[Vwdiesel] Back in Kansas

[David Cook]

Hey all-

Just wanted to let you know that I made it safely home
to Manhattan tuesday night.

The experience in Louisiana was just great.  When they
found out that I drive a school bus, they quickly
recruited me to drive one of the rented moving trucks
for them.  Our jobs consisted of moving
food/water/various supplies to/from different
shelters.

That was a great job, because instead of being cooped
up in a shelter with folks who were (understandably
so) kind of crabby after living there for 6 weeks.  I
was able to see many parts of Southern Louisiana.

I was stationed in Houma, LA which is about an hour
drive south and west of NOLA.  There I lived in a
staff shelter (community center's gym) and commuted to
work.

I had the opportunity to go to NOLA a couple of times
and see some of the destruction.  The neighborhoods
that had water to the roofs were downright creepy. 
They were still nearly a ghost town--driving through
the neighborhood might allow us to see 10 people
total.  The streets were eerily quiet.

Those neighborhoods seriously look like a bomb had
gone off.  Cars were all in odd positions in yards,
etc (I presume they must have floated and moved around
some before finally sinking.  All vegetation was dead
except for some trees.  Houses were messed up.

Because of the silt on houses/cars and the dead/brown
grass/plant life, it was like the whole neighborhood
was a shade of brown.  Surreal.

The French Quarter is starting to get back on its
feet.  A number of the restaurants are open serving
limited menus.  We ate at a nicer restaurant and ate
off plastic ware--I guess the water still isn't fit to
even wash with.

Early in the trip, I went to Dulac, LA which was
flooded when Rita came through, a lake burst it's
levy.  Those poor folks had several inches of thick,
nasty mud in their houses and yards.

In both Dulac and NOLA (where people had returned
home), the houses had massive piles of rubble.  First,
they had the furntiure: beds, couches, appliances,
TVs, etc and then the insides of the house: carpet and
padding, drywall, insulation, etc.  Basically, these
people are gutting their houses all the way down to
the studs.  I'm quite sure a number will end up just
being bulldozed.

I also got to see Grand Isle, LA.  It is a resort town
on a barrior island way on the south edge of the
state.  Visiting there was particularily interesting
to me as I'd camped there 4 years ago in the state
park.  

I'd guess that 40-50% of the houses are
summer/vacation homes.  Probably over 95% of all the
buildings (even the high school) were build on 8-10
foot stilts.  It is clear that the island was flooded
(boats were in places boats don't belong), but it
looks like the water just came up and went right back
down.

Their major source of damage appears to have been
tornado.  I say this because one home would be
relatively damage-free and the only evidence of the
nighbor's home would be the stilts.

The magnitude of the force in those two storms was
uncomprehensable to me.  

Other parts of the trip:
*One afternoon I was able to go on a swamp tour and
see alligators up close.  Wow that was cool!

*Despite the storms, wonderful seafood and cajun food
was available.  If only I could eat such food in
Kansas...

*I was able to meet people from all over the country,
and was able to work with all kinds of people. That
was neat.

Like I said, it was overall a very awesome experience.
 I highly encourage anyone who remotely has an
opportunity to do something like that to jump on it. 
I was nervous going into it, but am really glad I did
it.

Pictures are available here: 
<http://community.webshots.com/user/superdave5599> you
may need to click on the "newest" link.

David

David Cook
Red '86 Cabriolet Diesel Powered
Red '90 g60 Corrado 
Brown and White '78 Westy Campmobile "Bear"
and others in various states of disrepair
Pictures here: community.webshots.com/user/superdave5599


	
		
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