Weekend at Rayford, running from Ike

We went back to Rayford on Friday after work for a Texas Boomer gathering that had been planned for awhile. We had a few drop out, but 11 attended. We all had a good time. We went out to eat at Mel's Diner in Tomball on Friday night with our old friends Jim and LeAnne Rigsby, Don and Pat Allen, Bob and Darlene Wurch, Barbara Spade and Jodi Neal. We all ate very well, and no one went home hungry.

Saturday morning, we got up and went to eat breakfast with Ricky and Dee Cobb and Bill and Ornell Sims. We went to the Timber Ridge RV park (owned by Gwen and Billy) and actually ran into Billy while we were at the park. He fed the fish in the ponds and we saw what we thought were a couple of turtles or snakes in the water. I don't think I will swim in the pond any time soon! We made our weekly trip to Wal Mart and bought the food for tonight's potluck dinner. We came back to the park and I hung out in the trailer while Stella fixed her scrumptious bananna pudding. Ted and Donna came by for the meal, and it was good to see Ted up and about with his bad back. He goes to the Doctor on Monday to see what's ailing him. We all ate very well that night, but I got a bad headache and had to go to the trailer about 8 o'clock. I stayed there and got feeling much better but got a good night's sleep.

We got up Sunday morning and all loaded up to come home. While leaving the park, I found out that Gwen's mother had died on Saturday and that she and Billy were making arrangements in Lufkin for the services.

We pulled out about 11 and made it home by 12:30, a record for us! We hung out at the house until about 5:30 when we went to Kim's house for supper. Jeremy had fixed a pasta dish like lasagna which was very good. We came on back home pretty early so i could get to bed on time. It sucks having to rise at 3 or 4am to get to work.

This morning, all eyes and ears were on the storm. It looks like Ike is going to come into Galveston on a straight line. He is expected to intensify after getting through Cuba so we don't know where to go. I spoke with Melissa at Rayford, but she said that Gwen had told her that if Ike is a category 3 or stronger and aiming for Houston/Galveston, to have everyone in the park to leave. I can't blame her for not wanting the liability of someone's rig being damaged in the park.

I called the Alamo Fiesta park in Boerne and got a reservation for us there. I spoke with Donna, but she didn't think Ted would be able to get things loaded up with his bad back, Ricky said that if they leave they would go to his Dad's house on Canyon lake. Bill said that he is going to monitor the storm and will try to find something in east Texas or northern Louisiana. He even offered to move my trailer down to his house and keep it and Stella there. What a friend!

We were put on active standby, which means that all leaves andd vacations are cancelled and everyone must do their own preparations for the storm. Capt. Bell told me that I can leave work tomorrow at noon to take the trailer to Boerne and be back as early as possible the next day for work and to be prepared to stay.

I'll continue to monitor Ike and will likely make my decision later tonight about where to go.

Wish us luck, it looks like this one is gonna hit us square in the mouth.