[TXiceman]

We bailed out Thursday afternoon and headed up to Bastrop ,Texas, about 30 miles SE of Austin. We came home Sunday morning to no power, limited cell service and lots of damage, but we did OK. I pulled my antennas down before we left so I have the dipole back up for now. Got home in time to get the generator running on the frig and freezer and save nearly everything. The freezer was packed full and we lost a few things in the door that we questionable.

The trailer served as a good base under it's carport and the 6500 watt generator powered it and the frig and freezer. We brought back extra gasoline and 24 gallons of bottled water as a precaution.

We had one tree with the top broken out and lots of small debris. The in-laws next door had a tree on the garage, but no damage to the roof.

We have been hauling tree limbs and debris since Sunday afternoon. We got the power back late Monday and phone service and DSL Tuesday morning. At the time, 76% of the Houston area was without power.

The damage was much worst 20 miles to the east of us. We were on the "dry side" of the storm, but got more rain than the wet side. from the TV coverage, I'm sure you have seen the devastation in Galveston area.

I am not able to go back to work yet as the down town office buildings were severely damaged due to broken windows. They had the downtown area closed off completely for several days for clean up. Maybe I can get back to work on Thursday.

Ike was 1 mph short of a cat 3 when it made landfall and had the storm surge of a cat 4 storm and it had hurricane force winds out some 150 miles. It went over Huntsville (north of Houston) with Cat 1 winds.

We are among the lucky ones to have power, but food, fuel, ice, and water are a major problem for most of the area.

Ken