Well, looks like Gustav is really coming for New Orleans. We've boarded up our house, packed our stuff, and are on our way out of town. Gonna be staying an hour north at my parent's house, so we'll still be somewhat in the thick of it.

Had to leave the Rhino (nickname for my car) in the garage. Just no way to get it to safety, plus our other 2 cars, 1-month-old twins and my wife. Besides, there are already a half-dozen guys running flood cars - I guess I could too.

I'll let y'all know how everything goes!

Matt - I wish you the best! I just contacted my buddy at the zoo there, who has some of my geckos, wishing him well. Let us know how it goes!

Thanks, Julie!

Good luck, man. Hopefully it'll be a non-event this time

Important things are taken care of it sounds like (fam's, yourself).

Keep us posted if you can.

Good luck with everything man. Having lived in the Outer Banks I know how it can be to have to pick and choose the things you can take. Kinda makes you see what is really important. I think it's going to be a bit windy but with the heads up being given this time I don't see the life loss being so bad. Keep the family safe and evreything will come out ok. If you end up needing anything just give me a ring.

Kyle Spruill
757-510-3204.


Now I just need to get out of Georgia and get back to VA quick...

LOL these 2 sentences make it sound like you had to leave your cars, wife and kids behind while you fled to safety!

Good luck!

Ship your Trans Am up here to Ohio, I'll keep an eye on it for you!

Thanks, guys. I'll be sure to keep everyone updated if/when I can.

Be safe and post if you need anything.

So far so good. The wors should be here in about 20 minutes, and last for 4 hours. But, it should only be about 60-mph winds sustained (we're about 100 miles from the eye). Not as bad as we thought.

Hubby and I are watching CNN and keeping our fingers crossed for you!

Well, me and my family made it fine. Houses are OK. Cars are fine, too.

People in Baton Rouge and Lafayette got hit hard, though.

The contractor I work for just sent 60 crews down there. The lights will be back on soon

Great news Matt! I feel bad for the folks in the affected areas - this is not covered much in the national media, wish they would show those areas.

I passed a convoy of 53 trucks just this morning. There must be thousands down here!

Julie, it's a different kind of damage than Katrina. It's not easy to see. Trees down, some on cars/houses. Roofs blown off. Minor flooding of low-lying areas. Basically, the same stuff you see when a small tornado hits Kansas or the mid-west floods because of rain. Except, instead of it being one or two communities, it's the lower half of our state (home to 75% of our population). It just doesn't make for good TV like a flooded metropolitan city.

Lots of electricity problems, though. I heard the other day that about 8-10 parishes (from Baton Rouge down the river to New Orleans) have been completely taken "off the grid". Basically, they severed all ties with the electrical grid of the Eastern US because their damage was so extensive that it was affecting service for the rest of half the country. We are now being powered by a few "gypsy" power stations and have no ties with the rest of the country (electrically speaking, that is).

BTW, if anyone needs advice on how to prepare for the End Of The World, just ask someone from south Louisiana. Just because we have no power, no phones, no e-mail, no internet, and have to boil all our water to drink it - this doesn't mean we can't have fun!

Despite all those things, I went swimming the other day in our pool. OK, so I was actually cleaning branches out from the bottom - but it was cool!

I also grilled some boudin-stuffed pork chops and ribeye steaks, made some baked beans from scratch, and shucked some fresh corn from a friend's garden.

I also used the "down time" to do my first mod on the new G8GT - put a pulley on it. Amazingly, it was a leftover pulley that I decided not to use on my LS1 in my racecar (need all the alternator juice I can get). It fit just fine on the L76 in the G8.