Day 12 (Lundi Gras): The Gulf Coast of AL, MS and LA

Taking I-10 from Crestview into Alabama we exited to visit the little fishing town of Bayou La Batre. In Forrest Gump this was Bubba's hometown and where Forrest bought a shrimping boat, named it Jenny and became a millionaire with the Bubba Gump Shrimp company.

In real life the tiny town on the Gulf was horribly devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Baptist Men's Disaster Relief was there for a lengthy time lending a hand. The Nags Head Police Dept. drove two police cruisers down and gave them to their police dept., which had lost it's vehicles in the storm. We wanted to see the town today to get a glimpse of the recovery.

Very little remains that we could see or tell that resembled the pictures we saw after Katrina. It appeared to us that things were back to normal, at least physically.

From there we determined to drive along the Gulf along US Hwy 90 all the way to our destination in New Orleans. Occasionally we would pull the highway and drive through cities and towns to the Gulf. In the cities of Biloxi and Gulfport, for example, it was amazing how many homes were destroyed. Lots of vacant lots where, I'm told, stately homes once existed. And along the streams and bayous were the occasional fishing boats either still on shore from the surge or sunken.

Here in New Orleans we're staying at the Providence Guest House, a facility owned and operated by the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, where our friend Paul South, a former columnist for the VA Pilot is a student and is employed in the public relations office. Paul and Jenny were partners at NHC before moving away in 2002.

This evening we picked Paul up from work and went out for some New Orleans food. Jenny has been sick all day, so she had to pass, but we hope to see her and their 3 kids tomorrow.

Tonight we'll try to find some things to do on Fat Tuesday. Being here for Mardi Gras wasn't part of our plan, and we don't have any desire to venture into the French Quarter or be in the mix at night. But there are parades during the day and other sites to see. Perhaps on Wednesday, as all the religious folks are settling into their "fast" we can see some other things before heading west again.

This was really a great day, seeing more of this beautiful coast, but also seeing the aftermath of such a powerful storm. What little of New Orleans we saw today indicates that some progress has been made, but that there is still much to do.