Amidst the howling winds, torrential rain, extreme wave action and lightning bolts galore, we managed to put the GXV3000 through one of the ultimate field tests, a hurricane. On September 1st, 2008, Hurricane Gustav made landfall near Cocodrie, LA. My brother has fished there plenty of times and caught lots of redfish and trout, but now the small Louisiana town is forever written in history as the landfall mark where Gustav ravaged the La coast. I jokingly called it Hurricane Guster Vee in honor of my late grandfather Guster Veazey. Where am I going with this? Gustav gave us the perfect testing grounds and prompted new uses for the video phones provided by BlinkMind.

Yes, it takes electricity and internet to run the phones, but when everything was said and done, the use of the video phone proved its worthiness. With phones in Baton Rouge, Maurice and Houston, we were able to use BlinkMind’s video conference bridge to keep abreast of the deteriorating weather conditions as well as provide some since of normalcy for those in the midst of the storm. We laughed and joked as the full brunt of Gustav passed overhead.

My parents evacuated to Houston after a mandatory evacuation was ordered to flee the wrath of the storm, but were able to keep in touch with my brother and sister throughout the storm. We were able to see the storm as it unfolded in front of our eyes. Debris was flying, roofs rattling and walls shaking, but for my parents, it was a sense of communication never before experienced. We were able to communicate with loved ones, see the storm as it unfolded and comfort them.

Needless to say, the communication change is here. We proved that during this highly stressful event and personally I don’t know how we’ve ever lived without this technology.