Last Wednesday my BBL and I made the trek to Houston for a combination business/personal visit. The big draw was the three game series between BBL’s beloved Cubbies and the home team who think they’re contenders. What made it even sweeter was the fact a customer had invited us to join them in their seats. Obviously, this appealed to us on so many levels . . . .
On Monday and Tuesday we kept a keen eye on the big thing brewing in the Gulf. When we left Big D on Wednesday, the hurricane trackers were betting IKE was heading more South and West, toward Corpus Christi. Sure, Houston would get some wind and rain, but that’s why Minute Maid Field has a roof, right?
We pulled into Houston about 8:00pm. There were some ominous highway information signs shouting “Hurricane Forming In Gulf – Fill Your Gas Tanks” and we obeyed that order before checking into the LaQuinta Gallaria (one of the very few LQ’s I would recommend to anyone (particularly our corporate travel manager). [here’s a tidbit for you: Do you know what LaQuinta really means? “Next to Denny’s”] Anyway, we walked over to Champs off Post Oak Blvd for some dinner. Our waiter was a twenty-something expert who minored in disaster management and who succeeded in planting a seed of doubt in our mature minds: “what the heck are we doing here?”
Back at the LQ, we fired up the computer and the TV to get a take on the latest developments. IKE had taken a noticeably Northern turn and was now heading straight for Galveston Island with America’s 4th largest city next in its sights. No decision yet on the baseball games, although there seemed a brief possibility the game might be moved to The Ballpark in Arlington (basically our backyard). That ironic possibility quickly faded (no roof in Arlington). We got a fitful night’s sleep.
Thursday morning we got an early jump on the TV/Internet. My customer had told me about a fantastic site to monitor the hurricane’s path (http://www.stormpulse.com/ - highly recommended, but we hope you never need to use it). The immediate coastal regions were under mandatory evacuation orders. Amazingly, Houstonians were being told to stay put (local lexicon: “hunker down”). Still no word on the status of the ballgames, but Mayor Bill White was saying Houston would be virtually shut down on Friday. We decided to cancel all professional and personal business and point the Montego North up I-45. We averaged about 30 mph for the first hundred miles before the road seemed to turn into a NASCAR event.
The hurricane was practically a non-event in Big D with only a couple of hours drizzle – Missouri and Kentucky got hit much, much harder. Friday and Saturday baseball games got totally cancelled. Sunday’s game got moved to the Cub's suburb of Milwaukee where they registered their 1st no hitter in over 3 decades vs. the weary and worried Astro’s (who were supposed to be enjoying a home stand). Don’t tell my BBL, but the ‘stros and their fans got a very raw deal-- on so many levels.
On Monday and Tuesday we kept a keen eye on the big thing brewing in the Gulf. When we left Big D on Wednesday, the hurricane trackers were betting IKE was heading more South and West, toward Corpus Christi. Sure, Houston would get some wind and rain, but that’s why Minute Maid Field has a roof, right?
We pulled into Houston about 8:00pm. There were some ominous highway information signs shouting “Hurricane Forming In Gulf – Fill Your Gas Tanks” and we obeyed that order before checking into the LaQuinta Gallaria (one of the very few LQ’s I would recommend to anyone (particularly our corporate travel manager). [here’s a tidbit for you: Do you know what LaQuinta really means? “Next to Denny’s”] Anyway, we walked over to Champs off Post Oak Blvd for some dinner. Our waiter was a twenty-something expert who minored in disaster management and who succeeded in planting a seed of doubt in our mature minds: “what the heck are we doing here?”
Back at the LQ, we fired up the computer and the TV to get a take on the latest developments. IKE had taken a noticeably Northern turn and was now heading straight for Galveston Island with America’s 4th largest city next in its sights. No decision yet on the baseball games, although there seemed a brief possibility the game might be moved to The Ballpark in Arlington (basically our backyard). That ironic possibility quickly faded (no roof in Arlington). We got a fitful night’s sleep.
Thursday morning we got an early jump on the TV/Internet. My customer had told me about a fantastic site to monitor the hurricane’s path (http://www.stormpulse.com/ - highly recommended, but we hope you never need to use it). The immediate coastal regions were under mandatory evacuation orders. Amazingly, Houstonians were being told to stay put (local lexicon: “hunker down”). Still no word on the status of the ballgames, but Mayor Bill White was saying Houston would be virtually shut down on Friday. We decided to cancel all professional and personal business and point the Montego North up I-45. We averaged about 30 mph for the first hundred miles before the road seemed to turn into a NASCAR event.
The hurricane was practically a non-event in Big D with only a couple of hours drizzle – Missouri and Kentucky got hit much, much harder. Friday and Saturday baseball games got totally cancelled. Sunday’s game got moved to the Cub's suburb of Milwaukee where they registered their 1st no hitter in over 3 decades vs. the weary and worried Astro’s (who were supposed to be enjoying a home stand). Don’t tell my BBL, but the ‘stros and their fans got a very raw deal-- on so many levels.
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