Category: Driving

Well, today was an adventurous day!

It has been raining and since I didn’t bring in lunch, I felt like eating, what else, but pho! 

So Carlton, My (Vietnamese co-worker) and myself decide to go!  It’s pouring as we head out.  Clear Lake City Blvd has two lanes and right lane is flooded.  I-45 is congested due to bad weather and feeder road seemed to be flooded at spots as well.

As we headed off Beltway onto Beamer, I saw that Beamer was heavily flooded and saw a poor Acura Integra stuck in water.  So we headed back onto Beltway 8 and onto I-45 North and took the exit at Almeda Mall.  I was going to make a U-turn when all came to a stop.  There were cars stopped at the U-turn!  I walked out to see what the commotion was… and it was the high tide in the feeder of I-45 Southbound! 

So I was worried that we would be stuck here too long… and as I saw some trucks go by, I had an idea.  Time for rocket science to put to work!  Well, fluid mechanics to be exact.  You see, when a vehicle treads the water, it creates a wake in the back and the water level behind it is actually lower temporarily.  So when I saw a truck go by, I decided to tail it!  The water was fairly high and there were moments when I was afraid that I’d get stuck and the car would get flooded.  However, my Commander did just fine and after what seemed like an eternity stuck in water, we were out!! 

Finally, we took the Fuqua exit.  However, the adventure wasn’t over yet.  Fuqua was worse in fact.  So after a bit, I got onto the shopping area on the right side and drove through the parking lot and then cross the street to the other parking lot.  Still, in the end, just before Beamer, the water level was just too high.  So we did the only thing possible.  I parked close to the Beamer & Fuqua intersection, got out, and we walked in the knee-high water!!

When we finally reached Pho Binh, we were the first and ONLY customers!!  Hard-core baby!  I’m just glad that we didn’t settle down with Pho 21 nearby!  Yuck!  After the awesome lunch (which My Le paid for since he just had too much fun!), we were given ride back close to my car.  Then we walked back the rest… but then I noticed itching in my left leg!  And guess what… I know the Mission Team is going to get a kick out of this one… I found ants that were biting me!!  What the…  I must have picked up ants in the water while treading!  Doh!  I got rid of about 6 to 8 ants in my legs and finally drove back.

All were fine until we hit near Middlebrook and Bay Area Blvd near work and University Baptist Church.  We tried walking in it and realized it is too deep for my car to get through (not to mention 3 cars, one of which was a van, stranded in the water), so we made a detour through the subdivision and finally got back to work!

The best TWO HOUR LUNCH evah!! Hands down!!