A Special Thanks...

Thanks to all those who have been following our trip down the Mighty Mississippi and our time in New Orleans. Also, thanks to our sponsors, Wenonah Canoe, Kokatat Watersports Wear, and Red Tail Outfitters. If you have not already done so, please visit our website (www.brothersfortheriver.org) and contribute time and/or money to some of the wonderful environmental organizations that continue to protect our nation's river! Also, feel free to email us. Check back periodically to see what other water adventures we may have planned for this spring.

Last Day: 11/20/06

After driving through the night (Ben and I got the 11pm to 7am shift!), we found ourselves in the foothills of the Ozarks, in SE Missouri. We would have been further along on our journey home had we not made the decision to take Highway 61 all the way back. Note to anyone still reading this blog: TAKE THE INTERSTATE! Highway 61 is gorgeous in sections, but from Baton Rouge to Davemport, IA it's a long way from the river.

Pulling up to a rural gas station to fill up, we found no gas because the pumps were down, but they did have coon meat! We have no idea if this is a competitive price.

Our traveling companion/heat source, Bella. She behaved extremely well for being the youngest and most energetic of the bunch.

Our canoe, "Minn" rests firmly in place on the last leg of her journey. She got us through so much, yet our adventures with her are only beginning.

Day 73: 11/19/06

A beignet breakfast on Bourbon. Beignets are a fried French pastry that are usually covered in sugar. What's not to like?

There were all sorts of Katrina-referencing T-shirts available. This is one of the nicer ones.

The second half of the day we spent driving out to Venice, LA which is at the end of the road on the Mississippi's delta. It was already apparent that this section of the river is the most industrial one. Oil refineries and storage facilities were a prominent feature throughout the drive.

Ocean liners frequent the river between Baton Rouge and the mouth. This loaded up vessel has about half of its height below the water's surface. Not only are they humongous, they are quiet and fast. Sounds dangerous.

In the last light of the day, Ben and hop out of the van for a quick pick on the edge of the delta. Funny to think our trip has come down to a roadtrip to the end of the continent, but we're happy with the adventure.

Continuing on in darkness, we reach Venice, LA. The road comes to a T. To the right of the T runs Halliburton Road (no, we're not kidding), where many oil companies have set up shop. To the left of the T is a small settlement where all of the oil company employees live. Somewhere in between, are the helipads that choppers use to go to and from off-shore oil rigs. Wow. What have we done to the river that Native Americans call "The Father of All Waters"? We knew what waited for us at the end of this great river, but it was anti-climactic nonetheless.

Day 72: 11/18/06

Saturday morning came and our ride arrived. Michelle, Kevin, and Bella (the hound-pup) arrived mini-van style and we gave them a brief tour of the Parish. This picture is from a bridge going over the intercoastal canal, which connects Lake Pantchartrain with the Mississippi. The right shoreline holds a levee that was breached in several places. Surge water topped the levee, eroding the land side of the embankment, and weakenig it.

A shrimping and fishing village that was devastated by the storm. Boats were strewn about everywhere.

The Habitat "Musicians' Village Project" in the Upper Ninth Ward will house returning musicians native to the New Orleans area. Around 50 homes will be completed soon!

Dinner with our friends from the north. Thanks for the ride!

You never know what you're going to find in a New Orleans' back alley. This time we stumbled upon Mardi Gras masks and cross-dressing Ken dolls. I wonder if Barbie knows?

Day 71: 11/17/06

Our last day in St. Bernard's Parish was spent finishing Mike's house (In which we found 4 air rifles!) and working on a home that was 50% complete.

All of the homes that were flooded in the metro area had to be searched for survivors and victims by rescue workers. To mark a home as searched, authorities would leave an "X" with info in each space. The top is the date of the search, the left is the department that searched the home (in this case "GA", probably for Georgia Firefighters), and the bottom is the number of bodies found.

The water line in this home was 12 feet up, in the attic's rafters. There were three inches of mud in all the rooms of this home that was kept wet by holes in the roof. It took hours to shovel out.

An end of the week photo of our team's survivors. To have so many people from different backgrounds united in one cause was very moving and empowering. The sense of humor that we built as a team in the week helped us undertake what otherwise might have been a somber experience.

Yes, this is a corny shot. We promised some friends we'd pose with our canoes before week's end. Here ya go. Happy now?

We have a group meal at Angeli on Decatur St in the French Quarter. Good times with good peeps.

After eating our fill, we walked toward Bourbon and heard some classic New Orleans Jazz at Preservation Hall, a living museum that we highly recommend! We felt a little bit like the cast of "Lost" walking down the street. So many different people all getting along.

Day 71: 11/16/06

Today we started back at Frank's house where volunteers on our team take a few final loads of debris out to the gargantuan garbage pile inching toward the street. Frank's son bought all 20 of us poboy sandwiches (subs Nawlin's-style) and Powerade for our help. He was so thankful and it irked us to see him sift through the piles as our bus pulled away. Godspeed Mark!

I wish we would have gotten pictures of a spray painted house up the street that read," Do not feed the cats. I have traps set."

We moved on to 2225 Victor St. On the front lawn of this home sits a FEMA trailer. Inside the trailer lives Mike. Mike has been living in front of his Mom's house since the storm. Mike, his mother, sister, and neighbors were holdouts during the storm. They decided to stick around because they had weathered many hurricanes before. As the water rose, they abandoned this house and broke into the second-floor of a neighbor's home to survive. They waited 8 days to be rescued by boat. Mike explained, "There was no way I was going to take my elderly mother to the Superdome when there were murders and rapes going on. We decided to stay put." The Superdome stories ended up being false, another failure of the media.

Ben found and caught this furry fella. You'll be happy to know that we released him into the wild, probably to run into someone else's home.

As I brought a wheelbarrow-full of drywall out to the garbage mountain, I was surprised to look down and see a doll of Mardi Gras past resting in the insulation and drywall. An ironic image.

Relaxing over a meal back at camp, we noticed a free acupuncture clinic and our team took full advantage (pictured here is Noah). The clinic was provided by Acupuncturists Without Borders for displaced residents and volunteers alike. Did it work? Our friend Johnny from Arkansas summed it up nicely: "It didn't help much, but it didn't hurt nothin' either."

Ben and Charles take Joe out for a drink on Bourbon on his birthday. Jara provided photogenicity and liqueur.

Day 70: 11/15/06

A torrential rain like nothing we've experienced in MN poured down on our camp in the wee hours of the morning. The sound of rain hitting the tin roof was magnified by the fact that there are no ceiling tiles to buffer the sound. Because of the rain, we weren't gutting houses today. Instead, we lended a hand toward daily tasks at Camp Hope. What we're attempting to build in this pic is a wood-burning turkey oven (not a nuclear bunker). Supposedly it can handle 50 turkeys... Can you tell that we have no idea what the hell we're doing? I haven't heard of any food poisoning over Thanksgiving at Camp Hope, so knock on wood!

We take the afternoon off to travel with new friends to Shell City, a shrimping and fishing village on the edge of the delta. The once-bustling seafood city was leveled by the storm. Many people have begun to rebuild, this time raising their homes on stilts. It's great against floods, but what about wind?

At the end of the road in Shell City is a Hurricane Katrina Memorial. It names roughly 150 people that died in St. Bernard's Parish.


We eat superb pizza with our teammates and friends from Wyoming, Marie and Elise. Thanks for taking us out on the town!

Day 69:11/14/06

Another day, another house to gut...but not just any house. This is Frank's home. Frank lived here with his wife for some 40 years prior to the hurricane. They raised a family in this home. Frank's health had deteriorated since the storm and he wouldn't be able to move back. His son Mark was on hand to tell us there story and watch us demolish his childhood home. It was almost as gut-wrenching for us to bring one wheelbarrow load after another of belongings onto the front lawn as it must have been for Mark to watch us.

What keeps us going through hour after hour of intense, smelly, physical labor you ask? FEMA water of course! Pallets of the stuff remain at Camp Hope and despite it being both expired and recalled, we guzzle it down with smiling faces. Like fruitcake, a can of FEMA water makes an excellent doorstop.

The "after" shot of Frank's kitchen. We completed most of the work, but there's still an attic to go through and a ceiling to remove. We'll be back tomorrow.

Okay, so we haven't found the hissing variety, but we have found many happy, healthy cockroaches. Anybody seen Joe's Apartment? (The movie, NOT my apartment.)

Frank's next door neighbor doesn't even have the option to rebuild. This "Involuntary Demolition" notice is posted on countless doors all over the parish. Stupid structural soundness!

Day 68: 11/13/06

Day 1 of our volunteering landed us with a remarkably fun group of volunteers from across North America (Canadians are people too, EH?). Represented on our team (but not all pictured here) are Toronto, Boston, Denver, Cleveland, Baltimore, Detroit, St. Paul, Duluth, Seattle, Washington D.C., Texas, Los Angeles, Virginia, Arkansas, and New York. Pretty amazing. The majority of these amazing people found it within themselves to come on their own to help out. Our mission today, under the guidance of our fearless leaders, Jim (of Habitat) and Brett (of Americorps) was to finish the partially-gutted Fernandez Nursing Home (no, not THE nursing home) that will be turned into a rehab clinic.

Ben and I were assigned the task of clearing out the home's laundry room, which was untouched since the day of the storm surge. We had to break doors down. Once inside, we discovered linen still in the washers and muddy debris everywhere.

Ben points out the water line in the laundry room at about seven feet. The water likely got higher, but remained at seven feet for the longest, thus the line. Luckily, everyone was able to get out in time.

Joe follows the S.O.P. for "Katrina Refrigerators": duct tape without opening and dispose of carefully. We admit we broke protocol out of curiosity...a sort of Pandora's box. Nothing good inside. (What would Habitat do, fire us?)

On a more somber note, the clock on the wall shows the flood time (11:38) and the calendar shows the flood date (August 2005). A reminder of how quick and terrifying this must have been for millions of people and how much work still needs to be done.

The finished product, nothing left but studs and foundation. We hope rebuilding starts soon. We also hope to return someday.