More Wednesday...

We crawled towards the Huey P Long bridge swerving around fallen trees and downed power lines. We never saw any water on that side of the river. Something was obviously going on further down on the Westbank, but we didn't know what it was yet. We heard an explosion in the distance and we could see smoke. A few cops made us pull over so they could go around us, but it was mostly silent. We learned later that this was when Oakwood Shopping Center was set on fire. There was a truck stopped on the side of the road that the police had surrounded that was full of electronics. We could see them in back of truck and on side of road. I now assume that this is the incident where police caught some people with a bunch of stolen goods right after the Hurricane trying to leave the area. Seemed like a huge waste of resources when we had much worse issues than a few stolen TVs. We saw a few people with cars that were obviously not theirs crusing around and looking like trouble. Most of them still had dealer tags in windows. Wal Mart just off the Expressway was missing the front doors to the store. It looked like someone had pulled them off with a truck and a chain. We didn't really see a bunch of people, but there were various goods scattered around the entrance. We learned later that the cars with the dealer tags were stolen from Sewall Cadillac and eventually the Sheriff's office took control of the Wal mart for their own supply usage. I kept expecting someone to stop and question us again, but no one did. We went over the Huey P Long bridge and headed towards the city and Orleans Parish.

We couldn't go up Clearview - it was blocked off with huge barricades we couldn't go around so we got on Jefferson Hwy and headed towards the city. There was no power anywhere to be seen probably due to all the downed power lines and billboards that looked like God had pushed them over with his hand. Tree limbs were everywhere. Chris was so good at making sure we navigated the mess. We had to drive the wrong way on the street a few times because our lanes were completely blocked. I have some pictures that I took with my cell phone, but have since lost them.

We also drove by a pawn shop that was on fire on Jefferson Hwy. I think the news reported it was on fire near downtown New Orleans, but it was not near downtown. It was still in Jeff Parish. It had been set on fire by some looters that morning, but the fire department was too busy to worry about it so it burned down and spread to another business that was located behind the pawn shop. The National Guard was setting up a staging area under the Causeway - we actually saw a Salvation Army truck feeding the zombies that were dragging themselves out of their houses to get food. I say zombies not to be disrespectful but because they looked like they had not seen daylight and had been through serious trauma. Chris and I stopped at the Salvation Army truck and got a plate of beans and franks and it was hot and delicous. I can still see the food melting onto the cheap styrofoam plate. We gobbled it and then got back into the truck. If any of you want to donate to a charity, pick the Salvation Army. They were in the city before FEMA or the Red Cross and no one was protecting them. We saw so many looters, mostly with shopping carts full of beer and hard liquor. The Sav a Center had been busted into, as well as just about every business on the road. There was no water on Jefferson Hwy until we got to the Causeway and then the water started to rise. It was at the middle of our tires by the time we got to Ochsner Hospital. Remember we were in a truck, so this would probably be 2 feet deep. The military had not reached the hospital yet so they had no protection. We found the loading dock and pulled in. When we got onto the dock, we were met by a couple of guys desparate for the 3 pallets we had for them. We took pallet jacks and Chris, myself, and the Pharmacist took them upstairs. This hospital was not too overwhelmed at this time, though they were concerned about running out of supplies or fuel, as they were running a large generator. It wasn't chaotic just busy.I saw a lot of small children wearing scrubs as they obviously had ended up here from another hospital. Most people were glad to see us because we were the first outsiders they had seen since the storm.

We left the Hospital and went to try to get to Chris's house as he lived near Ochsner. We got 2 blocks from his house - that is where the water got too high to drive any further. We parked and got out and waded through water. On Chris it came up to his thighs, on me it was belly high. There were fire ants in the water and I kept getting bitten. Did I mention that all the clothes I had left after Katrina were 2 pairs of khaki pants, 1 pair of khaki shorts, 1 pair of pajama pants, 3 Hackbarth shirts, 2 button up shirts, 5 pairs of underwear, 5 pairs of socks, a t shirt, a pair of Docs, and the Shox Lisa bought me? I ruined one set of my meager clothing that day. I had little red welts all over my thighs, legs and belly from the ants. There was oil and fuel in the water and it smelled so bad. You ended up with a greasy film on everything. We got to Chris's house and discovered water had risen to 1 inch below his door and had not gotten in his house. Lucky for him his house was raised almost 4 feet off the ground. His neighbor came out to see what was going on. He had a shotgun and 2 large dogs.....