We're fine!
I'm checking on from my sister's computer in San Antonio. It took us a while to get organized and on the road but with steady application of 14 legs and 8 wheels (that would be 2 cars, 3 humans, and 2 dogs) and a bit of determination, we got here! Traffic was heavier than normal on the highways but moving right along. I don't think it took us much longer to get here than it would have on a normal weekend.
We've been listening to the news, and even though it is terribly over-dramatized on all the media, this is a very scary storm. It's not the top wind speed (which is all the category is based on); it's the sheer size of the monster that its slow speed. That means it has lots of time to stir up lots of mischief, such as relocating large bodies of water several miles inland.
Although Ike won't make landfall for another 10 hours or so, Kemah, the community on Galveston Bay immediately south of us, is already flooding from the storm surge.
So now we hunker down and wait, and hope we don't see our house on the national news!
Crystal, no problem with that storm track picture. I think you're right; if the Weather Underground didn't want people to hotlink the pictures, they could easily block it.