Day 2 - Traveling to Louisiana

We got up in the morning for Sunday worship, but instead of going straight there, we were invited to have breakfast--another thing we did not expect. The food included doughnuts, juice, milk, cereal, muffins, and cinnamon twists. Even after our group ate, and the group from Xenia ate, there was still breakfast food left over.

Worship was in an auditorium that's a made-over gymnasium. There were songs, and a good message for what we were about to get into. The message was about "identity theft" and the fact that we should live our lives under God's guidance, instead of trying to "steal" control from Him.

After worship, we loaded up in the bus again, and noticed just how hot it still was. By now, we had the problem of knowing something was wrong but being stuck with a schedule that meant we needed to arrive in Louisiana by evening. We drove into Mississippi. Along the way, we stopped for food at a Kentucky Fried Chicken in Laurel, Mississippi. Then we started going again, and I started noticing things.

I could see trees with branches only on the north side. I saw businesses with signs missing letters. And then we crossed Lake Ponchartrain. The Twin Spans Bridge is rebuilt, but it was obvious where the damage was done. We drove across metal trussworks instead of concrete slabs. Sometimes there were modular concrete barricates (like what they use in construction zones) to replace the original guard rails. We drove past Six Flags New Orleans. The entire amusement park is empty, but the parking lot was full of FEMA trailers. I saw high water marks on the concrete supports of the freeway.