Glad to hear y'all were able to travel together.
Tell Jim we are still purring and praying for
him to start feeling better quickly. Give extra
skritches to the furbabies from us, and God
bless you. You are an extremely patient and
loving woman.

Lily & her mama

"Annie Wxill" wrote in message
...
Bottom line: we are in San Antonio.

First, I want to send serious purrs and prayers for the safety of
those in Ike's path. It appears that our home is south enough to no
longer be in the target zone, but we did not know that until we got
here.

We are fortunate to have been able to get ourselves out of harm's way
and will keep those who are not so fortunate in our thoughts and
prayers. Also, we remember those medical providers, police, fire
fighters, military, and others who stay behind to help as needed.

As for us, the doctor released Jim yesterday so that we could travel
together. I had most of the stuff packed, but we still had a little
more to do. He is not supposed to lift anything, which was hard for
him. I had to remind him a few times. It was so good to have him
there.

This morning, I got up about 5 a.m. Jim was getting a good sleep, and
he needed the rest. I fed the cats so that they would have time to
settle the tummies and use the litter box before we set out. They had
been remarkably calm during the packing phase and continued to be calm
while I packed some last items.

All went well until we were ready to load them. We got Cinder crated
first, but Rosie, alerted by Cinder's howl, disappeared under the
bed. We had to push her out with a broom, and I caught her and put
her in her crate.

We pulled out of the driveway about 7:30 a.m. Traffic was light and
the weather was good. The cats were quiet. I brought the newspaper,
which I read until I discovered that the section with the comics and
Jim's crossword puzzles was missing. He denied taking the crosswords
out, and I looked around, but didn't see any more sections of the
newspaper.

About that time we smelled something unpleasant. Rosie was huddled in
the back of her crate, trying unsuccessfully to stay out of the big
puddle of vomit that covered the liner on the bottom.

We couldn't pull over because the shoulder was designated as a
hurricane escape lane, and someone might just plow into us. So, poor
Rosie had to endure for more than an hour until we could turn into a
rest area.

After we stopped, I pulled the liner out from under Rosie, and
discovered she was sopping wet and covered with vomit on her stomach,
hips, hind legs and tail. I wiped her off the best I could with paper
towels and grabbed the newspaper off the front passenger seat and put
it under her to help sop up some of the wetness that remained on her
fur.

Jim and I took turns taking care of our own needs, then got back in
the car to continue. Then, I noticed the newspaper on the floor at my
feet. And it dawned on me that I had been sitting on the section with
the crosswords and that was what I had slipped underneath Rosie. So
much for Jim's crosswords.

The traffic was so light that we got to the motel at a little after 10
a.m. The last time we evacuated, the hurricane was Bret, and it took
us 8 hours to get to San Antonio without any rest stops.

Although we were way too early, the motel had a room ready and checked
us in. Rosie felt better after I washed her off in the sink. This
was her first bath ever, so she was a little confused at first, but
she was a good sport.

After we were settled, Jim and I had lunch and took a little walk. We
are across the street from the Alamo and near the Riverwalk. After our
walk, we were exhausted, especially Jim, who insisted on driving. We
crashed and slept for almost three hours.

This place is filling up with people from Houston and Galveston and
other places along the coast. It is pet friendly, and it's fun to
watch people walking their dogs and dogs walking their people.

We have reserved this room until Monday morning.

We so appreciate all the purrs, prayers, and good vibrations.

Annie, Jim, Rosie and Cinder

--
Irulan
from the stars we come
to the stars we return
from now until the end of time.