Katrina Update #28Katrina Update #28We started our trip south to New Orleans by picking up Adam, Megan, and Jarret, who were staying at Barry's mom's house near Bagdad, KY. They live on a farm, complete with an ATV and a creek. Since Nashville is only a four hour drive from Bagdad, we had a couple of hours to kill. So Barry took me out on a quick ride to show me how to use the ATV, and – well, I'll just let the pictures tell the some of the story:
Andrea looks like she had fun, but she insists that I must not like her.
Janis was hanging on for dear life —
her expression after the ride was probably more indicative of the time both she and Andrea had.
When Barry took me for a ride to show me how to use it, he heads straight for this tree. Not all that small a tree either. Hits it dead on. The plastic hood comes up and he says "oy, maybe that's a bit too big." He then slams the hood back down and says "I forgot. This one doesn't have a bumper. This is our third ATV." So I am thinking - sarcastically - "Hmmm" I wonder why?"
So he puts it in reverse and heads full speed for a somewhat smaller tree — not a lot smaller, mind you, but smaller. Went right over it. He then let me take over and I drove us back to the house.
Thinking maybe I can inspire some level of fear in my sons, I ask who wants to go for a ride. Cary says, "sure." We go down the trail and it turns pretty much into some kind of combination of dirt bike trail, dry creek bed, and rock slide waiting to happen. We navigate that down to the bank of a small, shallow creek. I stop briefly, look at the bank, and Cary immediately (with a great deal of alarm in his voice) says "What are you thinking of doing?" Ignoring what I believe to be a rhetorical question, we head down the bank into the water (which was only a few inches deep, btw), and up the other side into a dry creek bed. After traveling up it for a while, we turned back and I drove back to the house. Cary at this point was a bit like a James Bond martini - shaken, not stirred.
My next victim was Jarret. I did pretty much the same thing to him. When we get to the creek bank, he wastes no time, since he knows exactly what I have in mind, and yells "F**K NO!" (heh, heh). Too late. Once through the creek and back I surrender the controls to him. (Keep in mind he has no driver's license.)
For those of you who have never driven one of these things, they have three balloon-like wheels on each side. You accelerate by turning the right handle toward you, like a motorcycle. With both "handlebars" forward, all six wheels are moving forward equally. You brake by pulling both handlebars toward you. You turn by pulling just one handle bar towards you, which slows or stops the wheels on the side you are pulling toward you. If you pull one side completely towards you while the other side is completely away from you, the vehicle will turn on a dime.
This takes a lot longer to explain in writing than it does by example. Once Jarret gets the hang of it, he says "Hey, this is just like a pod racer!" as though he had been driving around in pod racers since he was seven. If he ever gets married and has twins, I am seperating and hiding them from him.
Once we returned from our little excursion, Jarret pretty much ran into the house telling anyone who would listen "I got to drive the ATV! I got to drive the ATV! It was so cool! It was just like a pod racer!"
At this point, it was time to load up the vehicles for the trip south. Cary and I had purchased a car top carrier for the Jeep Janis' sister loaned us so we could fit Barry's stuff (and Barry) with us. Barry rode in Cary's car, not the car top carrier, btw. The trip to Nashville was uneventful, but now we are stuck here. Not a place to be stuck - near Opryland - if you have money to burn. Unfortunately, we do not have money to burn. We are hoping Rita stays south of New Orleans so we can continue our journey south on Thursday or Friday.
As much fun as we seem to be having, it is really just an attempt to keep busy. Thoughts of the devestation that awaits us, and the frustration of not being able to be in our own home for over three weeks really wears thin.
Adam heard from his landlord – he was in their house yesterday, and everything seems to be right where they left it with no water damage or looting. That is really good to hear, since by first reports, we were certain they had lost everything.
Cary's luck is not so good, however. He also spoke with his landlord today. He lived on the ground floor, underneath his landlord, who had just completely renovated the premises last year. He said there was about 4 feet of water in the house, and that he didn't think anything would be salvageable. On the bright side, he did say he would give Cary his security deposit back.
- Coop went into New Orleans today, but didn't stay. He reports that there is no electricity at Kim's house, Kim's shop, or in the French Quarter. He said his house "was a mess." He also drove by our house and said it looked untouched. (Thank God — and thanks so much, Coop, for doing that).
- Jaclyn McCabe sent me the following great email today:
I miss you guys. I was just letting you know that I am safe in Orlando. I got an apartment, a job, and registered for classes at UCF. Lia, Steve, and Fay visited this weekend, we had so much fun drinking Jaeger, sipping champagne, and late night swimming in a downtown Orlando lake (i'm sure highly illegal). I'll send you pics later.
Fay and I decided that she and Michael would live in my house in new orleans while I stay here and finish out the semester. I think we'll go back next week to clean out the house and she will move in.
How are you all? Tell everyone I said hi. I miss you guys.
- Sean & Julie Green made it to Chicago. They got some great new tattoos, including this new one Juli had done:
- Well, Rita is headed towards the Gulf, and probably the Houston area. So Nagin decided to side with the Feds and called for a mandatory evacuation of all non-essential people in the city of New Orleans, and suggested that any one remaining may be forced to move as early as Wednesday if Rita makes a turn north earlier than anticipated.
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