Day One: The Hurricane Hilton

This morning we met up at Pellissippi and after some confusion and car-swapping we rollled out around 9 a.m. The trip was uneventful, though it took a little practice to play follow the leader on the interstate. We drove though the rolling hills around Chatanooga, then down I-59 across Alabama and though the pine scrub flatlands of Southern Miassissippi. Julian and Lydia and I talked about music and graphic design on the way down and listened to each other's iPods on the Honda stereo system. They napped. I drove. Clayton played his Gameboy and read.

We sailed through the landscape, five carloads of folks on an odd mission to haul soggy refuse out of the homes of strangers, and become connnected to a drama we'd only experienced through the media.

We made our first stop fdor lunch, then made our last pit stop at Slidell, Louisiana before crossing Lake Ponchartrain in the dusk. The lights of New Orleans seemed surprisingly normal, like nothing has gone terribly wrong here. We know better though, and would see for ouselves in the morning.

We found Camp Algiers and got name badges, maps, and a tasty dinner. This place is incredibly neat and well-run, though it would be interesting to sleep on army "racks" with 200 other people. The camp is set up in a city park under spreading Live Oak trees draped with Spanish moss. We saw an owl in a tree right across from the guest services trailer.