At about the 4 hour mark I really began to worry that I might wet myself or run out of gas or both. At about 4:30 I started getting angry at everyone around me, 30 minutes after that I became resigned to my fate. I ran through a large gamut of emotions.
You literally start to feel trapped when it gets that bad. There was no possibility of turning around or stopping. Gas stations closed down. Cars were abandoned.
Both my legs were asleep, my ass was numb, I hadn't eaten in 11 hours. It has been years since I was so frustrated. In the end I made it home. I didn't realize how close I was to not making it until this morning when I filled my 14 gallon gas tank. 13.79 gallons on the fill up. Another 10 minutes and I would have run out of gas. I started with a half tank. I traveled 16 total miles.
3 comments:
I feel your pain, I do.
It is a nightmare, and you have a huge sense of urgency which adds to the trapped sense.
Take that experience, add in two small children (baby and 3), a dog and three cats, 40 more hours, be running from a hurricane, witness death on the side of the road and people vomiting out of cars from dehydration, then ACTUALLY run out of gas and food in the middle of nowhere with thousands of other people and have emergency services say, "You aren't local...you aren't our problem."
By the way? You don't need bathroom because you are so dehydrated.
And welcome to my last hurricane evacuation.
This is why, for the record, people do not evacuate. More people died from that than in the storm itself.
Julie
Using My Words
My god. I would have been absolutely freaking out if there had been other people in the car with me.
I've never experienced anything like it. the incredible frustration was shocking to me. It was like going through the five stages of grief in a very very compressed timeframe.
I can't even begin to imagine how that must have been for you. One of my coworkers was stuck in the mess last night for 8 full hours.
Probably TMI -- but there are times I HAVE actually had a little accident stuck in traffic like that.
Told you it was TMI.
Emily R
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