Kegling Tales -- Day 5

Homeward bound! We took the scenic route up the southeast coast of Texas so we could see the Gulf of Mexico most of the time. What we did see is a lot of Hurricane Rita damage. Several things amazed me today, especially the amount of damage from the "other" hurricane. For every house we saw standing and heavily damaged we saw 7-10 slabs where the original had been. We did not see any house undamaged except for the new ones already built. I didn't realize that from Sabine Pass TX. to where we turned north to go to Lafayette La., some 150 miles, that everything was gone or destroyed. No gas stations, restaurants or businesses. Three little towns we rode through were totally gone. Foley TX. was the heart breaker. I can't recall seeing one structure left except for the new trailers. The trailers were outnumbered 10 to 1 with yards of pilings where the house used to be. Only junk piles and stilts for the house that use to be there. In many cases the residents cleared the slab to park their camping trailer on. The only restrooms we saw were port-a-potties set out every now and then. It made me want to stop and offer some help after seeing the devastation. Barges right up against the road so if I wanted to pull off I couldn't. One house had one of its corners on the edge of the pavement. Numerous cars were half buried and others upside down and half buried. From the high-water marks in many places, I would have been 10' plus under water. Every school we passed was destroyed and one only left the foundation.

But the most dumbfounding part of this? We haven't been bombarded by the media of these peoples plight after Rita. All we have heard is the incessant whining by the pompous mayor and the ingrates of New Orleans. Those people just sit on their rotting porches and wait for FEMA and the Government to come do the work for them. Today, I saw real people out there cleaning, clearing, repairing and replacing what they had lost. I would say take the money and spent it on the Rita survivors and open the levee gates and wash the filth of New Orleans down the Mississippi. Sorry fish!

To those on the Southeast Coast of Texas and Western Louisiana affected by Rita, my hat is off to you and my prayers for a speedy recovery. To those in New Orleans affected by Katrina, Flush it!

Tomorrow we will continue our exodus home and pass through the Mississippi Gulf Coast on Highway 90.