The tides now have come up in Galveston. There is no sand left on the beach, covered by the incoming sea. The water is predicted to start lapping up on the seawall at any time now.

Bastrop county, and the counties east of Travis and Willamson and north of Fayette county are under Tropical Storm watches. They removed the inland hurricane watch a couple hours ago.

Its still sunny here. But the air has a very heavy quality to it. And you can smell the ocean. I live about 150-200 miles inland. I should not be able to detect it.

The two high pressure areas are going to channel the hurricane right over the TX LA border. The jet stream looks like it will cause it to stall over the ARK...OK...LA...TX border joinings. If the high pressure systems do not move, the eye will probably hit the wildlife reserve that is split between TX and LA.

The distance it takes from me to get from here to Dallas is about how far it is from the eye of the hurricane to the outer reaches of the tropical storm force winds. The mileage it takes me to get from here to Georgetown is how long the distance is for full hurricane force winds.

From the radar pictures I looked at....it looks like she's getting better organized. She may strengthen again to a Cat 5.

From here to the Texas/Arkansas border (400 mi give or take) is about how far away this storm is from the eye making landfall.

While the warnings do not take effect until tomorrow, NOAA may be behind. I think we will start seeing the effects tonight....

Basically, she's heading for the biggest section of oil refineries and rigs in the gulf.

It is a very great feeling of being alone, facing this. I've faced similar challanges over the years - the Northridge Earthquake, the Joshua Tree/Landers Earthquake....been evac'd from Hurricane Gilbert, blizzards, fires, etc. But for some reason this one feels more....lonely. I cannot explain it. I hope she doesn't track farther east....LA doesn't need any more challanges.