NOLA trip notes....

Well, it's still there, mostly, but the areas that were flooded are still basically lying in ruins. Our first day, we took the "Katrina Disaster Tour", an unofficial trip through miles of devastation, rack & ruin, care of our friend & NOLA resident, Jeff Sutton. What strikes me as unbelievable is the seeming abandonment of an entire urban area the size of the small town in which I live...literally mile after mile of ruined & decaying houses, cars, boats, businesses of every kind, churches, schools, shopping centers, hospitals, and any other modern convienience we take for granted, like traffic lights & gas stations, etc. You wonder where these people have gone, tens of thousands of them at least, and what goes though their minds when they think about their lost homes, cars, jobs, etc. I don't know how I would react to a disaster like these folks have had to endure...the government & insurance companies aren't helping things much, according to comments from some of the folks we spoke to...shameful, if you ask me. :(

The famous French Quarter was spared most of the damage, and we had some fun at the French Quarter Festival...lots of good music & food, and we got to hang out with our Whammy Bar internet pals, as well as see some of the more famous landmarks.

Here's a pic of me playing some gut-bucket blues up at King Lloyd's blues joint in Mississippi, and the other is the typical scene in the Lower 9th Ward of NOLA, where some of the worst flooding occurred.