and landed in the back yard, on top of our grill:
While sitting at Giordano's I also get a call from Rebecca telling me the wind has smashed her picnic table and blown off the top portion of their playscape. Yeah, this is exactly the news I want to hear as I am about to get in my car and DRIVE home. But we figure the wind is obviously moving pretty fast and it should all be done and over with by the time I hit the road. And it was, I did not drive through any rain or winds.
HOWEVER
Remember I said it had been raining the whole time I was in Chicago? Well apparently most of Chicago was flooded. I drop Jerri off at the airport around 5:45 central time and as I start out on my way home, I run into massive road closures. I need to get to I-65. In order to get there I go along I-90 and I-94. 90 and 94 are closed as they are under water. I don't have a map but I do have my handy little GPS. However, the GPS keeps "recalculating" and trying to get me to do a u-turn and get back on the roads that are closed. In the meantime, the phone service has now gone out back home - both the home phone and David's cell phone are no longer working. I have no way to get in touch with him. I am STUCK in a traffic nightmare and I have no idea where I am headed. I end up calling my little brother and get him to look up traffic conditions on the internet. The bad thing is, I have no car charger for my cell phone so I can't stay on long as I am worried the battery will die. So I sit and sit and SIT in traffic. Jerri calls to tell me she is boarding her plane. I tell her I am still in Chicago. Yup, TWO HOURS LATER and I have yet to get beyond the south side of Chicago. At one point I moved 2 miles in 20 minutes. Oh it was loads of fun I tell you - loads!
I finally get on to I-30 headed east towards 65. So does every other car and semi in the mid west!!!! I-30 eventually becomes a 4 lane road through some cornfields and through a small town, complete with STOPLIGHTS! I was miserable!!! Finally I get to a gas station. I pull in, top off the gas tank, use their rest room and buy a Diet Dr. Pepper and some Cheetos. I get back in the car and I crawl towards I-65. I finally get on 65 and actually get to use my gas pedal. Wo-Hoo! A little while later Jerri calls to tell me she has landed and I laugh and tell her I have just crossed the state line in to Indiana. I set the cruise control to just a smidgen under 80 and pray for no more traffic (or cops either -lol). I am doing pretty good but around 1:30 AM I am really tired. I tell myself I will pull off at the next hotel. Only no hotels appear, I am in the middle of Indiana afterall, not exactly a hotbed for tourism. Eventually I see signs for hotels but none of them seem to be close to the highway and I am a little afraid to travel down some side road in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night.
By about 2:30 I make it to Indianapolis. I am dead on my feet BUT I am now only about two hours from home. I decide to get a diet coke and see how I feel. While buying the diet coke I am so creeped out by the other customers. I am firmly convinced they have noticed I am traveling alone and will follow me to whichever hotel I pick and murder me in my sleep. I decide I am safer in my car and keep driving.
Around 4am I cross into Ohio. I am almost home! I can almost feel my sheets wrapping around me as I imagine my head hitting my pillow. As I get closer I start to see the effects of Hurricane Ike. Trees are uprooted, there are big pockets of pitch black where there is no power, only a handful of the streetlights are working.... Right before our neighborhood there is a barricade across the road. I almost lose it. I cannot handle one more road closure!!! I actually go around the barricade and seriously contemplate driving under the tree that is draped across the road. But common sense kicks in, I back up and cut through a nearby neighborhood to reach mine.
As I pull into my subdivision I see some house lights on. Oh yea! We have power, or so I think. The more I drive the more I see that only a few houses have power. I pull in to my driveway at 4:30 am. We have no power, no phone service and my cell phone works for a bit and then switches to "Emergency Calls Only" meaning I can only call 911.
Monday we continued with no power and no phones. I am bleary from no sleep and doze off and on throughout the day doing my best to make sure the children are cared for. (Yes, David went to work, I was home with the kids who of course did not have school)
Early Tuesday morning, some where between 12:45 am and 1:00 am the power comes back on. PRAISE GOD!!! Most of our food was OK as David had purchased some ice and put most of the perishables in an ice chest. Tuesday the dance studio calls to tell us they have power and Amy can come to dance class if she wants. We go, but it is eerie driving around. Half the traffic lights still don't work, many of the stores are still without power, only a few restaurants are open. Gas is also an issue. Only a few stations have power and those stations are quickly running out of gas. We did find one store running on generator power and we were able to purchase a few groceries that needed replacing.
Today is Wednesday and there is still no school as there are still places without power and still traffic lights that are not functioning. My guess is they need to repair some schools' roofs and/or playground equipment. They probably have to re-stock the school cafeterias as well. And I also bet they don't want buses running kids to and from school when traffic is still a mess and gas is in limited supply. Poor Audrey, my little social butterfly, is going absolutely MAD. I tried to find a playdate for her today but struck out. Maybe I will have better luck tomorrow ..... or maybe school will be back in session .....
All in all it has been quite the adventure but we are so thankful that we are all safe and that our house had minimal damage. There are plenty of others who did not fare so well.
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