Today they are going to open the city gates. Not entirely sure what that means. They are allowing people who evacuated to come back to the city to check on their homes and belongings. It’s also baby day. We have skids of donated diapers, wipes, and formula.

We were late for breakfast but Gilbert kept the food warm for us. Breakfast tortillas.

This morning we had the first worship in the entrance to the sanctuary since the hurricane came through. Kimberly and the girls led worship and the devotion. For worship we had a cd player that we could play and sing along to. The ad-hoc clinic doctors were excited to join us.

I started on the line again. I wasn’t there too long. In the morning meeting, Carey (COH Leader) said that NASCAR donated about 1.5 million dollars to the Convoy of Hope. Also that the #32 car became an official sponsor. He said that last weekend that car took third place!

After a half an hour hurricane Nancy pulled me off the line to bag groceries. We were gathering donated items from different skids to create a food bag. There were also toiletry bags(toothbrush, a rag, toothpaste, barsoap). I had the opporunity to hand one of the toiletry bags out later in the day. The man who recieved it almost cried. He was so elated!

(“Hurricane Nancy”)

Interestingly enough, some of the the people I did talk with asked me if I knew where FEMA was and how they could get support from them. It must have been on the radio that FEMA was in town. It’s the first I’ve heard of them being here, and It’s Friday. Rita came through last Sunday. I pondered about the paid groups like FEMA. The red tape and the way our tax dollars are handled makes me sick… yet where are they?! Faith based organizations like COH, nightrunners, and the Salvation Army are here.

A whole bunch more volunteers showed up from the Campus Crusade for Christ. They were full of energy,but a bit arrogant to the weather conditions. We warned them on drinking plenty and sunscreen. The timing and organization of the line became a bit messy.

After lunch I broke boxes, helped refill coolers for the volunteers, and re-supplied the line with supplies.

After the lunch hours the NASCAR team arrived. About 6 people. They brought their own video crew.They were all wearing COH t-shirts and hats. Apparently the driver of the #32 car Jason Leffler, was in the mix. I haven’t watched NASCAR in a long time. If I knew any better, I would have got a picture with him.They took places on the line, and then recorded the action. I’m assuming that it was for a commercial? In all they were there for about 45 minutes. They were sweating through there shirts and they would wipe their brow often. Part of me thought that it was kind of cheesey to show them in a commercial helping, when they were only there for 45min. However, the donation they made is most welcomed.

At about 4:50 I spotted a walk up group sneaking in a side way. I couldn’t find Mike within earshot, so I went to meet them. I fet that the quicker I could get to them, they wouldn’t be able to see the goods on the line, and become more upset. In my brisk walk over to them, I grabbed another volunteer who was sitting down to come with me. Only because there were 5 of them. I asked him to come with me without even stopping. He had to jog up to me to catch up. As I was explaining to the group the situation, I felt them staring me down- measuring me up. I was thankful for the other volunteer behind me. They agreed to leave. My confidence was boosted, when the volunteer said I handled that very effectively, and gracefully.

Only 1,450 cars today.

Evening:
We all went back to our site, and for the first time there was a little conflict. Some people wanted to return home earlier, others wanted to work through the Saturday, and leave for home directly after. I was one of them. I had a hard time leaving. If I had the vacation days, I would have stayed another week at least. A few members of our group were in fact staying another week. My vote was to work through one more day. There was a handful who were going to venture home on their own tomorrow morning.

Tonight, we had the most incredible worship. We went in to the sanctuary. As we were walking through the church and the outbuildings, we came across the room where the Camous Crusade students were staying. We asked if they wanted to join us, and almost in unison a groan came from the room. Quite humorous. Those guys were wiped out! We understood. We remembered what day 1 was like. A lot of the students were sunburned already.

But a handful of them did manage to join us. So did the doctors who created and manned the free medical clinic. One of the students roughly knew how to play guitar. So there we were, in a brokedown sanctuary, the students leading worship by flashlight, strumming amateur guitar and singing. I don’t have the words to express what a wonderous sight and feeling that was. It’s was a true moment I will never forget.

Just like the other nights, though becomming less shocking, I’ve had a shower. I’m going to guess its 85 or so. Still sticky. But I think I’m used to it now. The second team has left home and is in route to us now. I’m watching the police officer check the church doors. I’m nervous with the flashlight on as I write this, as not to alarm him.

I called home tonight to speak with my wife. My daughter answered. It was very nice to talk with both of them. It made me miss being home, yet it encouraged me, that there are people and groups out there like the Convoy of Hope in case something should happen to me and my family. Nighty…

hurricane, katrina, rita, relief, hurricane blog, blog, NASCAR

We got over to the site around 8:15. Scrambled eggs with leftover brats in them! And milk! Milk! Amazing the little things that you miss. I don’t even know how it arrived there but it was awesome! It was ice cold, because it sat in a cooler full of ice.

I started out in station #3. This time my job was to help direct the vehicles into position. I was unusually smiley this morning, and I used it to help others. I began to notice that with a great big genuine, heartfelt smile for each vehicle, along with some dramatic arm movements, people comming down the line began to smile. Worn out people began to smile. Yes! Dave (another volunteer) said it was the goofiest thing he’d seen in a long time, but it was working. It was giving people a break from the turmoil. I wanted to be careful that I wasn’t making a mockery of the situation either.

I found a bag of candy and stuffed handfuls of it in my pocket. When vehicles came by that had children in them, I gave a handful to them. It truly lit up their faces like it was Christmas. See, adults know they can rebuild, or have hopes of rebuilding. Children have no idea. They just see their parents awestruck, the military, no school, most likely no friends or even a playground to play on. I can’t imagine what it must look like through their eyes. The day played out much like the others. The usual tear jerkers. The new mother looking for baby formula or diapers. People looking for dog or cat food.

(National Guard Units loading a vehicle)

Around 11am I looked down the line at the other stations and noticed that 75% of the people working it – were the National Guard! They were helping us! They were using their giant troop carriers to bring in skids of ice, and skids of diapers and such. I’m not quite sure where the stuff was comming from. Were they returning the favor? Were the goods comming from their base? Did they grab some goods from another charity and bring it here? Were they under orders to return the favor? Who knows! It was unbelievable! We were told that the count of vehicles we served over the past few days had been between 1,480-1,500 vehicles each day.

Towards the end of the day I tired out. But it wasn’t so shocking because I was expecting it. The last hour I went to the back entrance to help guard it, and explain to people that they need to use the front entrance. There was a shaded area and a folding chair.

For dinner Gilbert whipped us up some hamburgers! I have no idea where this stuff was comming from. I did hear that local restaurants freezers were obviously out. So instead of throwing the food away they donated it. Gilbert went out and grabbed the crew of National Guard that was still there, and escorted them right into or mess hall. They walked with him in formation. The soldiers were very friendly and polite. (I can’t imagine what it’s like wearing BDU’s in this heat!)

We were in for a surprise when we got back to the church. Lights! This particular church’s parking lot lights were a green. Almost like a christmas tree. They illuminated the outside of the building. They had got a generator. We decided to have a meeting inside the church this tme to avoid the mosquitos. Just before the meeting someone whipped out a hackey sack. Haven’t seen one of them in a long time! So Mike, Dave, Rebecca, Lori, Kathy and myself played a round. I can’t tell you how those 5 minutes of recreation really was a pleasant escape. Of course we were all novices, and wiped out so it kind of turned in to a giggle-rama. I can’t remember all the stories. In our meeting we all shared stories we heard directly from the people. Hopefully I can get some more accounts from members of our group to share via comments. A- Hem.

I can’t begin to tell you how strange it seemed to shower with lights vs. flashlight. In a strange way – I kind of missed it. Still no warm water. Do they really need warm water down here? A thought did pass through my mind about the purity of the water we were all using to shower. In denial, I just let it pass. The evening cooled to I think was about 70. The police had helped us out with a special favor by guarding our area overnight. They did it with a great big appreciative smile. It was a favor in return for helping them out. I fell asleep looking out my window at the greenly lit church, and the thumping helicopters…

hurricane, katrina, rita, relief, hurricane blog, national guard

I started in a position at station 4 as the ‘water boy’. Things were going pretty well for most of the morning. A lot of the water that came in today came from Miller breweries. They came in cases of glass bottles. They were heavy! Sometimes as I was dropping water or other supplies in the back or trunk of vehicles, I would see cases of beer or groceries. This made me wonder how many abusers of the situation were out there. I had an altercation with a man who wanted more than what we could give him. I told him he could come back through the line again if he needed to. He thought that was quite absurd as there were skids of ice and water behind me. He didn’t understand that we needed to maintain order in chaos. I can understand. People react differently in emergency situations.

Some of the N.A.P.S. kids went out by the entrance to the line with their band instruments. There were mostly drums, and a few intruments. They played beats similar to a drum and bugle corp. It lightened the spirits of those comming in, and made it much easier to work in the heat. I don’t really know how they did it. It was hot out. Real hot. They played into the early afternoon hours.

Mike had got assigned to handle ‘walk-ups’. Thats exactly what it means. Some clever people try to out do the other vehicles waiting in line, by parking their car close by and walking in. They were easy to straighten out. It went a little something like this: “Hi. Where did you park your car?”. They would answer. And of course, this also was the evidence they were trying to cheat because they answer the question usually meant they had a car. There were some legitimate walkups. Bicycles too. It was hard to load up their bikes, in a way they could still manage to balance. We told them to come back through if they needed to. I would imagine that by the time they got home it was half melted.

Toward the late afternoon I was getting much too heated. Trouble cooling down again. Both the N.A.P.S. and the Texas relief team left. I never got to say goodbye to some of them. I really became attached to a few. Andrea a nurse from the Detroit area. What a sweet soul she is. I enjoyed a 45minute conversation with her. Because of the volunteers leaving we had to shorten the line to 3 stations, and restructure to handle the volunteers that we did have. I took a 40 minute break. Then I went out to make sure the remaining volunteers were drinking the water they needed to. I was also giving breaks to whoever needed one.

Gabor

Meg

During the day, some reporters showed up from the Bangor Daily News. A newspaper out of Maine. The reporters name is Meg and photographers name is Gabor. They asked questions and took pictures. It was odd having conversation as the shutter shound would go click click click click. The 1st photo on this page was when I was conversing with Gabor. They were both waiting to get press clearance to speak with the military. He went on to explain that if regular citizens would say hello to a troop, he would reply in kind. However If you are from the press, you get a stone cold face in return. They are not allowed to speak to the press. While Gabor and Meg were waiting (over a half day) they were moved to help us helping others. I didn’t get time to speak with Meg. I did get to speak with Gabor as he was helping my station break down boxes. He’s really a neat guy.

It was 4 in the afternoon. I replaced a traffic woman who was directing traffic out in the street. It was about 100 yards from the line. I was a little nervous being out in the open like that. Since we had the water and ice. I did have a CB radio, and a cooler a few feet away from me. I had been drinking the suggested amounts of water and gatorade, but that pavemnet was getting the best of me. a 106 heat index, and add the pavement to it. I have no idea how she did this all day. My job was to slow and stop vehicles in the left lane, and ask them if they were getting in line for the ice and water. If they weren’t, suggest they get in the right lane so they could get through. If they were, then encourage them that they came to the right place. So many people.

This is where the front line of the line was. This is where the faces were full of worry and sweat. By the time I would see them in the line, they had been blessed and lightened up. On the beginning of the line, the worry on their faces was indescribable. There were a few who chatted with me briefly. I think most could see how this Wisconsin boy was not from around there. Troop carriers (full of troops) and police officers would drive by and politely see that I got a wave. I would shout ‘thank you’ to them. A heartfelt thank you, for keeping us safe. They were waving a heartfelt thanks for keeping them watered.

Many drivers asked me where they could get fuel. I had to explain I had no idea because I wasn’t from the area. Most of them were asking about diesel fuel in particular. I’m only guessing that there was a need for the work trucks, as well as for generators that were diesel powered.

By now the first half hour had sunburned my calves. Some drivers would encourage me. I remember the minivan that stopped. She said, “Oh honey you look sooo hot. Your’ not from around here. Where are you from?”. I replied as upbeat as I could be, “Wisconsin maam”. She said, “Are you thirsty baby? Here. This is some of the finest water we have.” She hands me a glass from the console of her car, loaded to the top with half melted ice, and ‘water’. Now in the past few days of people helping people, I became used to good deeds by many people. Including strangers. So I took a slow sweeet pull on it. Before I knew it I was choking on myself. It was alcohol something or another. Just what I needed! Some dehydration! I laughed at my naiveness. She laughed too at my reaction. Her intention was good. She realized I was caught off guard. We both laughed about it, and I moved her on. Too funny!

The heart grabber was the smaller old car that asked me if this was the line for the ice and water. There were 2 women in the front seat. You could tell this car did not have air conditioning. In the back seat lay a child, no more than 2, face down on the vinyl seat. Her back was pooled with sweat. I don’t mean little beads. I’m talking a puddle. There was no where to go. On the line I could step away for a moment and someone would fill in the slot. Here, I couldn’t leave the road. I swear you could almost hear an audible *gulp*, as I choked down the emotion in my heart.

At 5:00 it was closing time. I think word was getting out, or people were getting used to it. The past few days there had been quite a few people to turn away. I hated that part. No problems today. On the other hand, I was baked. The walk across the parking lot seemed like miles. My breathing bacame very heavy. I was starting to get dizzy. The nearest tent was so close, yet so far away. I sloppily grabbed a gatorade from a cooler as I walked by it. I plopped/fell down alongside the Hobby Lobby. I was still trying to just breath, and the exhaustion, the heat, and all the emotions choked back for the week came to a peak. This is wear it all came out. I spent a good 40 minutes there. Lynn came over to see what was wrong. She is a nurse and thought I looked much too hot. Then she realized what was going on. She told me that I wasn’t the only one. That her and some others had a ‘blubberfest’ the night before as well. I finally gathered myself up and made it to the mess tent.

Bratwurst baby! A little taste of home. We brought them because we didnt know if we’d be feeding ourselves or not. Gilbert cooked them up nicely! On the way back to the church, John gave a us a little tour to take more pictures. What an unbelieveable sight. (I think my camera was switched with someone elses. I don’t have most of the pictures I took). He told us a story how he went to get one of our campers tortion bars fixed. The repair man smiles as John and Kim entered the shop. The man had remembered Kim, as one that prayed with him in the line the day before. He was so happy and excited to see us. He couldn’t fix it, but knew where we could get it done and he was happy to hook us up.

I got to take a welcomed cold shower by the usual flashlight. The church was beginning to smell now. You could smell it as soon as you opened the doors. Still a warzone. Drifting off to sleep with helicopters thumping overhead with huge searchlights scanning the area. I’m guessing it’s about 90 now. Did I mention how sticky it was…

hurricane, katrina, rita, relief, hurricane blog

So this morning when I woke up, I was soaked with sweat. I woke up every 15 minutes looking at my watch wondering if it was time to get up yet. I just wanted it to be morning. I finally fell asleep around 4am (I think).

A funny side note. I could not find my fanny pack. I had my emergency money store in there. I remembered taking it off. I couldn’t believe I would be so foolish to misplace it. On the way to get in our vehicles and get over to the morning meeting, Kimberly noticed it on top of the pop-up. Guess I set it on there, while we were setting up the camper! haha.

We arrived at the site around 7:45. We had nice hot oatmeal for breakfast. (and of course, more gatorade). I worked up a hunger through the days to eat, but eating hot meals was difficult for me, since, you know, it was hot outside! Nightrunners.net is another volunteer group that teamed up with the Convoy of Hope. I can’t tell youhow thankful I am for the food they cooked up for us. Thank you nightrunners! Let me tell you – that is another worthwhile organization to donate to.

“Hurricane Nancy” (A term of endearment for a wonderful leader) alerted us at our morning meeting that they needed a crew of people to take a few vehicles into texas. About 40 miles away. She couldn’t tell us what we were going to do. Or what the conditions were going to be like. I just couldn’t get myself to volunteer for it. I felt I was already in quite deep.

I took a position on the line today. I took up the water position on station 3. There were 4 station or stops along the line of cars comming through the parking lot. As they stopped, we would load up their cars. My job was to load the water. 1 case, and 1 case only. Because much of the water that came to us wasn’t all in cases, or 24 packs. Some were 4 packs. Some were gallon jugs. But we needed to be careful not to appear to give 1 vehicle any more than the others. If other vehicles saw that, they would demand what they would see as the same treatment, and chaos would break out. Water, is a commodity.

Many, many families came through. We received many genuine teary eyed thank you’s. By this time many people were pushing and asking for ice. One of the people told us why – the meat and goods in their freezers. Many times I had to step away from the line, as I would get choked up from hearing the stories. You can hear so many different versions of ‘I lost my everything’ so many different ways. Television really impersonalizes everything. Once in a while the N.A.P.S. students would start singing out a song in unison, as they were spread throughout the line. It was very encouraging! (this particular view is as if you were approching the line).

One this I forgot to mention is that these past few days, authority figures would come to our site for ice and water. Police had been on duty for days, working 12 hour shifts. The area ‘bosses’ (for lack of a better term) would come and get some supplies and drive it out to their troopers. Strangely enough – so did the military. Once in a while a Humvee would pull up with about 4 soldiers in that back of the tin can, wearing their BDU’s in 106 degree heat index. Here in the midwest when you walk up to a police vehicle, the officers are a bit skiddish and weary of your intentions. In this place, the officers would come to us in a way as if we were kings. We would load them up as well and them them so much for doing their duty. It was humbling.

The owner of the Hobby Lobby Store was more than willing to let us use their property to conduct our operations. The day before we were told that the owner of the plaza itself was not pleased that we had taken up so much of their real estate. I guess they had told Allstate insurance that they could use their lot. The owner was told what we were doing, but they still wanted to leave. We were expecting to have them come visit our site, and hope that it would change their mind. The COH alerted athorities that we may need their assitance in moving the site. They flat out denied the request. Why?? They did not want us to leave, so they would not escort us away. How cool is that?! We had to sit tight and hear what the owner of the plaza had to say to that.

Later in the day the manager for the Hobby Lobby came and took my place in the line so I could take a break. His name was David. For the life of me I can’t recall his last name. It was something French. It’s said like boo-vee I think. He was a great guy, and helped us out the rest of the week. He had just moved to the area 2 months agao, and his new house was now destroyed.

While I was eating lunch, we saw Air Force One helicopter fly over. It was much shinier than the usual drab helicopters that were thumping around us all day.

At 4:50 (10 minutes to the closing of the line) it rained the most wonderful rain I’ve ever felt! The smile returned to my face. Big fat heavy drops! I celebrated in it for a bit. Then it dawned on me, all the roofs that are still open or broke from Rita’s wrath. Because the Hobby Lobby roof was still leaky, the bathrooms were unavailable to us for a while for saftey reasons.

After dinner Kimberly took us on a little detour on the way back to base so we could get some pictures. We didn’t go too far off the main route because of the curfew. It looked like the military had been clearing off some roads, because you could actually see some roads now. Many hundred year old trees were snapped as if they were twigs. Television and these photos can’t do it justice.

I think I’m getting used to the humidty or something now. I took a great cold shower, and got to phone my wife! Hanging my clothes up to dry for this night…

hurricane, katrina, rita, relief, hurricane blog

Most of us walked around the ’site’ without direction for about 10 minutes. Rubbing our eyes, and trying to get a grip on the situation. There was a flurry of fork-lift activity and ‘foremen’ barking orders in the background. The tone wasn’t in a negative way, but had to be loud to be heard over the generators and the sound of the fork-lifts. Where did they come from?

Not to give out too much information, but man, I really had to ‘go’. I and a few others who had to do the same, were gathered in a group. Men and women. We were told we needed our flashlights, and to bring a gallon of water. I wasn’t sure where that was going to come from, but before I knew it – there were several gallons in front of the entrance to the Hobby Lobby.We were told that the store was damaged and flooded. We needed guides for both security and saftey. In the daylight, you could see the front of the damaged building now. It looked as if it were a building under construction. What it really was that Rita tore it up pretty bad. With a guide, flashlights and water, the front door to the store was unlocked and we proceeded in. It was pitch black, and we heard the sound of many fans blowing. They were from a recovery company who had already set up generators to begin their work. We sloshed through the black store. There was a strange smell in the air. We weaved in and out of what was aisles. The aisles and furniture were moved around to help dry them off. There was roof damage, and there was water dripping or standing everywhere. As we weaved throughout the shelving we finally got to the bathrooms. We took turns while our guide waited outside. Whoever had a free hand(pardon the expression) would hold a light. After you closed a deal, you would pour the water you brought into the back of the tank and flush. This was a quick lesson in modesty. Holding a light for someone you may not even know while they did whatever it is they needed to do.

(The trailers on the left were our sight for the night. The Giant Convoy of Hope setup was off to the right.)

We had a meeting as a team out beside our camp, and then went to have a meeting with those in charge. They too were quite to the point, and had to speak over the forklift traffic. We were assign positions in the area (though we were unsure of what some of the positions were exactly). It was stressed to us that we drink plenty of water throughout the day. That if we waited until we were thirsty – that it was already too late. We were also told that things can get emotional. That if they do – the best thing to do is walk away. The victims are already sensitive. They’ve lost their homes. They’ve lost everything they have.

There were more volunteers there than just us. There was a group of college kids from N.A.P.S based out of Alabama. There was also a handful of people from Michigan.

Positions kind of changed throughout the day. This wasn’t very regimented at first. It was almost like a partial ‘let’s see what happens when we do it like this’ routine. I have to imagine that all crisis are different. I did a little bit of everything. Eventually I found myself checking on people. Giving them breaks or giving them water.

The operation seemed mainly to get ice and water to people, as they drove through a controlled line with pylons. Most of the people that came through ‘the line’ did not leave when they were warned that the hurricane was comming. Though they didn’t have the means, or were just plain ignorant – it broke my heart none-the-less. Let’s just say that hurricanes, obviously, have no bias. I saw Jaguars, and Benzes come through the line. Yes these people had nice cars – but it was all they had left. I was once on the receiving end of charity. It really quite humbling.

I worked my way to the ‘backdoor’ of the parking lot. This was an even more intereseting position. Traffic out on the main street was designed to guid people through the line. Some people thought they could sneak their car into the backside of the parking lot. So this was a difficult position to man. Some people simply didn’t realize that they were just at the wrong entrance, and others were trying to sneak in. Though they were trying to get around a back way, it was difficult to see entire hot and sweaty families parched, and asking for help. I cried a lot. I was careful to turn away with it.

I heard someone mention the heat index was 106. We didn’t really have a source for news. But I tell ya it was hot! The humidty made it difficult to breathe. Before I knew it, I had become thirsty. Uh-oh! I began to drink water, but I just couldn’t cool down. There was no shade to be found. I sat down for a few minutes to get myself back together. It was like a sauna out there.

As the sun went down we shut down the line, and to moved our camp. We repacked up our campers and trailers and headed for a church a few blocks away. We setup camp in their parking lot. I didn’t look around the church or survey the site much. I was tired. I was hot. It was still hot after sundown. I still couldn’t cool down. I couldn’t get unsticky…

hurricane, rita, katrina, relief

Before I begin, I wanted to say thank you to those who donated time and materials to this cause. The evening before, I went to GoodWill to gather some cleaning supplies(we thought we would possibly be cleaning peoples homes). While there, I picked up some t-shirts, some ratty old shorts, and I found a whole bunch of $.33 stuffed animals I thought would be nice to give to children who have lost everything. When got to the checkout I was talking with the checker about the trip. She called her manager over. The manager said he would give a charitable discount of up to $25. Intentionally he errored, and gave the entire lot of supplies to me absolutley free. THIS, is the America I know. THIS is the WE, in ‘We the people’ that I know. THIS is everydays citizens, not big government helping those in need. -End /Praises & Ranting.

I was anxious to leave. I remembered Katrina and how our government agencies failed us that I just couldn’t wait to get there to help in person. We had a crew of 20 people. 1 RV, 1 popup, 1 trailer camper, and 1 trailer for supplies (the semi would come down later). I rode in the RV. There were 5 other people with me. Sandy, John, Rosi & her sister Cheri, and Diane. We were taking an Easterly route to LA in hopes of missing any remnants of hurricane Rita that we might come accross. She was almost on land now.

Eventually we stopped in TN. We couldn’t go on anymore due to exhaustion. I was begginning to feel the humidity of the south. I never have been through those states before.

We got back on the road again around 7am. At about 9am we received a call that requested us to redirect to Lake Charles, LA. A city that would be directly hit by hurricane Rita. We were all pretty anxious to get to our destination – not knowing what we were exactly getting into, we just wanted to help. We broke out our atlases and maps, and planned our new approach. We called back to church several times to get confirmation on what roads/highways were still open for driving.

It was later in the afternoon that the skies began to look threatening. Riding in a 30ft RV is no picinic in the wind(tornado magnet?). For quite a few hours the skies were just plain grey, but the clouds were low and moving fast. Eventually there was a nice sunny break. I realized, and could actually make out the remnant of the hurricane eye that was passing over us. Its not as small as it seems on the waether maps or on tv. But then things got ugly once again. We turned on the radio to get some weather reports. There were tornados on the highways and counties we were on or in. They were either directly behind or just minutes ahead of us. I knew we were being watched over. We began to see recent car accidents, as well as damage to the area. Eventually as the evening cooled(if you could call it cooling) the tornado activity slowed down.

At nightfall we had begun the drive over the 19 mile strectch of highway over the Bayou. It was the same type of highway built on columns you may have seen on the TV coverage for katrina, that was shuffled like a deck of cards from the flood waters. Here is where we began to see some of the hurricane damage. Rest areas were closed, trees and billboards were down all over the place. Though we were still a few hours from ground zero! It was dark. Very dark. So dark that something seemed wrong. Then I realized what it was. There wasn’t a city light on anywhere (although we were in the Bayou).

We reached our exit off the highway, however it was blockaded, lit up by flares (which can look really bright when there are not lights around), and guarded by two soldiers with weapons at the ready. We explained who we were and what we were doing there. The soldiers, by direct order, would not let us off the highway. They told us that nobody gets in the city at night, and that there is a curfew on. They said we would need to go down to the next exit and get permission from the state police to give the soldiers permission to let us off the highway. So we convoyed to the next exit (thank goodness for CB radios!). Again we explained ourselves to the soldiers in the glow of flares. The soldiers at first looked like kids with guns, but were beginning to look more like soldiers as the novelty wore off. Again they gave us the same story that we needed to get permission from the state. You couldn’t fault them, they were under orders. On the other hand – it was quite obvious we were there to help. I called 911 to contact the local police to see if they could help us out, but as I began to explain our predicament, the cell was cut off. So we said a quick prayer by radio, and moved on to the next exit. We began to get the same story from this group of soldiers, but after a few minutes, the older of the two thought that this was quite rediculous, and let us in. Answered prayer!

We knew we were 3 exits past where we needed to be. When we got to the first city block it was hard to see. There were no lights, very eerie – surreal. There were massive trees in the raods almost completely blocking some paths. Before we knew it, we were well into a city block that had many powerlines dangling in the center and toward the sides of the streets. It, was a warzone.

Eventually we made our way to the Convoy of Hope site. Luke greeted us and showed us where to park. By this time it was 2am and we had been on the road for 40 hours. The convoy site was set up in a plaza. Though you wouldn’t know it with all the lights out. It seemed more like a large piece of pavement in the middle of nowhere – but the reality was that it was in the middle of a town with no power. The biggest store in the plaza was called Hobby Lobby. This is where we setup “camp” for the night. It sure was hot and sticky for being 2am!

About every 1.5 minutes, a humvee or police squad would come by very quickly shining their spotlight throughout the area. Did I mention how eerie it was not having any city lights in a city setting?

There was a gas station on the corner of the lot, I would say about 75 yards away from us. Every time a vehicle drove by with a searchlight I would see the figure of a person duck behind a parked vehicle at the gas station. Mike called 911. Within 45seconds a few squads and humvees lit up the place. Sure enough…… Looters!

We had to get up in a few hours. It was hard to sleep after all the excitement. I eventually fell asleep in the popup. Thinking about the looters, and what our tasks would be to come. I could see the Convoy of Hope trailer lit up by a flood light that was powered by generator. The trailer looked like a beacon of hope in the night…

Oh yea, 911 left me a message explaining how sorry they were that the call was dropped…

hurricane rita, hurricane, rita, relief