Entries tagged with “Travel” from Speaking my Mind

I have been back from Gulfport, Mississippi for a couple of days now. The week spent in Gulfport was very challenging but I think that we were able to accomplish much while there. We worked on a house owned by Dona and Morris Davis. Previous groups had restored the back half of their house and we worked on the front half. Most of the work involved tearing out drywall, flooring, and ceiling. We also took out a vanity and a toilet in the bathroom. We were trying to prepare the house for the electricians to re-wire the house as well as for insulation to be put in the ceilings and outer walls. Once that is done then the drywall would be replaced and the flooring and ceilings would be done. We did get to frame two closets and install hurricane straps to the rafters and floor to help combat uplift from any future hurricanes. The humidity was extremely high during our stay and the temperatures were in the 80's for most of the week. I didn't know if I could do such manual labor for eight hours in such conditions but I did. I guess you never quite know what you are capable of until you try.

We went into New Orleans to the French Quarter on Thursday evening and had a lot of fun although the drive by the 9th ward and the abandoned neighborhoods we saw on leaving cast a pall on the festivities. Gulfport and New Orleans suffered unbelievable damage from Hurricane Katrina. You really have to see it with your own eyes to understand the enormity of the destruction. Even though I am glad to be home I am thinking of going down again this April to do some more work. Those areas will be in need of a lot of help for many years to come and I hope to do my share.

I am leaving early tomorrow morning for Gulfport, Mississippi. I am flying down with three other volunteers from my church. We will be staying in a mission church for a week while we help with the re-construction of houses damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Gulfport suffered as much damage as New Orleans but has received much less publicity and much less federal aid than New Orleans. Most of the cleanup has been done by the residents and volunteers like us from all over the world. We will be sleeping on the floor of the church with pads and sleeping bags. The church will provide meals and facilities for showering, etc. I am somewhat apprehensive about going as I have not done 8 hours of manual labor since I was in my twenties. I just hope that I will be more of an asset than a hindrance. I don't know what to expect as far as the damage that still remains from Katrina but I understand it is still pretty extensive. I think I read that the Federal government wants to buy 17,000 of the damaged homes in Gulfport and destroy them in order to build a barrier system to help mitigate damage from future hurricanes. I expect this trip will be a memorable one that I will look back on as one of the best things I have done in my life. Wish us all luck while we are down there.

Well, I am back from Ft. Lauderdale and LandWarNet. I had a good time there and I think I brought back some useful information to share with my fellow workers at TRADOC G-6. The last couple of days I have been busy taming my back yard. We have gotten a lot of rain and the grass and weeds are out of control. I have managed to break the weed whacker twice so I have resorted to my grass hog to chop down the weeds. I will be glad when Fall arrives and I can stop cutting the grass and pulling weeds. I am looking forward to my trip in October to Gulfport Mississippi with my church. I know it will be a lot of hard work and sleeping on a cot or on the floor in a sleeping bag is not going to be easy. But I think the rewards from doing something like this will be beyond measure. I am hoping it will be a trip to remember for a lifetime. I am always plotting my next vacation and I am still thinking of Alaska although I just finished watching a Globe Trekker show about Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. I think if I ever managed to go to the Galapagos Islands that that would be the vacation of a lifetime. It would be like going back into time and the wildlife there is unique and facscinating. But I have to keep in mind that that is not Teresa's kind of vacation. From my experience with her travel tastes I don't think the Galapagos Islands would be high on her vacation list. Maybe all she needs is a little convincing, after all I did get her to go to Belize and St. Lucia.

I am attending the Army LandWarNet conference in Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. I found a connected pc in the cyber cafe in the exhibition hall so I couldn't pass up the chance to make an entry. The conference has been very informative and eye opening and I am enjoying the Ft. Lauderdale scene and the beaches. I will be home this Friday and I will post more about my trip. I have another track to attend before I can go back to my hotel and the pool. More later.

In about an hour or so Teresa will take me to the airport to catch my flight to Ft. Lauderdale. After that she will drive down to North Carolina to drop Kirk off at his grandparents house for a few days. I have a love hate relationship with travel and flying. I am not really afraid to fly but it has become such a hassle that I do not look forward to it. I also do not like staying in hotels unless they are really nice and in an exotic locale and I am on vacation. None of those conditions apply to this trip. But despite all the hassles the trip will be worth it. I will hopefully bring back some useful knowledge and information from the two conferences I will be attending. And if I get the chance to do a little exploring around Ft. Lauderdale and take a few photos that will be nice. It just seems that when I go on trips like this alone, I get homesick almost as soon as I get to where I am going. I guess that is a good thing. It means I have something worth coming home to, and I do. Lucky me.