Tent City

Web traffic for the blog went up by like 25 percent last month. That's interesting to me. --> It was really hard to leave Common Ground. Not just because I had to wait for the return of my shirt, but because I really liked everyone there. That includes people who are gone already and people who just arrived, as well as the long term volunteers. Thank you everyone! --> Taking a walk around the Lower Ninth Ward last night with several other volunteers, I got an even better sense of how devastated the neighborhood is. There are no tourists or construction workers driving around at night; there's absolutely no one. For two hours we walked around, yet we saw no traffic and we only saw a handful of homes with people living in them. You can't see that in the daytime because there are some misleading signs of life. --> There is a tent city under I-10 at Canal Street. By volunteering to fix up
New Orleans, those people could have good meals, showers, a place to sleep inside, freedom, etc.

I've been listening to a

I've been listening to a Barack Obama speech on a TV at McDonald's, and the guy is really impressing me. He may actually be on OUR side.

I haven't shown you my pretty face in a while, so here ya go. I took this picture on the St. Claude bridge over the industrial canal, heading west out of the Lower Ninth Ward (into the Upper Ninth Ward, I believe). I couldn't get much scenery in the picture because I didn't have any room to hold out the camera. --> This heat really sucks. It doesn't seem quite as bad as a couple days last week, but it's almost unbearable with my backpack on. --> I think I will walk through the French Quarter today, but I don't expect to spend any time there. (I'm only a mile or two from it right now, anyway.) --> I had planned to go west from here, through TX, NM, AZ, and possibly Vegas, but I don't think I'll keep those plans. Instead, I think I'll only go as far west as Houston (because I really need to go to an REI store). Then maybe I'll head waaay north (like to North Dakota/Montana) to get out of
the oppressive heat. Right now, though, I just want to get somewhere new.

Disaster tours and levees

I finally got my shirt back from the person I let borrow it, so now I'm about to leave Common Ground and the Lower Ninth Ward. It's really hot and humid, so today is not going to be much fun. I was thinking about walking around the French Quarter a little bit on my way out of town, but I think I just want to scram right now and work on getting a ride to either Lafayette or Texas. --> In the picture you can see a "disaster tour" bus beside the levee, as well as some empty lots that once had houses on them.