Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Award!
The boys got their award today. They each got a plaque with their name listed first on their own plaque. Kewl! 
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Kids of the Week
Today the boys were honored as Kids of the Week for local radio station, Mix 94.5. I nominated them for their work in Biloxi! I've included screen shots of their info at the radio station's website.
Dear Kevin & Sarah,
I would like to nominate my sons, Jake & Parker, to be your next Kid of the Week. 12 year old Jake is a 7th grader at JMS and 7 year old Parker is a 1st grader at RES. Our family just got back from a Spring Break trip to Biloxi, MS to help with Hurricane Katrina Relief. Jake & Parker assisted us with debris removal, picking up trash, cleaning at the volunteer camp, and helping serve food to the volunteers. We had a long drive and very busy work days and they didn't complain and remained very helpful. In fact, both were very friendly and entertained many of the volunteers. Both have asked when we can go back again!
I am very proud of our boys for being of service to others. Their helpfulness, smiles, and willingness to serve others makes them perfect candidates for your next co-Kids of the Week.
Thanks,
Diana M
Dear Kevin & Sarah,
I would like to nominate my sons, Jake & Parker, to be your next Kid of the Week. 12 year old Jake is a 7th grader at JMS and 7 year old Parker is a 1st grader at RES. Our family just got back from a Spring Break trip to Biloxi, MS to help with Hurricane Katrina Relief. Jake & Parker assisted us with debris removal, picking up trash, cleaning at the volunteer camp, and helping serve food to the volunteers. We had a long drive and very busy work days and they didn't complain and remained very helpful. In fact, both were very friendly and entertained many of the volunteers. Both have asked when we can go back again!
I am very proud of our boys for being of service to others. Their helpfulness, smiles, and willingness to serve others makes them perfect candidates for your next co-Kids of the Week.
Thanks,
Diana M
Saturday, March 25, 2006
We're Home ~ Safe & Sound
It is good to be back! The trip was just slightly over 13 hours ~ 795 miles. Once again, Eric drove the whole way! He is incredible!
We did make it to a Waffle House for lunch on the way back!
I will be getting the photos organized and more thoughts from the trip posted soon!
We did make it to a Waffle House for lunch on the way back!
I will be getting the photos organized and more thoughts from the trip posted soon!
Friday, March 24, 2006
Last Night!
Our week has come to an end. It has been a very memorable week! We have been very touched by this experience. In fact, it has been sort of fun! This place really draws you to it and my guys understand why I wanted to come back!!
We ended up going to the Katrina Memorial between breakfast and lunch. It is pretty amazing and beautiful. We then drove by the medical clinic that Extreme Home Makeover did.
After lunch we took off to tour Waveland, which was one of the worst hit areas. The destruction is incredible! I took many pics! See our Fri pics link.
We've enjoyed spending time with the people here this evening (we had the time because a new cook came in!) and making connections. We will be sad to leave tomorrow!!
Thanks so much for following our blog!! I will get all the trip pics organized and labeled soon!
We ended up going to the Katrina Memorial between breakfast and lunch. It is pretty amazing and beautiful. We then drove by the medical clinic that Extreme Home Makeover did.
After lunch we took off to tour Waveland, which was one of the worst hit areas. The destruction is incredible! I took many pics! See our Fri pics link.
We've enjoyed spending time with the people here this evening (we had the time because a new cook came in!) and making connections. We will be sad to leave tomorrow!!
Thanks so much for following our blog!! I will get all the trip pics organized and labeled soon!
Friday Morn
Hello! Things have really slowed down for us. Eunice & I have been on cooking detail. All the meals were pre-cooked by the ladies ahead of us, so we are basically reheating. It isn't difficult work, but someone needs to do it. We have not had big crowds because the majority of the volunteers are housed at the Tent City which has a mess tent. Getting up early today was no big deal.
Yesterday Eric returned to the site we were at on Wednesday. He helped take down a ceiling and remove nails from the rafters. He came back very tired and dirty. Today he decided to take it easy and is up at TC helping repair tools and do odd jobs. The boys went with him to hang out. They will come back here for lunch.
We plan on going out to see the Katrina Memorial (done by Extreme Home Makeover) this afternoon before coming back for dinner prep. We will get packed up after the meal, clean up, and evening sharing time.
Yesterday Eric returned to the site we were at on Wednesday. He helped take down a ceiling and remove nails from the rafters. He came back very tired and dirty. Today he decided to take it easy and is up at TC helping repair tools and do odd jobs. The boys went with him to hang out. They will come back here for lunch.
We plan on going out to see the Katrina Memorial (done by Extreme Home Makeover) this afternoon before coming back for dinner prep. We will get packed up after the meal, clean up, and evening sharing time.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Thurs Pics
We don't have a lot of pics from today. There are some corny staged pics that were submitted to the News-Gazette. We know that their is a story in tomorrow's paper, we just don't know if there will be any pics.
Click HERE for Thurs's pics!
Click HERE for Thurs's pics!
No Fly!
We will not be going to The Blow Fly Inn for dinner this time. Our only chance would have been Thurs or Fri and we are on cooking duty! We want to be here on our last night to bring closure to our trip!
Extreme Home Makeover
We are watching Extreme Home Makeover right now. It was filmed here in Biloxi. They rebuilt a medical clinic that provides free care, gave washers/dryers to 30 residents of a FEMA trailer park, and built a Memorial for those who perished in Katrina. It is quite emotional to watch it down here. We will go visit the memorial tomorrow!
I am not sure if this was shown all over the US tonight or not, but if you get a chance to see it~ WATCH IT! They will continue to show more episodes of Extreme Home Makeover After the Storm over the next few weeks. It would be great for you to see it and get an idea of what the people down here have gone through!
I am not sure if this was shown all over the US tonight or not, but if you get a chance to see it~ WATCH IT! They will continue to show more episodes of Extreme Home Makeover After the Storm over the next few weeks. It would be great for you to see it and get an idea of what the people down here have gone through!
Rested!
Cooking has been a pretty easy task today since all the food was prepared ahead of time and we only had to heat things up. We have been able to take it easy today and are feeling rested. Eric, on the other hand, is exhausted. He went back to Mike's house and assisted the group with ceiling removal. He came back VERY dirty today! He is showering now and then we are heading out to a nearby park. The boys have done a pretty good job of hanging out in the fellowship hall (next to the kitchen) and helping out as they can. They are ready to get out and run around!!! Eunice and I have to be back to cook by 4:30.
Tired!
It is Thursday and we are really starting to feel tired! Today Eunice, the boys, and I are at Bethel helping with the cooking. Luckily they cooked the food ahead of time, so it is mainly just heating up. We were up at 5:30am, so I hope to get a nap in soon! Eric went out to work today. I believe he is going back to the same house we were at yesterday. The stories and pictures that the homeowner shared were incredible and Eric wanted to try to get copies of them.
I should probably backtrack to yesterday. We hung around Bethel in the morning and did some cleaning of the floors and bathrooms. We got a call around 8:30 to go out to do 2 jobs. The first job was a double lot out in the point in Biloxi. That is way on the east tip of Biloxi with the gulf on the south side and the bay on the east and north side. There are 2 houses there, which are about the last ones standing down there. As we drove up we saw where the homeowner tacked up a sign what said waterline. We were supposed to clean up around the lot (which was mostly cleaned up) and another group was inside tearing out a ceiling and some dry wall. Eric ended up helping the homeowner hose out the first floor of the other house. The house had sustained Camille and the owners then raised it up. The first floor (marble) is wide open so that flood waters can come through and be washed out easily. The water ended up getting about a foot up into the 2nd floor. There were a few rooms in that house that hadn't been touched since the store. Jake helped the college group do the demo work and Eunice supervised Parker picking up trash. I just tried to look busy. LOL!!! We heard incredible stories from the homeowner about how they got through the storm. They started out with 9 people upstairs in their house and ended up rescueing neighbors and ended up with 32 people in the house. The pictures that he has are unbelievable!
We worked on that lot til lunch, then headed about 5 mins away to clean debris from a lot of an elderly gentleman who thinks he will get back into his house soon. The has very extensive damage, and just doesn't realize how long it is going to take. His daughter came by and thanked us. She said just the cleaner lot will raise his spirits. We took 2 of the college students with us and were able to get it cleared in about 1.5 hours. Then we returned to the double lot.
We headed back to the church and got our showers in and then headed to our friends for dinner. They live way out east of here, but their house took on 7 feet of water. They repaired and have been back in their home for 3 weeks. They gave us a pic that a neighbor took from their attic during the storm. It is quite an awesome site. It was refreshing to hear them speak so highly of the relief agencies and how they were helped. The did leave their home at 3pm on Sunday and returned at 11am on Tuesday. They drove up to the subdivision and didn't see damage. But they realized how bad it was when they got into the house. They stayed at their property for 3 weeks gutting it and cutting out all the drywall.
We had a nice taco dinner and enjoyed catching up on the last 12 years. The boys had fun playing Lego Star Wars with their son, Cody. It was great to see them again!
I should probably backtrack to yesterday. We hung around Bethel in the morning and did some cleaning of the floors and bathrooms. We got a call around 8:30 to go out to do 2 jobs. The first job was a double lot out in the point in Biloxi. That is way on the east tip of Biloxi with the gulf on the south side and the bay on the east and north side. There are 2 houses there, which are about the last ones standing down there. As we drove up we saw where the homeowner tacked up a sign what said waterline. We were supposed to clean up around the lot (which was mostly cleaned up) and another group was inside tearing out a ceiling and some dry wall. Eric ended up helping the homeowner hose out the first floor of the other house. The house had sustained Camille and the owners then raised it up. The first floor (marble) is wide open so that flood waters can come through and be washed out easily. The water ended up getting about a foot up into the 2nd floor. There were a few rooms in that house that hadn't been touched since the store. Jake helped the college group do the demo work and Eunice supervised Parker picking up trash. I just tried to look busy. LOL!!! We heard incredible stories from the homeowner about how they got through the storm. They started out with 9 people upstairs in their house and ended up rescueing neighbors and ended up with 32 people in the house. The pictures that he has are unbelievable!
We worked on that lot til lunch, then headed about 5 mins away to clean debris from a lot of an elderly gentleman who thinks he will get back into his house soon. The has very extensive damage, and just doesn't realize how long it is going to take. His daughter came by and thanked us. She said just the cleaner lot will raise his spirits. We took 2 of the college students with us and were able to get it cleared in about 1.5 hours. Then we returned to the double lot.
We headed back to the church and got our showers in and then headed to our friends for dinner. They live way out east of here, but their house took on 7 feet of water. They repaired and have been back in their home for 3 weeks. They gave us a pic that a neighbor took from their attic during the storm. It is quite an awesome site. It was refreshing to hear them speak so highly of the relief agencies and how they were helped. The did leave their home at 3pm on Sunday and returned at 11am on Tuesday. They drove up to the subdivision and didn't see damage. But they realized how bad it was when they got into the house. They stayed at their property for 3 weeks gutting it and cutting out all the drywall.
We had a nice taco dinner and enjoyed catching up on the last 12 years. The boys had fun playing Lego Star Wars with their son, Cody. It was great to see them again!
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Tuesday Evening
I am sorry that I haven't been able to get the blog updated as often as I planned. I have had difficulties getting a good WIFI signal at the church and we have been busy and tired!
We got up bright and early at 6:30am this morning. We had an awesome breakfast of egg enchiladas, then headed out to the green house to get our assignment by 7:30am. Our assignment was to do debris removal for a family way north of town. Since it was a distance, Eunice stayed back around TC and helped out. She helped at the tool shed doing check out forms. The church had receipt forms donated and Eunice was crossing off things like address and writing in church name, work site, ect. Then she headed over to the distribution tent and helped fold towels and measured out ground coffee into baggies. She smelled really good when we picked her up!
We headed out to the work site and were rear-ended (on a bridge) on the way there. Traffic was stopped in the middle of the bridge due to an accident up a little bit. We saw the lady coming up too fast behind us so we knew we were going to get it. Luckily Eric had left enough room so we didn't hit the person ahead of us. We (Eric, the boys, and I) were OK. I was a little shakey, but Eric did a great job of remaining calm and I fed off it him. Since there were 2 other accidents within 1/4 mile of us, the police arrived quickly and had us move off the bridge since it was only one lane in each direction. The lad who hit us had a small baby in her car, but the baby was strapped in, so everyone was fine. The lady was very upset though. I went and gave her a hug and asked her if she was OK. The police quickly took the report and we were on our way to our worksite.
We arrived at the worksite and began working on a HUGE pile of debris in the backyard. We had to take it from the backyard out to the front ditch which was right along a busy road. The boys did a pretty good job of helping out for a few hours. They mostly picked up broken pieces of shingles, dragged sticks and branches out front, and raked. It was a very warm and sunny 82 today! Quite the opposite of the snow at home! We went through a lot of water and had to take frequent breaks! We worked until 3:15 or so and then talked with the resident for a little bit. Their kids came home from school and the boys had a good time playing with them for a few minutes.
Before
After
We returned to TC to pick up Eunice and then headed back to Bethel for our showers and to relax before dinner. We didn't get much relaxing in, but we did have a great dinner and meeting. Every night we have a sharing time called 'Where did you see the face/hands/feet/heart of God today?' It is an incredibly moving time where people share all kinds of great experiences. The best news was that Judy, the director of LDR Biloxi, was cleared to return to work today. She had a heart attack 2 weeks ago. She was check by the Dr yesterday who said that she doesn't have any permanent damage. That is awesome news!
Right now many people are watching the 8 Days in Biloxi video. The guy who made the video is here right now preparing to create a new video. It is an incredible video that he shot in October. I have many copies, so feel free to ask to see one! Since I have seen it several times, I am taking the opportunity to update this. I have yet to upload today's pics. I hope to do that soon!
Tomorrow we are supposed to be assigned a new worksite. Eunice & I are cooking on Thursday (which means getting up VERY early!). We will also be eating dinner with our friends, Jack & Laura, who were stationed in Hawaii when we were back in the 90s. Laura was one the first to hold Jake after we brought him home from the hospital.
We got up bright and early at 6:30am this morning. We had an awesome breakfast of egg enchiladas, then headed out to the green house to get our assignment by 7:30am. Our assignment was to do debris removal for a family way north of town. Since it was a distance, Eunice stayed back around TC and helped out. She helped at the tool shed doing check out forms. The church had receipt forms donated and Eunice was crossing off things like address and writing in church name, work site, ect. Then she headed over to the distribution tent and helped fold towels and measured out ground coffee into baggies. She smelled really good when we picked her up!
We headed out to the work site and were rear-ended (on a bridge) on the way there. Traffic was stopped in the middle of the bridge due to an accident up a little bit. We saw the lady coming up too fast behind us so we knew we were going to get it. Luckily Eric had left enough room so we didn't hit the person ahead of us. We (Eric, the boys, and I) were OK. I was a little shakey, but Eric did a great job of remaining calm and I fed off it him. Since there were 2 other accidents within 1/4 mile of us, the police arrived quickly and had us move off the bridge since it was only one lane in each direction. The lad who hit us had a small baby in her car, but the baby was strapped in, so everyone was fine. The lady was very upset though. I went and gave her a hug and asked her if she was OK. The police quickly took the report and we were on our way to our worksite.
We arrived at the worksite and began working on a HUGE pile of debris in the backyard. We had to take it from the backyard out to the front ditch which was right along a busy road. The boys did a pretty good job of helping out for a few hours. They mostly picked up broken pieces of shingles, dragged sticks and branches out front, and raked. It was a very warm and sunny 82 today! Quite the opposite of the snow at home! We went through a lot of water and had to take frequent breaks! We worked until 3:15 or so and then talked with the resident for a little bit. Their kids came home from school and the boys had a good time playing with them for a few minutes.
Before
AfterWe returned to TC to pick up Eunice and then headed back to Bethel for our showers and to relax before dinner. We didn't get much relaxing in, but we did have a great dinner and meeting. Every night we have a sharing time called 'Where did you see the face/hands/feet/heart of God today?' It is an incredibly moving time where people share all kinds of great experiences. The best news was that Judy, the director of LDR Biloxi, was cleared to return to work today. She had a heart attack 2 weeks ago. She was check by the Dr yesterday who said that she doesn't have any permanent damage. That is awesome news!
Right now many people are watching the 8 Days in Biloxi video. The guy who made the video is here right now preparing to create a new video. It is an incredible video that he shot in October. I have many copies, so feel free to ask to see one! Since I have seen it several times, I am taking the opportunity to update this. I have yet to upload today's pics. I hope to do that soon!
Tomorrow we are supposed to be assigned a new worksite. Eunice & I are cooking on Thursday (which means getting up VERY early!). We will also be eating dinner with our friends, Jack & Laura, who were stationed in Hawaii when we were back in the 90s. Laura was one the first to hold Jake after we brought him home from the hospital.
Monday, March 20, 2006
Monday Night
There are internet connection problems around the church, so I will try to upload this on Tuesday.
We returned to the church today and got our showers done. We went ahead and signed up for 5pm shower slots tomorrow. While I was showering we finally got a call with a work order. We will be doing debris removal. We are supposed to eat breakfast at 6:30 and report for our work assignment at 7:30. Carol & Allison will stay back at Bethel and Eunice will either work in the distribution center again or come with us to talk with the homeowner.
Today Carol & Allison stayed behind and started out with doing a little weeding outside the church. They spent a majority of their time today organizing and making copies of files in the office. They took a late afternoon walk down to the beach which took 30 mins. We met back up with them at dinner.
We had a yummy dinner of spaghetti prepared by some lovely ladies from Wisconsin. It tasted wonderful! After dinner we shared our experiences with each other. One thing I shared was the amazing rebirth and growth around here. When we were here in Dec there we hardly saw any birds or green growth. Now there are birds, flowers, and trees with green leaves. It is so nice to see!
Then we watched a 1.5 hr video done by WLOX TV. It was an excellent video that covered several days before the storm through a week or so afterwards. It was very informative and showed many shots of before and after of many buildings. That is just mind boggling.
Now it is 10pm and time to head to bed!
Eric has uploaded all the pics we have taken so far. I will attempt to get those linked up tomorrow!
We returned to the church today and got our showers done. We went ahead and signed up for 5pm shower slots tomorrow. While I was showering we finally got a call with a work order. We will be doing debris removal. We are supposed to eat breakfast at 6:30 and report for our work assignment at 7:30. Carol & Allison will stay back at Bethel and Eunice will either work in the distribution center again or come with us to talk with the homeowner.
Today Carol & Allison stayed behind and started out with doing a little weeding outside the church. They spent a majority of their time today organizing and making copies of files in the office. They took a late afternoon walk down to the beach which took 30 mins. We met back up with them at dinner.
We had a yummy dinner of spaghetti prepared by some lovely ladies from Wisconsin. It tasted wonderful! After dinner we shared our experiences with each other. One thing I shared was the amazing rebirth and growth around here. When we were here in Dec there we hardly saw any birds or green growth. Now there are birds, flowers, and trees with green leaves. It is so nice to see!
Then we watched a 1.5 hr video done by WLOX TV. It was an excellent video that covered several days before the storm through a week or so afterwards. It was very informative and showed many shots of before and after of many buildings. That is just mind boggling.
Now it is 10pm and time to head to bed!
Eric has uploaded all the pics we have taken so far. I will attempt to get those linked up tomorrow!
Monday Afternoon
Last night we went to bed right after the evening orientation. Sunday is the day that new groups arrive so they go over procedures and what to expect. Eric and I had headaches (allergies), so we just went to bed around 9:30pm. I have included some pics of the room we are sleeping in. There are 7 of us in there, so it is snug. Eric & I have a mattress, Carol & Allison have a mattress, Eunice & Parker are on the 3rd mattress, and Jake was on an simple pool float in between. I think that Eric may go sleep in the sanctuary tonight.
We were up by about 6:30am. We were surprised to find out that no new groups arrived during the night. "Camp Biloxi" which consists of the sleeping arrangements at Bethel and the Tent City is not as full as they expected this week. After breakfast we headed to the "Green House" which is the office for work crew assignments. Carol & Allison decided to stay behind and work at Bethel. That house is on the Good Shephard property, which is where the Tent City (TC) is. I stayed in TC when I was here in December. We signed up for a work assignment and then preceeded to wait and wait. We finally went back to Bethel to pick up an area map, on that drive we took a short detour down along the gulf. I am amazed by how much clean up that has been done since the end of December. The casino that floated across the highway and landed on the Holiday Inn has been completely removed. They have also done a lot of work cleaning up the beach area, although it is still off limits to the public.
We headed back to the TC property to find out if they had work for us yet. After waiting a while longer we decided to check out some basic tools and take off. They told us they would call us with a work assignment, but they were having troubles finding things for unskilled workers. All the college students that are here this week are pretty much considered unskilled workers too. We drove east along Hwy 90 and saw all the destruction that way. We went all the way down the the point in Biloxi and followed that through the neighborhood. Many residents are in FEMA trailers and we even saw several tents. This point had water come in from the gulf and the bay. Things are in really bad shape.
We then headed over the Hwy 110 bridge and went to visit the Seymours whom we helped out in December. They have a new trailer on their property which is A LOT bigger! They also have a new vehicle. It was great to see Maggie, John (Milton) and Vinne again. They were very happy to see us. Things seem to be going the same with them. The flowers that we planted look good and Maggie has added more to the property. We will go back and visit with them more this week.
We ate lunch nearby and after hanging out for a bit we headed back to TC. Still no work for us. So we got back and found work to do around the TC property. Eric helped take out a huge tree and general help around the tool shed, Jake, Parker, & I helped clean up yard waste from around the site, and Eunice worked in the distribution center folding and sorting things. As of now we have not been called for a work assignment. We are about to head back to Bethel cause we are signed up for showers at 4:45pm. I will upload this then. CLICK HERE for pics from today!
We were up by about 6:30am. We were surprised to find out that no new groups arrived during the night. "Camp Biloxi" which consists of the sleeping arrangements at Bethel and the Tent City is not as full as they expected this week. After breakfast we headed to the "Green House" which is the office for work crew assignments. Carol & Allison decided to stay behind and work at Bethel. That house is on the Good Shephard property, which is where the Tent City (TC) is. I stayed in TC when I was here in December. We signed up for a work assignment and then preceeded to wait and wait. We finally went back to Bethel to pick up an area map, on that drive we took a short detour down along the gulf. I am amazed by how much clean up that has been done since the end of December. The casino that floated across the highway and landed on the Holiday Inn has been completely removed. They have also done a lot of work cleaning up the beach area, although it is still off limits to the public.
We headed back to the TC property to find out if they had work for us yet. After waiting a while longer we decided to check out some basic tools and take off. They told us they would call us with a work assignment, but they were having troubles finding things for unskilled workers. All the college students that are here this week are pretty much considered unskilled workers too. We drove east along Hwy 90 and saw all the destruction that way. We went all the way down the the point in Biloxi and followed that through the neighborhood. Many residents are in FEMA trailers and we even saw several tents. This point had water come in from the gulf and the bay. Things are in really bad shape.
We then headed over the Hwy 110 bridge and went to visit the Seymours whom we helped out in December. They have a new trailer on their property which is A LOT bigger! They also have a new vehicle. It was great to see Maggie, John (Milton) and Vinne again. They were very happy to see us. Things seem to be going the same with them. The flowers that we planted look good and Maggie has added more to the property. We will go back and visit with them more this week.
We ate lunch nearby and after hanging out for a bit we headed back to TC. Still no work for us. So we got back and found work to do around the TC property. Eric helped take out a huge tree and general help around the tool shed, Jake, Parker, & I helped clean up yard waste from around the site, and Eunice worked in the distribution center folding and sorting things. As of now we have not been called for a work assignment. We are about to head back to Bethel cause we are signed up for showers at 4:45pm. I will upload this then. CLICK HERE for pics from today!
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Sunday Afternoon
We are here and getting settled in!
After we checked in today we headed out to KFC for lunch. Notice the broken bucket on the sign. A few feet away I found an outside area of PO boxes that was put in place in the Kmart parking lot. Very interesting.
Then we hit I-10 West and headed to NOLA (New Orleans, LA). We did not know our way around at all, so we just followed the freeway in and got off when we saw the Superdome at Canal St. The devastation that we saw to the east of downtown was pretty incredible. I tried to take pics but the railings were often in the way. We saw some pretty wiped out areas and were surprised to see FEMA trailers, but for the most part we saw areas that are abandoned. You can see where the water line was on the buildings.
We got out and walked around the French Quarter for about 45 mins or so. The area is alive and thriving. It was very interesting!
We returned to Bethel and are getting settled in now.
CLICK HERE for pics from today!
After we checked in today we headed out to KFC for lunch. Notice the broken bucket on the sign. A few feet away I found an outside area of PO boxes that was put in place in the Kmart parking lot. Very interesting.
Then we hit I-10 West and headed to NOLA (New Orleans, LA). We did not know our way around at all, so we just followed the freeway in and got off when we saw the Superdome at Canal St. The devastation that we saw to the east of downtown was pretty incredible. I tried to take pics but the railings were often in the way. We saw some pretty wiped out areas and were surprised to see FEMA trailers, but for the most part we saw areas that are abandoned. You can see where the water line was on the buildings.
We got out and walked around the French Quarter for about 45 mins or so. The area is alive and thriving. It was very interesting!
We returned to Bethel and are getting settled in now.
CLICK HERE for pics from today!
We're Here!
We've arrived. Dropped our stuff and are heading out to see the area. We will post with pictures this evening!
Traveling South!
We began our journey from Champaign about 3pm on Saturday. We purchased a piggy back carrier for the van with holds a lot of stuff. We were snug inside the van, but didn't have to sit on any of our stuff. We quickly settled into our drive down I-57. Around Effingham we picked up the Illini pre-game. As we traveled south we lost reception and we had to keep switching stations. We stopped for dinner in Mt. Vernon. The subway was very slow so we got back into the van and the Illini had a 10 point lead. As the game went on we were more anxious about losing reception than how the Illini were playing. Unfortunately they lost the game and we focused on our trip south.
We stopped in Sardis, MS for the night. That is about 1 hour south of Memphis. We rolled in there around 11pm. It wasn't bad for a $50 room, but the splashing rain outside the door made it tough to sleep. We managed to get up and on the road by 8:30. At one point on I-55 we saw 3 vehicles off in the ditches. We slowed down a little bit.
Right now we are looking for a place to eat in Hattiesburg, MS. We stopped by a Waffle House and waited a few minutes. Someone from the counter leaned over and told us that they had been there over an hour and a half, so we left. I guess we might have a hard time finding someplace to eat since it is noon on a Sunday in the Bible Belt. Onward to Biloxi!!
Saturday, March 18, 2006
Trip Participants
Eric, Diana, Jake, & Parker (our family)
Eunice (friend from Grace Lutheran)
Carol & Allison (mom & daughter from Paxton)
Eunice (friend from Grace Lutheran)
Carol & Allison (mom & daughter from Paxton)
Monday, March 13, 2006
Blog Created!
This blog was created to follow the Moshers & friends on their Katrina Relief Trip to Biloxi for Spring Break 2006. The dates of the trip are March 18-25. Journal of the journey will begin on March 19. Check back for updates!
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