Bugging Out

My mother and father-in-law live in the western Florida panhandle, in the path of Hurricane Ivan. An evacuation was ordered for their county, and they probably should have left yesterday, but they held off leaving so they could help some people at their church. They finally bugged out early this morning.

So, they're on the road as I write this. We here at the Daily Yak wish them, and everyone in the gulf coast area, all the best. You all are in our thoughts and prayers!

UPDATE (7:30pm): We just got off the phone with my wife's parents. After slogging through rain and heavy traffic since the wee hours this morning, they've managed to find a hotel room for the night in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

The hurricane is supposed to make landfall shortly after midnight tonight, so they'll ride out the storm there in Vicksburg. Tomorrow they plan to call (provided the phones are still in service) some of their friends who stayed behind, both to check on them and to get a sense of the damage. Provided they receive a favorable report on the conditions, they plan to head back home. If not, they may continue their trek westward and make an impromptu visit to the Texas branch of the family, or perhaps wait it out for another day in the hotel room.