After church, we took a drive through the Gulf and into Waveland and right on the Gulf of Mexico. My perception: nine months after the fact, you still can't understand it without being there. I have seen worse poverty in different places I've visited, notably Tijuana and Pawley's Island, SC. And I've never been in this part of the country before so I can't really picture what it looked like one year ago. But I can say I have never seen a place wiped out so quickly and left with so little. Near the beach, there used to sit mansions. Just by looking at the way the driveways are designed, you can tell these homes cost a million dollars or more. Now what's there? In many cases, nothing. Nothing. There are just holes in the ground.
One woman said to me "It's like we've become a third-world country overnight." Dead trees blown over, white FEMA trailers all over. Where there are homes rebuilt or still somewhat standing, there is bare wood where coats of paint used to be. Tarps covering garage doors. Piles of garbage left on the streets waiting to be taken away to somewhere. Spraypainted symbols on the door counting deaths and people missing.
But there were sins of hope for the future. In front of several homes I saw lawn signs, kind of like what you would see from a real estate broker. They said "Waveland, we're staying." And so many of these people have lived in the same home or the same neighborhood all their lives and they don't know anything else. Some of these people stay almost out of necessity.
A few other notes: It's 95 degrees and scorching hot.
The coordinator of Camp Coastal, the camp we're staying at, Gene has a dog named Fred. I'm not good at identifying breeds, but this is for sure. He loves belly rubs. I gave him one for about 15 or 20 minutes. One of the first things we were told when we got to camp was not to feed him. Other wise he might whine and get fat and spoiled. And heaven forbid I make another dog as spoiled as the one I already have.
Reading is way better when you can do it on a warm day while laying in a hammock. Just don't fall asleep like I did.
After we got back, we did some work around the camp. They have a wood-burning stove that supplies the hot water into the camp. We built a plywood box to better organize the wood pieces that go into the stove. There was also a three or four foot hole that I filled with dirt and I used a pick axe and a shovel.
And let me say, I took a shower that afternoon. I had not wanted a shower that badly in 6 or 7 years. I had gone 38 hours without one because of the ride down and heavy Sunday schedule. I was just grateful there was a shower at camp at all.
Right now, it's cooling down to around 75 degrees.
We have 2 more guys in the bunk with us. There's a family from the Holland, MI area and they came down. It's a father, mother, and 16 year old son. We also made a run to Wal-Mart. Around 15 percent of the store was still closed or roped off. Then we went to Sonic, known as America's drive thru. It doesn't make much sense to have one in the North because the place is basically all outside. I had a cherry limeade, which Ellen recommended to me. She's a fine girl, but after I tasted it, I don't think we share the same feel for drinks.
Later.
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