Just outside Mobile, Alabama ... by phone

I am on the coast and gathering my strength for the morning. The motel is swollen with refugees. This, in a community still recovering from Hurricane Ivan last year. Tomorrow, I head into the thick of things, to Pearlington and Waveland, both right on the Gulf, across Lake Borgne from New Orleans. At this point, I will be in the farthest south west corner of Mississippi. Both communities are pleading for help and feeling forgotten, that close to New Orleans. I think I am ready, but not knowing what I am actually walking into.

Gas is scant this close to the Gulf, although I have managed to fill up. Ironically, gas is 25 cents a gallon cheaper than it was in upstate New York. I have heard that the long distance phone lines are down on the coast, however, I have my portable and I will write the stories, but may have to post them later. For now, I am falling into bed to be ready for the morning.

An idea is brewing in my head. One for the children, that could do something to restore some hope and to prepare their parents for the effects of post traumatic stress in their children that will come later.

Good night for now,
Jon