It’s Thursday night, about 11:45, and we finally have our bags packed. We’ve been working on this all week and finally grabbed the last few items this evening after work.  I called the ranger’s station in the Rio Grande National Forest and asked about the trail conditions. He said there is no way we will complete the 22 mile loop without snowshoes, so we rented two pair at $20 a pair from the TTU Outdoor pursuits center along with a 2-man tent and two 0 degree sleeping bags.  He did ease my avalanche fears and said “that won’t be happening.” We will be leaving for the 10 hour drive tomorrow morning and hope to arrive around 4 or 5 PM, giving us 3 or 4 hours of daylight before reaching the first campsite around mile 3.  From there, we will probably take our time and return to our car on Wednesday morning at the latest and drive back to Lubbock.  Check out the youtube video with our packs on.  (They turned out to be a little heavier than we hoped…)

Wish I had time to drive around and take pictures around Lubbock. A friend called me a minute ago while walking his dogs on the golf course. He said 5 or 6 holes were completely submerged including the greens. Here is a picture of an SUV that was obviously swept away at some point.

So it’s a Lubbock record. Over 7 inches of rain, and it’s still raining with a possible 2 inches to come. If we hit the 8 inch mark within 24 hours it will qualify as a 100 year flood for Lubbock. Schools are closed and no work tomorrow. It’s an official state of emergency for Lubbock county. I’ve never heard of schools being closed due to rain in Lubbock.

I’m not sure how many inches of rain we have had during the past few days, but I have never seen the streets as flooded as they were on my way home from work. Currently the city is filling 5,000 sandbags to be used throughout the town. Here are some pictures that I took with my Blackberry on my way home from work. The first picture shows a car in the middle of 98th street, a six lane road.