Partiers arrive and Mardi Gras parades begin



This woman threw me my first Mardi Gras beads... love the 49'er sweatshirt!

And, of course, we heard some jazz:

Meanwhile, little has been done in terms of reconstruction. Debris piles of destroyed homes are where they landed during the hurricane, and many neighborhoods are still decimated. With hurricane season less than 100 days away, I have to wonder if they're waiting to see what happens this year before rebuilding. As in Mississippi, everyone you meet (waitstaff, taxi drivers, retail owners, the people at the laundromat) has an incredible story of fear, perserverance and survival. Much of New Orleans looks like this.

Many areas are uninhabited and uninhabitable. We took a tour of the 9th Ward yesterday where little, outiside of the draining of all the flood water, has changed since September. In terms of progress for this six-month anniversary, I would say we have a very very long way to go. I will be posting photos of that area tomorrow.

Political photo of the day:
I took this photo in Bay St. Louis MS a couple of weeks ago. The skeleton waiting on FEMA says it all....

Arrival in New Orleans.... in time for Mardi Gras

February 18:

We arrived in New Orleans on the 17th of February, just in time for the first of the Mardi Gras parades. Unfortunately, we got up too late to actually see the parade. Maybe tomorrow. I think there are three more on Sunday and plenty more throughout the week.

The ride through Texas was excruciatingly long and boring. It was a relief to approach Shreveport and finally see some trees and water. We did manage to avoid the ice storm that passed through Texas yesterday. We were exhausted and starved by the time we checked in on Friday night at the New Orleans Embassy Suites, where I can be reached for the next couple of weeks.

Road trip from SF to Mississippi

We left San Francisco on 2/09 and drove to the Grand Canyon, where we spent two days taking in the sights.

Jesse took a mule ride to the canyon floor. (Rollin, rollin, rollin, gee, my ass is swollen, rawhide! --Billy Crystal, City Slickers) I took the easy way out and helicoptered over the canyon.
















And yes, we did get up for the sunrise!!! This was a real coup with a teenager!

















It has been a real adventure and a grueling drive. I would not choose to do it again this way.

Tonight we are in Clovis NM after having visited Billy the Kid's grave (very anticlimactic). Tomorrow we enter Texas (hope we don't get shot by the VP) and will probably get to Abilene (wasn't there a song about Abilene???) When we need comic relief on the road, we just listen to the country stations.