Driving through TX on Monday? (Houston, Dallas: home, safe, moving)

[gypsystar]

As luck would have it, my husband and I will be moving from FL to CA this weekend, and need to go right through Texas (on Hwy 10). We HAVE to be in L.A. by Friday, so I could only push off driving through the state to Monday. It looks like the hurricane will be hitting sometime on Sat., and then moving through the state all weekend.

Do you think we will be safe driving though on Monday? How fast do hurricanes move when going over land? Another fear I have is that we will be trying to get through the state when all of the coastal evacuees are trying to get home - causing a major traffic jam.

Our car is older and will be pulling a trailer, so I can't risk getting stuck in bumper to bumper traffic and having the car overheat (I also have animals). What does everything think? Safe to go through on Monday or not? We can't really go north of TX too much because we would just meet the storm up there. I am freaking out! Oh, and stay safe everyone!!

[destin04]

Depending on where Ike comes to visit....the traffic will probably be terrible. It will take days to restore power....and keep this in mind....if there is no power ....then there will be no gasoline. We ran into this during Hurricane Ivan in Pensacola. We were on our way home and the storm was long gone....beautiful weather and there was not a gas station open until almost Mississippi. People were just stranded on the side of I-10 because they couldn't get gas. It was the saddest thing. Please keep this in mind!
By the way....we were one of the lucky ones and had enough gas to get to Mississippi....once there we stopped and had to wait 1 hr 45 minutes in line to get it!

[Trainwreck20]

The Hurricane will probably be a tropical storm by Monday and way up north, at least as far as Dallas, if not furhter. Return traffic will be going the other way on I-10, so I don't think you will be that bad off, except for maybe a few short stretches (right through Houston and maybe in SA) and possible east of Houston.

Of course, this could all change, depending on changes in the forcast for Ike....you will not want to be looking for a room along the I-10 corridor, probably.....

Don't know when the earliest you can leave is, but you might consider heading north a day earlier and taking I-20 across and through Dallas.

[gypsystar]

Thanks, guys. I didn't think about the gas situation - thanks so much for bringing that to light. Maybe we should just take a more northern route, into Tulsa and over the TX panhandle. We still might meet the storm, but it wouldn't be as strong by that point. We can't really leave Central FL until Sat. morning.

I'm open to all suggestions.

[destin04]

I would come 10 to Gulfport...head north to Jackson..take I-20 to El Paso? I'm not 100% sure that I-20 goes all the way to El Paso...but there you could hook up w/ I-10.

[Trainwreck20]

I-20 merges with I-10 somewhere east of El Paso. You go through Abiliene and Midland on the way to the merger, so it is not too bad a route in of itself.

[WillysB]

Take the Pensacola to Jackson or wait til Lousiana, just west of Baton Rouge is an I-49 north to Shreveport. From Shreveport take I-20 west through DFW a loooonnnnggggg way to just west of Pecos, where I-20 merges onto I-10. If the storm is west of Houston then Louisiana won't be a problem.

I-20 runs through the south parts of DFW as a part of their respective loops, not through downtown. Careful approaching Dallas, I-30 picks up and goes by way of downtown. Don't go downtown DFW. Stay on I-20 a l l.....t h e.....w a y.

Try for a sunrise in New Mexico. I woke up one morning while passing through Lordsburg... beautiful sight (someone else was driving).

Take plenty of drink. It's just hot - and - dry out there. And plain old water to keep a rag damp.