Dick Tate, aka Boxmaker on this site lives in Galveston a,d Houston. He and Elaine stayed with us on their way home last week. They are now home. Elaine's home is heavily damaged, and hey can't get out to Galveston yet to assess the damage to Dick's home.
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/09/the_short_but_eventful_life_of.htmlThis is the latest email I received from Dick yesterday
We're back home . . . will not go to the island until Friday as we came home to find Elaine's ceiling in her bedroom soaked, the ceiling and sheet rock in her master bedroom on the floor with the carpet still wet, her clothes ruined for the most part and a real mess in general. Blown in insulation is a real pain in the butt when it's come down from the top and covers everything. Waiting now for the insurance agency to send inspectors by here so we can finally head for the island and see what's up with those houses. Most interesting is the number of street lights that are still out and the traffic jams that occur all day long as a result. Train crossings are real interesting too, as they have no warning lights working either. Most everything else is back to normal or so it seems just driving in this afternoon and running around this evening taking care of business. The news media tells us we're still about thirty percent without power county wide . . .
Chris is joining us Friday to help with the cleanup around the yard and in what's left of the garage. We're told the yards are full of what washed up from all the damaged homes on the beach and of course we have pictures from neighbors who went in by boat to see the damage. Our house is standing, but we're also told of sheet rock damage with cracked walls and ceilings from those who have been able to enter their houses, so the inspection may be . . . well, interesting. And of course no power is promised for several more weeks. We have seen power company trucks from all over the country here in Houston, and that is nice to see in our fellow countrymen . . . neighbors taking care of neighbors. No power, no civil services of any type . . . groceries, gasoline, health services etc. And Duane, a few homes are going up in flames when the power does come back on from shorts created by the storm, but like the power companies, there are fire fighters from across the country helping out when needed.
More in a few days after the shock of finding Elaine's house torn up, and after we know more about our house in Galveston.
For the record . . . 32 days on the road . . . 5,200 miles with nine full days of down time and no travel except checking out the local area . . . 1 day in Toronto, 2 days in Ottawa, another day in Montreal, two days in Gatlinburg etc. etc. Roughly only averaged about 250 miles a day . . . saw a lot of this great country of ours . . . and saw a lot of McCain/Palin support bumper stickers and yard signs ;-) Did the old heart good! No comment needed from you Jer. Since I have zero ability to stop a hurricane there seemed to be no reason to rush home . . . of course we did not know about Elaine's house at the time . . . Comes under the heading of "best laid plans of mice and men ;-)"
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Topic: Galveston pics - One of our members lives here (Read 734 times)