Road Trip - Louisiana

[fsmith]

I'll be away for about 5 days, I'm making a trip to Bogalusa Louisiana to deliver relief supplies to the town that our local fire department adopted. We leave in the morning with a trailer loaded with deperately needed supplies. Keep the families in your thoughts as well as those unfortunate folks in the path of the latest storm headed into the gulf.

I'll check back next week.

fred

 

[Victrola]

Fred - drive safe, it's a wonderful thing you are doing. I was very pleased to meet you and hang out this past weekend. Check back in when you get back.

V.

 

[jongitarz]

Be safe Fred...Thanks again for the Wabo....Gooood Schtuff! It was a pleasure to meet you!

 

[GWDavis28]

Fred, good luck on your journey. Be safe and careful. Hope to be hearing from you soon.

Glenn |B)

 

[dwf1004]

Fred, after meeting you, I can see that you would have it in your heart to do something like this. My respect for you has increased another level (I took a point away from Raz b/c of that avatar, and you get it now!)

Be safe, my friend...

 

[tommyindelaware]

typical fred behavior......
your sooooooooooooo predictable..........

be safe my friend.......

 

[koogie2k]

Man...that is soooo cool! I feel for all down there. Such a tragedy that effects us all. Be careful and safe. You are a hero to many just for doing that. Mucho respect my friend!

 

[kbaim]

Safe trip, fred.

I've read that many of the supply trucks get there with no problem, but once there the system to distribute them sometimes breaks down.

Lots of good luck.

 

[jeffrey]

Be careful man, and good luck!

 

[fsmith]

Back home safe and sound... Thanks for the thoughts...

We left at 9AM on Wednesday and got into Bogalusa LA around 4AM on Thursday morning. We saw a lot of tree/house damage on the way in. We made our first drop of supplies and then headed down to Pass Christian, Mississippi, we had some friends that were staying there and helping out. Wow. If I thought LA was bad, this place was in another dimension. This was ground zero for Katrina's landfall. I've never witnessed such total devastation as this. We were given a tour of the affected areas around Bay St. Louis and Henderson Point in Pass Christian. I have a ton of pics, but actually started feeling bad about taking pictures of others misfortunes. It was really bad, way worse than what was being shown on TV.

We were starting to feel the effects of Rita that evening. We planned on sleeping over and heading out on Friday but one of the guys was flipping out about Rita and against our better judgement talked us into leaving at 11PM on Thursday night. He claimed he could drive for 8 hours... Well he ended up going 3 tops. I was navigating at the time and had the other guy start driving so I could get some sleep. I woke up about 3 hours later and found that we were parked on an off ramp in Alabama... The truck was running and the other 2 were fast asleep in the front seats!!! I just about flipped out and got the driver in the back and started driving like I stole the damn thing. I went on adrenaline alone and made it to Bristol TN before I had to stop. Anyhow, we ended up getting back around 8PM on Friday night. I spent the rest of the weekend catching up on sleep.

Great trip all in all. We were able to get the supplies to people who really have nothing at all. If I did it again, I'd make sure that we did the driving bit a little differently though.

fred

 

[kbaim]

Thanks for the recap, fred. Scary how it's worse than they're showing on tv. Is it just impossible to capture? I've heard the reporters say the same thing.

Did you get to talk with anyone affected?

 

[fsmith]

Keith,
I think it really is difficult to capture just how bad it is. Possibly due to the fact that you're only seeing a small portion of the overall picture. In some cases entire houses were picked up and moved intact 300 or more yards to wind up in gas stations and on railroad tracks and others were reduced to piles of wood and shingles. It was very unnerving to see all of the devastation.

I did talk to some of the people affected and it broke my heart to watch the families stopping by the relief depot and seeing the kids go through the piles clothes just looking for something else to wear. They were very thankful when they found out that we were there to deliver the supplies.

In Pass Christian, everything is pretty much obliterated. There was a 30 foot storm surge that just destroyed everything in it's path. One of the volunteers at the Henderson Point firehouse lost his job and his home at the same time, he and his wife were employed at a casino in Gulfport, the only thing they have are their 2 dogs and yet they are there still helping others. It's amazing the strength that some people have in the face of such adversity.

I'm going to post some of the pictures that I took out on my webshots site later this morning.

fred

 

[tommyindelaware]

yea it's heartbreaking.......

i know my spare scratch will be going to the red cross......
i'll just deal w/ my gas.........

 

[OrangeChannel]

I've made donations to RC and Americares...

Fred, you're a total dude! The best! Fred's done some cool stuff for me, but this has to be one of thee best stories I've ever heard...next time I'm in Baltoland...the beer is on me...

 

[tommyindelaware]

welcome home fred !!!!!!!

one of the bands i work with (texas heat) are gonna get some texas heat slingshots made up........
roadtrip commin up soon..........

 

[koogie2k]

Glad to see you made it home safe Fred.

 

[GWDavis28]

Fred, man nice job. It was an honor and a pleasure to hang out with you man.

You are an inspiration, well done. Glad to hear that everything went okay.

Glenn |B)

 

[jchalas]

Fred,
My (virtual) hat's off to you -- since I don't typically wear them... Anyway, glad you were able to complete your mission successfully, albeit a bit stressful to find out your driver was sawing wood instead of driving. Glad all made it back safe 'n sound though.
Janice

Back home safe and sound... Thanks for the thoughts...

We left at 9AM on Wednesday and got into Bogalusa LA around 4AM on Thursday morning. We saw a lot of tree/house damage on the way in. We made our first drop of supplies and then headed down to Pass Christian, Mississippi, we had some friends that were staying there and helping out. Wow. If I thought LA was bad, this place was in another dimension. This was ground zero for Katrina's landfall. I've never witnessed such total devastation as this. We were given a tour of the affected areas around Bay St. Louis and Henderson Point in Pass Christian. I have a ton of pics, but actually started feeling bad about taking pictures of others misfortunes. It was really bad, way worse than what was being shown on TV.

We were starting to feel the effects of Rita that evening. We planned on sleeping over and heading out on Friday but one of the guys was flipping out about Rita and against our better judgement talked us into leaving at 11PM on Thursday night. He claimed he could drive for 8 hours... Well he ended up going 3 tops. I was navigating at the time and had the other guy start driving so I could get some sleep. I woke up about 3 hours later and found that we were parked on an off ramp in Alabama... The truck was running and the other 2 were fast asleep in the front seats!!! I just about flipped out and got the driver in the back and started driving like I stole the damn thing. I went on adrenaline alone and made it to Bristol TN before I had to stop. Anyhow, we ended up getting back around 8PM on Friday night. I spent the rest of the weekend catching up on sleep.

Great trip all in all. We were able to get the supplies to people who really have nothing at all. If I did it again, I'd make sure that we did the driving bit a little differently though.

fred