I need to be out of here!

Not that Iowa (it was my 50th state) or Nebraska is all that bad, weather wise, it's been a really weird 30 days since I've arrived.  It seems as if there's an electrical storm every other day.

As I mentioned before, I flew in on the night of May 1 and was presented with a 3-4 inch snow storm that left even the most seasoned midwesterner baffled.  Driving to work the next morning, I encountered several vehicles off in the ditch or neutral ground mired in snow and mud and passed through small towns and saw people shoveling snow.  Aside from a VERY brief warm spell, it has been unseasonably cool and wet, to the dismay of farmers here.

This weekend is no exception.  I put on a pair of shorts and t-shirt to head into downtown Omaha, only to turn around within seconds of leaving the hotel.  It was 57° at 11:00 AM with a brisk wind blowing.  It's been part of the spring systems that have caused deadly tornadoes in Oklahoma and Missouri.

Anyway, if I can manage another week, I'll be catching a flight out of here for my mother's family reunion next weekend then grabbing a flight the following Monday for a 2 week vacation on Maui.  While I need the vacation, I think Darlene has been looking forward to it with greater anticipation than I.
 

 It will be good to see my old friend, Mr. Green Sea Turtle again offshore from Ulua Beach near Kihei.

Michigan....once again

I Received a call Friday morning from the home office, beckoning me too Ludington, Michigan. Of course, they wanted me there now. There were no flights out of Baton Rouge so I booked a 5:20 pm out of NOLA and enlisted the aid and truck of my brother-in-law for the trip to the airport.

It never entered my mind to check road conditions and 10 miles south, we found the interstate shut down due to flooding from Sorrento to LaPlace. I called DOTD asking about closures and the nice lady told me that I-10 and even I-55 was closed so we hooked back to Baton Rouge then took I-12 toward Covington & the Causeway. I found out too late that 55 from Hammond to LaPlace was not closed.

After rerouting back on I-12, we ran into congestion such as you could not imagine on an interstate. Realizing I would not make my flight, I called in and changed it to a 6 a.m. Saturday morning out of New Orleans.

Four hours later, we arrived at the airport

To shorten this tale, lights were still out near the airport rendering all the hotels nearby out of business, so I elected to camp out in the world's most uncomfortable seating currently available in US airports to wait for the sun to rise and an airport coffee shop to open.  The stores and shops close early at MSY so I managed to grab an overpriced shrimp poboy before everything shut down.

It seemed like every 10 minutes some maintenance guy would roll a cart through making lots of noise or one of the cops would sail through on a 3 wheeled scooter and key his little Micky-Mouse siren, so there wasn't much sleeping going on. 

I may be getting too old for this nonsense.

Au revoir, Isaac

but I can't say "come again".

Hurricane Isaac finally came and went and is busy providing to drought stricken Arkansas and southern Missouri.  Speculation was that it could come on land, slow down and dump massive amounts of water on us for a 2 or 3 day period.  For some, that was the case but for me personally,  it was relatively mild.  For some, things did not work out so well.  

Wind damage for our area was limited, although my son lost a tree in his front yard and there were a few fences and roof shingles blown around.  The worst part around us was the rising water, particularly in historic flooding places.  Now that it's gone, there are areas that will have to contend with rising waters from the run-off that will fill the bayous and rivers flowing into the diversion canals of Lake Ponchatrain.

Electrical service for many of us went out Wednesday morning and some as late as early evening.  Those of us who have generators quickly absorbed friends and families that did not have them.  Our power was restored 24 hours later but as of this writing, Friday morning, there some who are still in the dark. 

Prior to Isaac coming ashore, most families went into to hurricane mode by stocking up on food, batteries, water and essentials.   As early as Monday afternoon, any kind of bread except Sunbeam white bread had been cleared from many grocery shelves as well as certain brands of milk.  Many canned goods that required no preparation other than opening the can disappeared.  The same was for beer.

Rising water was not a primary fear for us personally but concerns about blowing rain at our front door caused us to seek out sand bags.  The parish government set up sandbagging points around the area so Darlene and I found ourselves at the Dutchtown Fire Department filling a few bags for our own purposes.  Feeling like there was little more we could or should do to prepare for the storm, we found ourselves volunteering to help others who seemed a bit more desperate.  Most of the volunteers at the fire station were members of the the volunteer fire department so two old geezers who were helping others in the hot humid sun was somewhat of a novelty to the firefighters.

Realizing this might be a good way to teach our nieces/god-daughters the value of community service and love for others, Darlene called them and told them "Pop" would be at their house in 10 minutes.  Figuring I would not be well received when I picked them up, I was pleasantly surprised when they arrived at the bagging point and went right to work without so much as a groan.  Darlene and I, as well as the community were very proud of them for doing their part.

 When Isaac finally arrived, we were fortunate enough not to be close to waters that would rise and the force of the rains and winds hit primarily on one side of the house and the front which allowed us to sit on the screened back porch and pass the time watching the rain and discuss a broad range of topics.  The girls watched movies, played video games and slept.  With eight of us holding up in the storm, we never seemed to get on each others' nerves to any large degree.

This being Friday, everyone but me is back to work while I watch over 3 girls who still are sleeping late.

Florida

Gary, my brother-in-law just bought a new (to him) Harley Street Bob and according to research, got more than a fair deal on it.  "JimBob" is not very experienced, mileage wise, so we thought an initiation run to Florida would be appropriate.

Early Wednesday, we headed east with intentions of meeting up with my wife, sister-in-law, grand kids and nieces and nephews in Destin for a brief visit.  We thought it would an amazing trip to cruise down the beach roads, wind in our beards, sun on our faces and feel the spirit of the open road.  All that seems nice until you run into summer beach traffic and feel the heat as you stop at every other traffic signal from Waveland, Mississippi to Destin, Florida riding along US Highway 98 even through Gulf Shores, Alabama.

After a few hours of stopping and starting we agreed we should have only ridden a portion of the beach road and taken I-10 a part of the way.  Oh well, we will just have to chalk that one up to experience.

Destin was really nice but there were lots of people and traffic.  Heck, we even saw a beach wedding.  We had no clue as to who they were.

The next morning, we arose early and hit the road toward St Joseph Peninsula State Park, near St Joe, Florida.  We probably chose that location because it looked interesting on the map but I can honestly say, were it not for the ocean, it would not come close to competing with the State Parks of Louisiana.  Nevertheless, we pitched our tents for the afternoon and a night under the stars.

As you can imagine, the peninsula was the home of a lot of wildlife, including noisy Crackles (a type of blackbird), coons, pigmy rattlers, salamanders and mice.  Mice were everywhere.  I was told that the Oldfield Beach Mouse is on the endangered list and is protected by the government so we dare not lay a malicious hand on one.  I say one man's beach mouse is another man's baby rat.  Rats!...but they nor the snakes didn't bother us.  Perhaps they afford Harley riders, professional courtesy.

One redeeming thing was amazing sunsets for which many campers came out to witness.

Young and old, they brought their boards and chairs.  That was great and worth the mosquitoes!

Hearing news of nasty weather brewing in the gulf, Gary and I struck our tents early Friday morning and came home in one day.

The trip was a thousand miles.

Hurricanes: Same song, second verse

Three years ago, when hurricanes Katrina and Rita ripped into Louisiana and neighboring states, it was bad. This year seems to be just a new verse to a tired old song. Shortly after Hurricane Gustav knocked us senseless in Baton Rouge and southeast Louisiana, Hurricane Ike did it's thing much like Rita did when she came ashore following Katrina in 2005 and devestated southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana. At this writing, the storm related death toll is 13 for Ike.

Darlene's uncle, aunt and cousins in the Lake Charles and Hackberry areas suffered extreme damage in Hurricane Rita and just three years later, we find her uncle and aunt watching the encroaching flood waters come within 2 feet of their door step.

Even worse was the fate of her cousin in Hackberry who had just rebuilt after the last hurricane and now found their new home with 5 feet of water in it.

There are cousins just west of Houston without power but are not severely damaged. I too, have cousins and an aunt in Houston that I have not heard from yet.

We are so sorry for everyone's trials and loss.