Allan's Story

Allan is another Coop's Place regular and significant other to Kattai.

It's been over 30 days now so I decided to try and get this together. My sanity still relatively intact and the coffee is helping. I suppose I'll start at the beginning. Sat. Aug 27th was a fairly normal day. A sort of "pre-Katrina" mentality, if you will. At Whole Foods the talk of the day was what are we going to do with all of the food in the store? Well, we put as much stuff in our freezers as we could, thinking we would be back in a few days. The store had rented a reefer truck to store as much food as we could shove into it. Most of us were allowed to leave early but I didn't really have a plan at that point because I didn't think I was leaving.

I went to work at my second job bussing tables at Maximo's that evening. I thought we would be very slow as the storm was building and heading our way. To my (financial) surprise, we were very busy. After my shift I headed next door to Coop's for a couple of beers and a wee bit o' Jameson as is customary on a Saturday nite. Outside as I was leaving I talked to Sean and Stephanie and they said that they would probably go to NC. At this point I still really didn't think that I was going anywhere. I then went over to see Kattai after leaving Coop's.

On Sunday morning the plan that was developing involved Kattai, Kathleen and myself going to stay at the Park Plaza Hotel where Kattai works. First we would go to Coop's for breakfast and then gather up a few things, board the windows and such and go to the hotel. Well, imagine our surprise as we were sitting at Coop's watching the Mayor declaring the evac. order. Laura was there with us and Coop but that was it.

Realizing that this was no longer a usual hurricane situation we went into a state of mind that I really don't want to go through ever again. Kathleen and Kattai informed me that a very good friend, almost a son and brother, had extended the invite for us to come to Houston. So, there it was. I was actually going to evac. Now, I went through Hurricane Georges in Puerto Rico, actually stood outside as the eye passed over. I've been in the middle and somehow leaving meant that the hurricane had won. But when Harry Lee says "people this is a time to haul ass", I guess you had better haul ass.

After boarding up Kattai's house I needed to go to my place in Metairie, yes Metairie. So, at about noon on Sunday I headed to my place. Fortunately I knew how to get there w/o getting on the highway. I grabbed a few things, some shorts, a few tee's, toiletries, my towel, and sunglasses. For the intergalactic hitch-hikers out there you must have your towel and sunglasses. Then back to Kattai's. We retraced my route to Metairie hoping to fill the gas tank up along the way. I know, good effing luck. Well, needless to say the half-tank we had would have to suffice.

We took Veteran's Boulevard all the way to the Williams Blvd entrance and luckily(?) got on the contra-flow side. It looked pretty good there for a while but then of course it came to a grinding halt. We had left Kattai's at 1:30 in the afternoon and I was genuinely curious as to how long the trip to Baton Rouge would take. Kattai's aunt was a little ahead of us and told us to get off I-10 before Baton Rouge to avoid the construction delays. We did and I think that we saved a tremendous amount of time. I don't really remember the exit we took but we came in behind LSU somehow and got back on the highway. Now this may sound easy as you read but it was now coming up on 6 in the evening. Over 4 hrs to get to Baton Rouge. Yes we did find gas south of Baton Rouge and got some dinner too.

Business as usual at that point. Now, to Houston. Rest areas were turning into mini block parties. People hanging out talking, cooking and sleeping. Still no sense of the impending disaster. We finally made it into Houston at about 3 in the morning. 13 and a half hours to Houston. I was completely brain-dead by the time we got there. I've never been more comfortable on a cement floor. The people we were staying with in Houston proved to be a disconcerting group at best. There were several personality types represented and the most annoying one was the conspiracy-theorist/restless slave souls responsible for the storm person. She had it out for me from the beginning. Apparently she thought that we weren't being told everything that was going on in the city. Well, duh.

I won't go on too much about her, but she made my stay very uncomfortable, I think to her delight. Most of the others were simply keeping to themselves as the storm unleashed on Monday. I am of the opinion that in situations like this we are stronger as a group than in our individual selves. This view was not shared by the rest of the house. Over the next few days as the levees were breached and the damage assessments were coming in, things only got worse. The conspiracy freak started arguing with me and generally staying angry with everyone. The others just ignored me, Kathleen, and Kattai. We were sort of banished to staying outside and actually used the grill to cook several meals.

Kathleen's sister Deb came over one day to eat with us and it was very nice seeeing her and her family. By Wed. we knew we would not be staying any longer as the house situation had deteriorated to being completely intolerable. The guy that owned the house, K's friend, actually said that I would have to leave ASAP as the women in the house (2 our age and Grandma) felt too intimidated by my presence to be comfortable. Can you believe that? I was astounded. After safely evacuating Kathleen and Kattai, their friend said I would have to leave. I was speechless. My city was under water, my job was gone until who knew when, I had 3 pairs of shorts, a few t-shirts, and shoes, and this guy said I had to go.

Well, he underestimated Kathleen's response. She told him that if I go, they go too. So, there it was. Fortunately, we were offered a place to stay in FL with Ariel's grandmother just north of Sarasota. So on Fri. Sept 2nd we once again got on the road. We drove north to Memphis the first day and it took about 11 hrs. We got some local papers along the way with headlines like "ANARCHY", "NEW ORLEANS UNDER WATER", you get the idea. Once in Memphis we got a room at a Wyndham Hotel with Kattai's employee rate.

Well here's where things started to improve. I had contacted Whole Foods to inform them of my whereabouts and to see what was happening with the stores. Just as we arrived in Memphis I got a call. Since I had been in touch with Whole Foods they knew of my situation and they were actually in the process of assisting me in getting a position with one of the 4 Houston stores. On Friday evening they called to tell me that not only would I be getting 4 weeks pay but they would also provide relocation expenses so I could get to another store to continue working. I just about dropped to my knees, I couldn't believe the lenghts they were going to. I would find out later the extent of their contribution to the community at large.

So with a sense of some relief we then went to dinner with Kattai's cousin Coretta. We had the most amazing Thai food in Memphis that night. The next morning
we were off to Atlanta. Another rather uneventful day on the road. Along the way we met several people who saw the LA license plates and were curious. The welcome center in GA was quite a sight. I really got a sense then of what was happening. The Red Cross and Salvation Army had set up a small town it seemed. They were giving away just about everything you could need in the short term. They were registering people and talking to us and seeing how we were.

After hanging there for a little while we left for the city. My mom lives in Atlanta and I had contacted her to let her know of our extended plans and I would be staying the night with her while Kattai, Katleen, and Ariel would stay in a hotel. My mom and her husband had decided to grill out that night and invited all to dinner. Unfortunately Kathleen wasn't feeling well so she stayed at the hotel. So I got caught up with mom and she was relieved to see that we were well and in decent spirits.

Speaking of spirits, her husband is a big fan of Single Malt Scotch so there was much relaxing that evening. The next day we were on the road again headed for Tampa, FL. Long day again and many more miles. Once in Tampa we checked into a hotel and went insearch of some cheap seafood. We found a great little place just over the bay going into St. Pete. We then dropped Ariel off at the hotel and went to meet up with Laura. (Note to cell phone owners, they don't do well when falling off the roof of a car moving at 45 mph as Laura can attest.)

Once back where she was staying she proved that she is truly one of the great bartenders. She had a six pack of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Rolling Rock, and a bottle of Merlot for Kathleen. It doesn't get much better. The following day we finally arrived at our destination of Bradenton, FL. Thank God! Maureen has a very nice house here in FL. A pool, 15 min. to the beach, and best of all it's only 25 min to the nearest Whole Foods. Once here I contacted them and set up a time to meet with them. After going to the store I was sset to start working the following week doing the exact same thing I was doing in NOLA. Excellent.

As we have only the one car, Kattai's, here it became obvious that I would need to get transportation. The asst. store team leader just happened to have a Kawasaki Eliminator 600cc, 1996 for sale. The price is right so next week I'll be getting the bike from him. I already have my FL drivers license but I have a special one. Only good in this state. I couldn't surrender my LA license for fear of not being allowed back in the city. We just got our helmets last week and it won't be long now til I get the bike.

That pretty much brings this up to current. We have made our plans to be in the city during Halloween to clean Kattai's place and get some more clothing and to go see what damage I may have sustained at my apt in Metairie. We will drive to Pensacola on Fri the 28th and stay with a friend of mine and then drive on to the city on Sat the 29th.

So, here we are. I feel like Dorothy in Oz. I am in this reality that I didn't choose but isn't so bad. I have a home that I don't know anything about yet. I have friends scattered about that say they are never returning to their homes, who cares about their stuff. It's quite strange when I allow myself to think about it. I try not to think about it too much because it gets overwhelming fast. So for now it really is one day at a time. I can't wait to see those that will be in for Halloween. It was nice seeing Steve and Lia and Laura last week. To see people from home but we are not there. To have fun like nothing had happened while in fact our lives are beyond upside down. It's like the scary crazy rollercoaster that doesn't have an end.

So that's my story. It felt good to get that out. I hope those that read this will enjoy it. There is probably a lot more to it but I didn't want to write a novel. The stories will come out, I'm sure, at Coop's when we are back. For now we are in good health and I think that I made out better than most so that helps. But I'm still away from my home and away from my environment and I miss it. See you at Halloweeen.