South Texas finally cools off...

As I look back at my last post, almost a month and a half ago, I realize how much has happened. Sorry I've kept you all out of the loop! As things finally begin to cool off around here, 85 during the days and almost 75 at night, I am thankful for the great weather and, well, to still be here. If you've seen the pictures from Hurricane Ike, you've seen the devastation in Galveston. A week after a great visit with mom and dad, we were boarding up our windows, moving everything from the basement to the 2nd floor, packing up everything we loved and fleeing for the hills...literally. I moved my Jeep inland (the storm surge here for a Cat 2 hurricane is around 10 feet), packed up the motorcycle on my truck (to be explained later), and we had a 5 vehicle caravan out of here.
We went north, then cut west through Shiner to catch a tour at the brewery. Although we never hit any traffic, the panic was spreading as Ike took a turn to the north and gas was getting pricey and, well, disappearing altogether. We managed to get up to Austin and to our hotel for a great getaway weekend, never even seeing an ounce of rain. Back at Padre two days later, there were no signs of the hurricane except the storm surge on the beach. Although Ike hit all the way up the coast, all of the picnic tables at the beach, and about half of the dunes, had been washed away. The campsite where mom and dad had kept the RV was flooded. After a week of cleanup, the beaches reopened and plus another week of moving sand, the beaches are finally starting to look normal again. Had the hurricane taken a direct hit, I can only imagine that we would have lost everything. We lucked out this time.

You're probably wondering about the truck. Well, I got myself a 2008 black GMC Sierra 150 4 door crew cab, short bed, Texas edition, of course. Haha. Just couldn't resist the employee discount. I love it, it's a limo compared to the jeep, which is now for sale by owner. I'll be sad to see it go, but I think we're ready to part ways. She treated me well for 8 years without complaint.

Flight school-- its going just fine. Things are busy, real busy. I'm in the instrument portion, about 4 weeks in and it looks like I'll be having 2 events every day this week...just trying to take it one day at a time. If I have my cross country this weekend, it'll most likely be to New Orleans per request of my onwing. He wants to gamble, I want an easy cross country (since my dreams of making it to the Navy/Air Force game isn't going to work out). At this point, I could be between 3 to 4 weeks of selecting my airframe. Still praying for helo's.

All in all, I'm enjoying the cooler weather and the new hobby a few of us have finally taken on after being here for 6 months: FISHING!! Our $20 dollar poles are no match for the big fish of the Laguna Madre, but in 3 attempts at fishing in the past week, I have caught 4 fish and a blue crab. Yes, I actually reeled him in. Until next time...