Kevin Van Dam Forums

man things are getting a bit uneasy here along the gulf coast. nothing but bad news about the storm heading our way. i know its still a few days out...but things aint looking real good for the upper texas coastal area......somewhere between my home of beaumont, tx and cameron, la is the long range land fall area....according to some of our local forecasters.

saturday may bring a voluntary evacuation while sunday could follow up with the ‘MANDATORY’ evacuation.  the waters in the gulf of mexico are warmer this year for some strange reason....and as soon as ol Gustav gets thru dancing around the carribean sea, its gonna have a chance to really develop once it hits the Gulf....and the high pressure sitting on top of east texas and across louisiana..if it moves east....its game ON from there.

its been 3 years since Katrina hit new orleans...(8-29-05) and another month will be 3 years since Rita hit us here in southeast Texas.....some folks are barely over that one...and Rita was a Cat-3 (actually between a 2 & 3) just before she made landfall....speculation that Gustav will reach a level 4 or even a 5 while in the gulf....this one aint gonna be good.

me personally....me and mine are gonna head to dallas..to my brothers.....i will tie the boat to the telephone pole out front of the house with about a 50’ rope so i can at least find it when i get to come back....wonder if my boat insurance covers hurricanes and flood waters???

will let you know more next week.....

I will be praying for everyones safety and well being, and with all the losses a boat is minor.....BUT, i would use the time between now and the time it arrives to haul the boat away if it looks like it may hit you.

I had some friends that went through some crazy stuff here in Iowa from the floods this year.  I would do like Top 10 said...move the boat.  Heck, I would put stuff in it and haul it away.  The only thing that will save you is if you have specific insurance for that, but Im guessing they would try to fight it, given the fact that you could have moved it.  I know insurance companies are weird about that stuff.

my prayers will be with you and everybody else in the area also… if you can like ranger and top 10 said move the boat to a save place also. it would be awfull to loose something like that but your safety is first.....

hey thanks guys...i appreciate those words. having to sit and wait to see what the storm does is stressful enough. trying to figure out what to take and to leave is being left to the wife...and the final decision would be if we had room for it or not. (i did slide the suggestion into the conversation about extra room in the boat under the cover...IF we take the boat when we leave....) the boat stayed in the garage 3 years ago, but has since found a spot along side the driveway with its own personal fitted boat cover. the space that was vacated in the garage....has absorbed life’s ‘stuff’ and cars are not allowed.

the boat is ready to haul...reckon i won’t charge the battery for this trip. my brother lives in garland tx, about a mile or two from a little ol lake...think its lake ray hubbard....there is a BPS right on the shoreline too. ....better take a couple of rods just in case.

i just checked the status on Gustav....he’s a category 3 already this morning...and he’s still not out of the carribean sea. looks like the tip of cuba is next then before the dance in the gulf. one bad thing about this...the price of gas is already going up...all over....and we ALL are feeling that pain. well, gotta go gas up another car....looks like we will be taking my daughter and grandbaby too....later tater.

Stay safe and I’ll be praying for everyone in the Gulf.

Gulf coast that is.

well....what a Labor Day Weekend to remember....i am currently back at home after what seems a very long Sunday. yes i realize it is now Monday...you would have to show me a calender for proof. 

left Sunday morning...around 5am...drove straight thru to dallas....left today...which is rumored to be Monday..around 1pm and its now after 7pm.  i did get to ‘visit’ three different Texas lakes..LOL...drove by the Richland-Chambers reservoir, saw Lake Ray Hubbard from the local Bass Pro Shop....and finished up admiring Lake Livingston while cruising by at the posted legal speed limit. 

not to bad for approximately 38 hours of evacuation travel.  however, i would suggest taking a spare legal aged driver for the next excursion.

looks like our area has dodged the bullet...i just hope and pray that the loss and destruction in our neighboring state is all stuff you can replace. thanks again for the kind words...here’s to hoping you fellow anglers had a great Labor Day weekend and some of you got to stretch your fishing lines out across your boat decks, and ended up having to cull fish all freakin day.

i will now proceed to finish my first adult beverage and look for a seat that doesn’t have a steering wheel in front of it.