These 2 particular days are written in past tense, because I didnt have a chance to journal them until later.
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…
Technorati Tags: hurricane rita, hurricane, rita, relief
October 6th, 2005 at 6:55 pm
Tim: Con-grats. good work waiting to hear more about trip.
May 24th, 2007 at 11:52 am
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