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Gunner, my thanks to you and many others whose posts helped me get to this point. Hope I'm twice as wise and "ready " after another year or two of further training and study. I'm glad there are as few incidents after Harvey as there have been so far. Stay aware.

thatguyoverthere said " It would be easy for him to find some of those folks to get the assistance he needs.
On the other hand, if he was just out to make a quick easy buck, then that was not the time or the place for that. And especially if that's all it was, and especially in that area, right now ..."

Thanks for your reminders and everyone's feedback. I feel good about my actions. I was surprised how smoothly the advice I've read on this forum became my behavior in the moment. This is a great community.

I was glad to be carrying Wednesday night when we returned to Katy. I've had my LTC for a year, carrying when I can, which doesn't include during work unfortunately. We evacuated from Harvey Sunday night while we could, to deal better with some illness challenges. Near home stopped at the gas station to fill up, on 99 near I-10, and got tested in my awareness and response to a sudden "interview".

My wife and kids were in the car. A pickup truck followed me in kind of fast, and stopped on the other side of my pump. I got out, looked around and saw a young man approaching way too fast. I lost interest in getting gas, raised my left hand to signal stop, turned to face him at a better angle, and firmly said "Please don't ask me for anything!" He tried to re-start his panhandle request and I repeated what I said. My right hand was down and ready if needed, but I was still CC because no physical threat occurred and he had stopped. He was only 8 or 10 feet away and I didn't like it, not nearly enough space. He looked at me, paused and then got back in his truck. I looked around, waited a bit, and when I could see him just sitting there and no visible partners, I pumped my gas. He was on the phone. We left soon after and were not followed.

In my former life this would have seemed too much concern over "nothing" but I'm not who I used to be. Because everything de-escalated as it did I didn't call 911, especially with the volume of real emergencies they'd been dealing with all week. He could have had a genuine need for a gas donation but my gut said no. I'm thankful we got home without further trouble.

I'd welcome some feedback from those with more experience than I have, I want to learn from this as much as possible.