Day 3 - Monday, September 1st - San Antonio, TX to Fort Walton Beach, FL

After watching the Weather Channel and Fox News pretty much the entire night, I think John is finally convinced that due to Hurricane Gustav we cannot continue down I10 through Houston to New Orleans. So, now our plan is to go from San Antonio through Austin and Waco to Dallas to the I20 and east from there through Louisiana and Mississippi and then once we hit Meridian we can start going south again.

Just when I thought he couldn't get anymore relaxed, he falls asleep like this!!


Abbott, Texas? Hmm... Wonder what that's like?


Starting to see the outer "feeder bands" of Hurricane Gustav. Once we got to Monroe, LA it really started to rain.

A nice break from the rain. Coming from Arizona where I have lived most of my entire life, I am always amazed and in awe of all the green trees and grass everywhere.

More rain! Thanks Gustav!

The mighty Mississippi River. I was in the very back of the Yukon tending to the kids, and these were the best pictures I could manage.

More of the Mighty Mississippi.

No more pictures this day - sorry. The weather was really bad after Mississippi River pictures above and I was pretty freaked out anyway. We were clearly getting beat up by Gustav. The wind was something I had never experienced. Although I live here in Phx, where it rains for 5 min and then is sunshine again, I was not used to Hurricane "feeder bands". It rains really, really super hard for like 10 minutes and then nothing, then you get another "band" and it repeats itself. It was totally crazy!

After our 400 mile "detour" we finally made it to Fort Walton Beach, FL at 11:30 pm (Arizona Time). Keep in mind we left San Antonio at 3:54 am (Arizona Time). Yes, we drove straight through and only stopped for gas. Didn't even stop to eat. Okay - well we stopped to "get" something to eat, but I fed the kids while we were actually moving. The amount of "evacuees" was insane at all points of stop, ie. rest stops, gas stations, restaurants, etc. We felt it wasn't safe to get the kids out at any place we stopped at. We made the best of it and they were absolute troopers!