Louisiana - Days 1 and 2
We left Carlisle at 4:30PM on Friday, on our way to Dulac, Louisiana. The convoy consisted of one large passenger van, three mini-vans and one truck with a trailer. Since the passenger van is a rental, it can only be driven by those over 25, of which there are four of us, so that pretty much set where I was going to be for most of the trip. It’s been nice getting to know some of the people on the trip on the way down. On the last trip, I took the first shift in the truck with Michael, which cut down on some of that interaction.
I drove from about 10:30 to 3:00 or so, which worked out pretty well for me. Since I don’t normally have caffeine anymore, I was able to get a cup of coffee to keep me going through that time. Of course that made me have to pee more, which led to an awkward “road side pit stop”. All in all, though, the drive was largely uneventful, and we arrived in Dulac at 4:00PM, eastern time, so the trip took 23.5 hours.
We are staying at a community center which seems to have been hosting relief workers for some time, now. There are two rooms setup with bunk beds, and when we arrived there were sheets on each bed, although they are short on pillows (I, along with most others in our group, have my own). It’s a little weird, because there are other groups sharing the space with us. A church group from California arrived early last night, and there was some confusion because there weren’t enough beds for the women. The rooms are to be segregated, but that rule has apparently been broken for them. The rest of the community center includes a gymnasium and some other small rooms and kitchen. Our group will be making its own meals in the Church’s kitchen across the street.
Last night we all decompressed and hung out around the center. The trip leaders drove to the next big town, about half an hour away, to get supplies for dinner. The local grocery store was practically destroyed in the hurricane, and hasn’t re-opened yet. We had a nice spaghetti dinner and a brief meeting before going to bed.
Right now I’m using the Verizon internet access through my Blackberry, but apparently they do have wireless available, although I need to find the “station manager” to get the password. Hopefully I’ll be able to get that at church this morning and then upload some photos after we return from New Orleans tonight.