Last month I wrote a column about Hurricane Katrina and making an emergency plan for evacuating your family and your horses. It never occurred to me that I would be using this plan less than a month later during Hurricane Rita to evacuate from near Galveston, Texas. Because of the plan, we had a place to go about 110 miles further from the Gulf Coast. The place was a summer camp with lots of stalls, air-conditioned bunkhouses, and 2,000 acres of trails. IÕm writing this now as we watch the hurricane approaching the coast on the weather report maps. There are about 40 other equine owners here with 60 to 70 horses in the barn so far.

About 2.5 million other residents of the area evacuated as well. The traffic was a nightmare with many motorists taking three hours to drive seven miles. A normal two-hour trip to our evacuation spot was 12 hours for me in traffic with my horses. I left early (almost three days before the hurricane's landfall was forecast) and it still took this much extra time.

I've learned some additional lessons to add to my emergency plan. They include: leave early, take food and water with you in your vehicle, and make sure your car or truck is well-maintained. Vehicles are not designed to move so slowly, and because of that there were a large number of breakdowns that further slowed traffic.

Plan a route that utilizes back roads. Even though farther, these roads are far less congested than the interstate highways used by most for the evacuation. Have your vehicle full of fuel before you leave. There was almost no fuel available along the major highways. There were hundreds of stranded cars around all of the fuel stops along the evacuation route. If you got off on the feeder road for any reason, you were usually not allowed back on the main highway for many miles. Feeder roads can be even slower than the main route. Getting stranded with your horses is much harder to handle than just getting stranded yourself. When you get to your destination, fill up your tank so you will have fuel to return home.

Small animal pet carriers sold out instantly at all stores. If you plan to take your cats, dogs, or other small animals, have the carriers at home as a part of your plan. If you need a harness for your small pet, get that early too. Don't plan to put the carrier in the back of your pickup in the sun. While that might work if you are moving at 60 mph, pets in the sun are under tremendous heat stress at 2 mph.

Buy your bottled water, flashlights, batteries, and fuel cans early. These also sold out instantly prior to our emergency. Have containers that you can fill with water in case you can't buy it in the store. Fill your bathtubs and other containers at home with water in case the power is off when you return and your water supply depends on a pump. Freeze containers with water before you leave and then put them in your refrigerator to keep your food cold in case the power is off when you return.

Do not depend on using your cell phone for communication between you and family members traveling in other vehicles. The network overloads early and calls don't go through. Text messaging seems to work even when calls do not. Practice text messaging on your cell phone before you need to use it.

Returning was a huge traffic jam as well. Fuel was still almost non-existent near the evacuation routes but was partially available well away from the evacuation routes.

After I returned I spent most of the next day using a chainsaw on trees and limbs that had come down. Fortunately our damage was relatively minor.

This time we were extremely lucky that the hurricane turned north. It could have been a major disaster. We'll evacuate again in similar circumstances even though, in this case, the evacuation was worse than the actual hurricane. Our plan worked and I learned the tips above. Next time the disaster could be real.

Be prepared -- whether it's a hurricane, wildfire, or some other disaster.