Tuesday’s Interstate 10 traffic flowed with residents returning to the Golden Triangle from evacuation destinations. Josephine Carmon traveled with welcome news from her cousin, who stayed in Port Arthur.

“Everything is all right,” she said was her message.

She and her mother expected to return to an intact home with electricity flowing. Carmon and family friend Gussie Day both dressed in cheery yellow as they made their way back from San Antonio. They, and a long line of travelers with Louisiana license plates, stood in a long McDonald’s breakfast line in Baytown.

Drivers from Louisiana, which seems to have gotten the worst of Hurricane Gustav’s American tour, filled up at a gas station across from San Jacinto Mall. An attendant with the name tag reading “Louise” said she’d tended to customers fleeing and returning the storm. They’ve wanted “everything” in the way of food, she said.

Repair trucks gathered at a rest stop out of Winnie and familiar orange Asplundh tree trimming trucks filled Interstate 10 lanes.

Travelers seemed focused on their destination, but some did stop in lines to chat about how far they’d gone and to perhaps compare their Gustav experience with tales from Rita. One vehicle parked in Katy had shoe-polish messages about Port Neches-Groves High School. Even miles from home, this driver loved his locker girl.

Contact this reporter at ddoiron@panews.com.