We departed Hawthorne NJ at 12:02 AM on Wednesday, September 15, 2005. Under the cover of darkness, the borrowed 34 ft Pace Arrow RV, with 8ft box trailer and 2 24 ft. Penske rental trucks snuck out of the state of NJ with little fanfare. The original route that was plotted for us along the eastern coast, was abandoned last minute due to Hurricane Ophelia that is currently hitting the Carolinas. After driving Rt. 287 to Rt 78, the convoy hit some unexpected construction at the cross of Rt. 100 in PA. After literally sitting parked on the highway at 2 AM along with a hundred other tractor trailers and trucks, the team got a little restless and decided to venture off the alternate route we were already on. With some careful maneuvering, we were able to get all three of our trucks out of the traffic and onto the exit for Rt. 100. We followed Rt. 100 towards Harrisburg hoping that Andy’s hunch that it connected to Rt. 76/ PA Turnpike was right. The problem we had was that we were not supposed to be going through PA at all, so we did not have a PA map. The only support we had for Andy’s theory was a 20 yr. old U.S. atlas that Troy’s mom had tossed at him as we left. Three cheers for Mrs. Falkena and the atlas! Anyway, we were on a right path and eventually got to Rt. 81.
After debating when to stop or not to stop, (I was already passed out sleeping), We pulled off Rt. 81 in a Day’s Inn parking lot for a few hours sleep at 5:45 AM. (I thought we were in a truck stop, so when I woke up in the morning and saw us parked on the grass in the parking lot, I was a little confused) Everyone piled into the RV for some uncomfortable, but exhausting sleep until about 9 am. At that point, with a few baby wipes in tow, we walked down the road (through the construction zone) to enjoy a breakfast full of coffee at the Waffle House. (at this point, it was still questionable which state we were in, but in turned out to be PA).
We took our breakfast break, and then headed back to our respective trucks. Troy and Cowboy Craig are driving the manual “Beast” that is loaded so heavy it sways out of the lane if you try to top 55 mph. Over 60 it starts to shake rattle and roll. Victor and V.J. are toughing it out the automatic version of the Beast, seems to be a little more stable, but still topping out at about 60 mph ( unless we’re going down a hill….) On the road again, with our fresh new drivers, we entered W. Virginia, then Virginia, and started to realize that the terrain was changing when every other truck that passed us was either a hay truck or a livestock trailer. Oh, good old New Jersey… Where did the oil rigs and garbage trucks go? Anyway, we’re on the road again….

Till Later’ Erica and the Rotary 7490 Katrina Mission Team
Andy, Victor, Troy, Craig, V.J. and Zachary.

—Evening Day 1 ( Wednesday September 15, 2005)—
Virginia seemed to last forever. We drove until about 2 and stopped at a Pizza Hut for lunch. Using this time as both lunch, bathroom break, wash up time, and time to for Victor to check his stocks(not joking..), was very productive. A friendly group of folks sitting in a booth behind us started up conversation about where we were headed after seeing our matching t-shirts which are emblazed, thanks to Chip Tamar, with ROTARY KATRINA RELIEF TEAM- Workforce and Medical Aid. We thoroughly enjoyed our greasy pizza and got up to pay the bill only to be told that an anonymous customer had already paid it. I had a feeling that this was only going to be the beginning of the good work these shirts would do.
After lunch we got a little creative with the driving arrangements as it was decided that I would attempt to drive the RV while Andy and Victor slept. Hum, yeah that last about 45 minutes. A 34 ft RV with an 8 ft. trailer is just a little too long for me when you can only do 55 miles per hour on a good hill and the tractor trailers are cutting you off. We pulled over and switched again so Craig got to experience driving the Monster Mobile while Andy and Victor slept. I rode with Troy in the Beast, and V. J. drove with Zach in the most normal truck we have (it still only hits 65 on a good hill).
After a few hours of that (and some singing of famous ballads like Rubber Ducky, Over Hill Over Dale, and the Chattanooga ChooChoo over the walkie talkies), we took an ice cream stop at the most American thing we can find- McDonald’s. With two fresh drivers (if you count 2 hours sleep), we headed out again. We had one more stop for gas in Virginia and then finally crossed into Tennessee sometime around 6pm.
Since these are all gas guzzlers, we needed another gas stop in Tennessee about 30 miles north of Knoxville in a little Truck Stop outpost. As we were stretching our legs, Andy and Victor were approached by a middle aged woman who spotted our shirts and asked for help.

—Here is her story—

Mandy is a mother of three girls, ages 9, 5, and 3. The 5 year old in under treatment for leukemia, and the 3 year old has congenital kidney and heart disease. All had been receiving treatment in Texas where they were living with her husband. Unfortunatly, it was an abusive situation that required Mandy to leave with her girls. A battered woman’s organization was able to place her in a home in New Orleans where the girls where also able to get care and attend school. All were settling in here when Katrina struck. Mandy and her family were able to leave the city with a relative who was coming north to Tennessee to work, but now he is returning to New Orleans and they can’t go with him. At the moment, she was in need of clothes for her girls as well as some toiletries and diapers which we were able to provide her.

In the back corner of this same Exxon was a broken down minivan pulling a trailer with what appeared to be a families entire life. Their story was a little less clear of where they were and where they were headed, however, they had 5 kids, 3 under age 6. Their van’s water pump had died, and they sat there for the last 2 days until someone bought them a new one yesterday. They spent the entire day today installing it and got a donated lunch and breakfast from the Mc Donald’s and Taco Bell when their money ran out. At the point we saw them today, they didn’t ask for anything and were hesitate to even take the chips and water we offered the kids until Troy noticed the youngest child’s stitches. The boy (maybe 4 yrs old) had fallen in the parking lot yesterday getting a large gash in his knee requiring 4 stitches in the local Tennessee ER. When we saw them, every one of these people, including the 1 and 4 yr olds where covered head to toe in grease, soot and dirt from the gas station parking lot where they have been living. Troy and I grabbed the two youngest kids and shuttled them into the RV for a wipe down with baby wipes and some cleaning and bandaging of the 4yr. old’s stitches. With a few stickers and some lollipops (or suckers down here) we got some smiles out of these kids and made some friends. We sent them off with some diapers and water and got back on the road thanking Chip Tamar all the way for our shirts! So far they have been the most valuable tool with us! Anyway, since then we have driven all the way to Chattanooga Tennessee to stop in a Best Western for a shower and few hours sleep. I am going to sign off for today—It has been a great very interesting and inspiring 24 hours of this mission.

Yours in Rotary Spirit until the next Wireless Internet Spot—
Erica and the Katrina Mission Team—Andy, Victor, V.J., Troy, Zachary and Craig.

—Day 2- Thursday September 16, 2005—

After probably about a dozen showers between the 7 of us and 5 hours sleep at the Best Western, we attempted to depart Chattanooga about 6 am this morning. We left the hotel with a stop for coffee from a gas station (I was told it was very bad) and then headed back towards Rt. 75 South. After about a mile on the highway those of us in the Monster Mobile RV lost walkie talkie communication with Craig and Troy in the Beast. A few seconds later we got a phone call from them. As the RV and the yellow penske entered the highway, Craig tried to turn at the last light onto the highway entrance ramp, and just stopped dead. Completely unaware that anything was wrong Troy and Craig were rather confused. A person in the truck next to them hollered out the window that something fell off their truck. It turned out to be the drive shaft. No drive shaft, no driving.
The shaft was in two pieces laying on the side of the road while they were stuck in the middle. Eventually, as we turned around to meet them, they were able to let the truck roll in reverse down the hill to the side of the road. A few calls to Penske, and a tow truck was sent out to get us as we wasted about an hour and a half in a gas station parking lot at the corner of Overnite Rd and Shallowford Rd. Seems like a lot has been happening for us in gas station parking lots lately. Once we followed the truck to the Penske repair shop the told us the part was a handmade piece that had to be fitted individually to each truck and would take several hours to make. Once made it would take another hour or two to install. We expected to be delayed by about 4-5 hours so in true Rotary spirit, we found a contact number for the local Rotary Club which was supposed to be meeting at Noon. The person we talked to volunteered a driver to come pick us up, bring us on some sightseeing and then to the Rotary meeting. As wonderful as this offer was, we were glad when we only were able to take advantage of their offer for breakfast before the Penske repair place called and said that the truck was done early since they were able to steal a part from another truck they had on the lot! After a nice IHOP breakfast with Richard, the gentleman that Grant from Chattonooga Rotary, sent to escort us, we returned to the repair shop, complete with it’s own Oscar Meyer Weinermobile ( we were hoping to get it as a loaner car, but no luck). We got back on the road at about 1 pm, heading south to Montgomery and Mobile. Once passing through Montgomery, the vehicles on the road narrowed down to those of electrical repair trucks, construction vehicles, FEMA housing trailers, Red Cross box trucks, and several various non-profits such as ourselves.
We kept on trucking and arrived in Mobile, AL, which is generally regarded as the last fully functioning outpost before hitting the affected area. We stopped to get dinner at none other than a Cracker Barrel, complete with our team favorite rocking chairs. After this we looked at our first hurricane damage, but was limited to tall highway billboards that were shredded and knocked over. Realizing how close we were, we never expected to find a hotel room open, but figured it wouldn’t hurt to try, so we made about 30 calls and finally found a room in the 2nd floor of the Guest House Inn in Mobile. As we drove up to the hotel, we became a little hesitate as we noticed that the façade of the building was missing, some windows blown in, and a few light posts on the ground. Flooding was evident in the ground floor rooms which were all vacant, water marks can be seen about 6-8 inches off the ground. This was surprising to all of us, since we didn’t expect to have this much damage this soon. Anyway, the second floor was supposedly habitable with hot water and A/C so we took the room. We have Andy sleeping on the freshly painted carpet (long story but it was painted along with the rest of the room to help with water damage we think) Erica in one bed, Vijay in the other, Zach and Victor in the master bed in the RV, Troy on the couch and Craig on the table. It works, and it’s actually a lot better than what we expected tonight. With that in mind, I am going to let my head hit the pillow, tomorrow we will see the brunt of Katrina’s damage.  Yours in Service, Erica
Departing from Mobile AL we drove west on Route 10 into Mississppi. The highway was long and low over swamp land just like you see in movies. All the trees covered in Spanish moss and scrub pines., Along Rt 10 the damage from Katrina gradually increased. First was just the billboards shredded and torn, then stripped bare to the metal structure, and even the metal was folded in half or knocked flat. At this point, we started to see trucks (most from Rescue or supply contractors) that had blown flat tires and been abandoned at the side of the highway (no tow trucks in this area). Again, the presence of vehicles on the road were all EMS, law enforcement, insurance agents, supply crews, humanitarian aid, and disaster restoration (cleaning and debris) companies. On the opposite side of the road, leaving the coast was military vehicles of all sorts as well as convoys of police cars from around the country. This either made us feel good that they weren’t needed anymore or nervous that they were leaving, depending on how you looked at it. Approaching Biloxi we encountered heavy traffic due to the extensive road closures and detours. Driving straight through Biloxi and Gulfport via Rt. 10, we exited in Slidell, LA to see some of the more extensive damage and if any supplies were needed in that area. We first gassed up in Slidell, (it was almost a dollar cheaper than home!) and then followed Rt. 11 though the remnants of town. The destruction at this point was the worst we have seen on the entire trip. As Rt. 11 got closer to the waterways that surround and cut through Slidell, you no longer saw destruction on homes, it was just piles of broken lumber and bare concrete slabs left. Before this, home were missing windows and roof sections and even some walls, but they were still standing. At one point, we pulled over along a canal which had homes all the way along it between the road and the water. There was one home that stood all alone with very minimal damage while those around it were completely gone. When we asked somebody about the house, they said it had only been built for about 8 months before Katrina hit, so they felt that it’s age was in it’s favor. Along this piece of road was a few tents and canopy set up in front of the rubble of some homes in the canal. We went over to talk to these folks, see if they needed any help, and hear their story. The one elderly gentleman in the group introduced himself to me and turned around and pointed across the canal.

“See those pilings over there with the boat standing up in ‘em? That’s where my house was. Now it’s over there.”
He pointed across the road and behind yet another house. The pile of rubble that used to be his home was at 3 football fields away from where it should have been. Then he told me to take a picture of him in his little shelter, as well as a picture of what was his house so I could put them next to each other in my scrapbook and tell people his story. On one of the beams of his makeshift shelter, this man had an old photo of a woman that he told me was his wife who passed away 15 years ago, and he didn’t care about anything else from that house other than that photo, which is why he had it hanging on display.
As I was talking to him, the rest of our team was talking to various others in the area and taking pictures. We handed out a few items to them, water, some benedryl cream for a woman’s bad bug bite, some papertowels, garbage bags and bug spray. As we were there, a team of volunteers from the Southern Bapist Church in California stopped by as well, they had a truck load of generators and gas that they were passing out to people. They gave a generator to this group we had met, tried to fill it up with gas and discovered a leak in one of the connectors. Of course, always being the mechanical ones in the group, Andy and Troy broke out their tool sets and got to work trying to fix it. In the end, they were able to slow down the leak, and instuct the Baptist volunteers what to buy when they were able to get to a store in order to fix the leak. After some good group cooperation, we were able to get these people the help they needed for the day. In talking to the folks from the Baptist Church, they told us of some other people living on a side road that they had just given a generator to that were in need of some other supplies. So with their tip and directions we headed onward towards Carr Rd. Carr Rd. is a long and windy road which is basically an island in Lake Ponchatrain, so there is water bordered by houses on either side of the road. Driving down this road was like the worst war zone you could ever imagine. One man flagged us down asking for cleaning supplies and water, which we gave him. Other people we asked said they were ok, others had just been let back into the area to sea their homes and what they could salvage, so they weren’t really in need of supplies since they weren’t staying there.
Some of the most dramatic photos came from this road where boats were on land, in trees and cars and trucks were in the water. These houses were in need of nothing other than a bulldozer, which we found in several locations just getting debris off the road, mostly boats and cars. The driving was a little bit rough on Carr Rd with some tight turn arounds (we didn’t feel like going swamp diving) and maneuvering our beasts and monsters around the debris and low hanging branches. At this point in Slidell, what people were left were centered in the middle of town where there was a huge church facility and a shopping mall parking lot that were serving as camping areas, distribution points for organizations such as Convoy of Hope and headquarters for all the various other agencies and government bureaus that had business in town. For the people who would leave their homes and were able to get to this area, supplies were plenty. The church parking lot had a football field size mound of clothes that were unneeded. This is something that we ended up seeing in a lot of places. Clothes (mostly used) are the easiest thing for people to donate, and even though they are not needed, they keep sending them. In most places, the clothes have become a burden getting in the way of receiving supplies they do need and taking up vital space.
Getting back on Rt. 11 in Slidell, we were not sure which way we would be able to proceed due to road closures. Luckily, the Rt. 11 causeway and bridge going from Slidell into and through New Orleans was open. Rt. 11 is not the main road, but an older secondary Route alongside the newer, Rt. 10. However, Rt. 10’s tall fancy bridge was too big and tall to sustain it’s self through the storm while the low bridges of Rt. 11 did. After going through a National Guard Check-point we entered the Orleans parish.
Immediately you could see the difference in the damage. Along the coast of Alabama and Mississippi and into Slidell, the damage was caused by wind. Homes were destroyed like matchsticks. Here the road was caked mud as was everything else in sight. Slowly along the way, the homes began standing up again, just to be caked with mud silt. Entering the New Orleans area, the air was filled with a bitter tasting dust that you could taste and smell at the same time. Driving along Rt. 11 at one point the debris and floodwaters covered so much of the 6 lane highway that eastbound traffic was driving on the median and westbound traffic had one lane instead of 3. Once entering into the city limits, you began to see cars upon cars abandoned on the side of the road (and sometimes in the middle). Most of them were covered over their roofs with mud, showing how high the water level had been. All of these cars had bright orange tow stickers on the windshield. Looking down into the streets below the highway, the waters were mostly receded but the water and mud line was over the first story in most places. In all the other places that we had driven through, as horrible as the destruction was, there was evidence of people and life, in the tent villages, the distribution points, and bulldozers and piles of debris they had already gathered. Here in New Orleans, none of this was evident. The word ghosttown does not even come close to explaining the sight. We drove past the Six Flags (we later met a woman who lived in that neighborhood), and then past the Superdome. The eerie images in my mind were the television clips of thousands of people living on the same stretch of highway that we were then driving on. A line of several abandoned police cars still sat on one of the one ramps near the Superdome that appeared to have escaped the water. In other places, people had pulled cars up underneath the walls of the overpass to try to save them. Driving along the highways surrounding the Superdome, the debris littering the sides of the road from the days that people lived and died there was still present. This was just about the only sign of life left in the city of New Orleans beyond the several helicopters that circled overhead. We past many glass office buildings and hotels whose windows were blown out, but the rest of the city had the gray pallor of the abandoned towns of the west. The colorful atmosphere that New Orleans is known for was covered in a uniform coat of mud, slit, and dust.
After leaving the city, we were heading for the 1st Baptist Church of Ponchtoula, Louisiana. This church had just called the local Rotarians down here that we are working with asking for food supplies for the shelter they are running. Knowing that we were coming right through there today, Doug Hall from the Baker Rotary Club asked us to make a drop of what food supplies we had directly to them. The church has borrowed some storage space for sorting and loading in a warehouse in Hammond, LA from an organziaiton called Convoy of Hope, who specializes in direct disaster relief. We got to the warehouse, delivered our food goods, and after some good humored conversation with the volunteers there from Convoy of Hope (from CA, OH, MA, and MI), we headed on our way to Baker, Louisiana.
At this point, we had to stop practically every 2 hours to scrap the bugs off our windshields so we could see enough to keep on driving. One thing that we have all learned on this trip is that this 3 week period is Love Bug mating season around here, and next time we are coming to Louisiana, we are going to schedule it around this event. It is not something I ever care to encounter again, and I think Victor is traumatized enough that he will be swatting at bugs in his sleep for several months. At one point, we drove through a fog of them on a highway and they smashed into the windshield with the same sound and speed as a rain storm.
Speaking of rain storms, we entered Baton Rouge en-route to Baker just as a torrential rain storm hit. This was of course less than an hour after we had decided that we would barbeque on a grill outside for dinner. Driving Rt 61 along the Mississippi River, the rain got so heavy that we had to pull over till the storm calmed down. As we sat there though, we watched the water level in the parking lot rise so decided to hit the road in hopes of keeping the trailer out of water. It didn’t work since as we got on the road again there were cars stalled out in the water causing traffic to jump a curb, go over the grass, through 2 parking lots, and over more grass to get back on the road. In the process, the trailer was in a little more than a foot of water at one point, which luckily didn’t damage much if anything of the contents inside. We eventually made it to our destination at the Baker Community Center where we left the two trucks and trailer, and headed out to a restaurant that our hosting Rotarians had recommended as the “Best in Baker” (the restaurant sign had been blown apart from Katrina). Knowing we were in small town Louisiana, and not knowing anything more about the restaurant other than it was next to the True Value (not even it’s name) we were’t sure what to expect. What we got was a good southern meal with a little class, at least until Charles showed up. Charles Hall is the father of Doug Hall, current president of the Baker Rotary Club with whom we were working on this trip. Doug had sent his father out to welcome and greet us. The only way I can explain Charles to those of you from our Rotary District, is that he is the southern version of Paterson’s Carnie Bragg. He wasn’t going to stay long, until a drink was offered mixed with his favorite Jack Daniels Whiskey—he only had one, but it lasted a good hour or so as he regaled all the best qualities of Baker Rotarians, their response to Katrina, he argued stock market trading with Victor, and he kept trying to convince the very cute hostess to leave with him for a few days! (she took it in good humor and Charles paid our bill on his way out)
We spent the night in the RV as best as 7 people can in a vehicle that really only sleeps 4 adults comfortably, and rose early enough to begin the work of unloading our 3 trucks at 8:30 with our new Rotarian friends.
—Day 4—
About a half a dozen or so Rotarians and family along with 4 hired refugees helped unload the trucks and get our supplies sorted into the system they had. This was a huge undertaking for us since it was over 90 degrees and with 100% humidity and 100% love bug quota. (trust me, there is nothing loving about these bugs). We all learned that we will NEVER even think about moving to Louisiana, and the folks that do live there have my utmost respect. Zachary spent most of the day hidden high on top of the pallets in the truck tossing down loose items. Victor and Troy traded off who used the borrowed forklift to unload the pallets. For the pallets that were in the rear of the truck out of reach of the forklift, we wrapped a chain around them, attached it to the forklift and pulled until it was close enough to the end to actually pick it up with the forks. At one point, our buddy Charles got impatient of waiting for the forklift, and attempted to pull the pallet out with himself as the forklift. The scary thing was with a few more guys alongside of him, it worked. There were several instances of the forklift getting stuck in the mud and of pallets not fitting through the door. But in the end, we accomplished what we set out to do.
Working in the Community Center helping to sort out the items donated and collected besides the Rotarians (who are trying to run their own companies and families along with this relief effort) are 2 young couples who were evaucuated from New Orleans. They were lucky enough to have a connection to get a small home to stay in together here in Baker, however, none were working and didn’t have enough money to get the electric turned on. When Charles and his son Doug (Baker Rotary President) heard this, they told them if they would come back and work each day for as long as they liked, they would pay they hourly out of their own pockets. So not only are these Rotarians doing the work themselves, but paying these refugees too.
Andy and I joined Charles and Dell (a Rotarian Nurse) to the local hospital (Lane Memorial Hospital) who had agreed to store the medical supplies that we brought until the volunteer medical team that had just arrived in town was ready to take them. Almost 200 medical personnel had flown into Zachary, LA the day before we arrived and were in the process of setting up a large tent in a parking lot which would become the hospital the last of the patients who were being treated in the New Orleans Airport as well as a triage center for the shelter residents in Zachary and Baker, LA.
When we returned we were just about done unloading and getting ready to get on the road home. At this point several evacuees from the shelter next door tried to get in asking for some items, which was not typically allowed while new deliveries (our trucks) were being sorted and unpacked. A few of them you just couldn’t refuse though, like the one lady that asked for underwear cause she didn’t have any on. You can’t just let someone walk around without underwear. The rest would have to wait until the sorting was done. Leaving the hired refugees in charge, our Rotarian friends took us back to their homes for hot showers and fried chicken (this is Louisiana). I’m not sure where the inspiration came from, other than the deep coating of bugs on the RV, but Charles got inspired to break out his powerwasher to scrub it down. After a complete tour of his own massive motorhome, we climbed back in ours and follwed Paige Hall back to the Community Center to pick up our other two trucks and the trailer. Before we left we took a quick stop at the Red Cross Shelter that was located next to the Rotary supply point. The manager of the shelter, from Princeton, NJ, introduced himself and thanked us for the supplies. (the residents of this shelter were allowed to go to the Rotary distribution point once a day to get supplies other than food). It was here that we met a woman who heard that we had driven through New Orleans and wanted to hear every detail since she had no heard anything of her home that she left. After talking, we found out she was from the neighborhood next to the Six Flags Amusement Park, which is right where we drove through, so she was happy to hear that the water was gone and most of the homes where standing. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any more time to spend and got on the road heading homeward bound at about 3pm on Saturday.
We drove Saturday to Atlanta where we arrived at about 2 AM in perfect timing. Craig killed another truck, except this one couldn’t be saved. For about the last hour of driving the Yellow automatic beast had been sputtering and having difficulty getting up to speed. As he pulled into the parking lot where we were going to sleep for a few hours, the truck just died. Another call to Penske, a mechanic came out to try to fix it, (even though we really wanted them to just keep it) and finally said it would be a several hour or day repair (broken fuel injector), and if we didn’t want it we could just leave the keys and go. Which with a few cheers, is exactly what we did. The only reason we were driving empty trucks back home is that for some crazy reason, one way rentals were more expensive than round trip. So in the end, we got our wish by not having to drive the truck home!
At this point at about 6 am, Victor and Troy separated from us and left in the Beast manual truck since they were going to make 2 stops on the way home to visit friends and we got on the road about an hour later.

Right now, it is about 8:30 PM, and we have been on the road for about 14 hours today. Having just entered Maryland, I have never been so happy to see EazyPass in my life. Something about it symbolizes the crazy civilization of our Metropolitan NY lives. During the drive home today in the RV, Zach, Craig and I watched the movie Sweet Home Alabama. Reese Witherspoon has a quote in the movie regarding the state of Alabama that I believe best sums up this trip—“I should have needed a passport to get here.”