Well thats one heck of a detour

[hawkchick11]

They closed Interstate 380 due to flooding, which was the last way to get to my job since everything else is flooded. So now the only way is to drive west to Des Moines on I- 80, up I-35 and then east on Hwy 20 back to drop down on the north end of I-380.

281 miles.

[Evil Queen]

"Hello Boss? Yeah... I won't be in today."

[hawkchick11]

"Hello Boss? Yeah... I won't be in today."

I wish.. its going to be closed for a week or more and I don't have enough PTO to take a week off.

I found a way to get to my hometown, and I can commute from there to work.. its only about 130 miles

[Evil Queen]

It's not worth the gas to drive that far unless you have The Super High Paying Job of Infinity Plus $10K.

[hawkchick11]

I should have worded it a little differently, it would take 130 miles to get to my hometown, but the commute from my hometown to work is the same as the commute from Iowa City to work.

Its still cheaper than taking the week off and not getting paid.

[daleduke17]

HC, when I saw the title of your thread, I knew it had to be that detour. :-p

I was reading some information about the flooding and saw that. Even though I've never been that far into Iowa, I knew that was a heck of a detour.

[hawkchick11]

I guess I shouldn't be complaining about a detour, a lot of my friends and coworkers lost their homes. My dad had 7 feet of water in his auto body shop, I think its dropped down to around 4-5 now.

Iowa City hasn't even seen the worst yet, theres still a lot of sandbagging going on. The river isn't suppose to crest until Wednesday, and best case scenario, its suppose to be around 5 feet higher than in 1993. Worst case.. 8 or 9 feet higher than 1993.

Its going to be one hell of a clean up. Anyway, I'm off to help sandbag.

[Jester]

Having gone through the flooding of Hurricane Wilma, I feel your pain and you have my sympathies.

We had 2.5 feet of water in our apartment, and we were some of the lucky ones. Many people had 5 feet or more of water in their place, and many people lost their homes and/or vehicles. We lost our apartment ourselves....it wasn't physically destroyed, but it did become uninhabitable by humans. My roommate lost 1 of 2 cars and both his scooters. I got lucky, as my previous Jestermobile was parked at the Landmark Luxury Hotel I was working at, on one of the highest points on the island, and the tires barely got wet.

But yeah, the cleanup was a mess. I had to throw out over 30 books, an entire cabinet worth of magic literature and magic supplies and props, and the best bed I ever had. Spent several hours doing a salvage job on some photos and my CD collection.

And yes, I still consider myself one of the lucky ones. Good luck to you!

[tropicsgoddess]

I went through Hurricane Wilma too. I was forced to miss an entire week of work (with no PTO) because so many traffic lights/trees.power lines were down for one with the busses weren't running at all . No cabs were running either. So I can understand where you're coming from HC.

[blas]

There's always an extra bedroom available for you in Northwest Wisconsin where it can't flood because of the high grounds (well I can't say won't....it just doesn't)......$300 a month, but a friend in need is a friend indeed.....so I won't even ask for that much......

And I'm lonely and have lots of alcohol and fun movies to watch!

[friendofjimmyk]

The flooding situation really sucks. And I just heard that more rain is supposed to be on the way.

I am in your neighboring state - Nebraska - also surrounded by cornfields. The company I work for here provides the emergency roadside service for our members in that state (Wisconsin as well where some serious flooding has been going on in some areas) Service to some people has become nearly impossible. I feel bad for those who really need to get help but can't because of the flood cutting off access to their location.

[hawkchick11]

Thanks for the offer Blas, I like Iowa too much to leave! Theres a few towns around here that aren't accessible yet, the only way to get to them is by boat.

I've found a way to get to my hometown, which I'm leaving in a couple of hours. The flood water has finally receded so I'm going to spend Father's Day with my dad, helping him clean out his shop.. for the 2nd time in 2 weeks. My family has owned the shp for 45 years, it only had about 6 inches of water in it during the 93 floods. It flooded for the first time 2 weeks ago, it had 4 feet, this time, it had 7 feet.

I figured it might be a good idea to get out of Iowa City before the worst hits, since there is suppose to be widespread power outages. No power + a 2 year old who is scared of the dark, doesn't really work too well.