.com and I'll send you my cell number....

Get out of there. Yes traffic sucks, but not like being at home in a hurricane like no one's ever seen. Even not being in the usual flood plain, you're not safe. This is not a normal situation. Remember the surge from Galveston in 1900? That was a mild hurricane in comparison. Shoot, it's supposed to be a category 2 when it hits Waco for crying out loud.

And even if the building and survived fine, (which is iffy)do you really want to be stuck there with no power, no food and water except what you've got laid by, no sanitation. Nothing. You've got a day and a half to two days to get going, so if ya pack up and go today, you should make it out fine.

Remember, you can replace anything you own except you. And if everything somehow miraculously survives, you can always come back later.

Go. Go. Go. It's supposed to follow 35, so I'm thinking head north a little, then east or west. I'd take twenty east, or maybe I-10 west past San Angelo or El Paso.
Go visit Gideon in the panhandle, he's a neat guy, I'm sure he'd be glad to see ya for a couple of days.

Thanks so much for the offers you guys...I am afraid we have waited too late..I am now preparing our closet to be our "general quarters" when the storm pushes in starting Friday morning....Pray for us..Thanks again to all of you for the offers, thoughts, and prayers...Rick and Tojuana Pierce

I'm glad you posted. Was thinking of calling to see how you are, but figured you'd be on the road. I'm with Brandie on this...LEAVE! It may not be as bad as Katrina, but it's not worth taking that chance.

Please keep us updated on how (and where) you are.

I hope you guys will be alright. Stay in the closet, the bath tub is best. I'll pray for your safety. P.S. if you have windows that you cannot block, take a mattress and put it against it from the inside and put heavy furniture behind that. That's what we had to do when we decided to stay during the second hurricane that hit us in Florida last year. I won't make that mistake again! Good luck!

Me too with the prayers!