Behind the wheel
Yesterday after my run Chris told me that she was going to train me to replace her as driver for ERV 3059, as she will be leaving for home on Thursday. I was pretty thrilled, although I still had mixed feelings about serving Kiln. I wanted to try and find out the coverage of all of the ERVs, and whether there were areas needing food that weren't being served, like Waveland. But whoever I asked said they didn't know any information about other routes, who was going where, etc. Most just knew their own job and concentrated on it. I wondered why I couldn't do the same.
The day started out with campbro cleaning. While I had been out yesterday on the ERV, Paul and Catherine had taken over that station, and were pretty good. The operation was sweet. Dirty Cambros out from ERVs, carted to the cleaning station. The station had a series of platforms set up where the dissasembled cambros would be laid out, about 8 at a time.
They had this very powerful water hose, which looked more like a machine gun. It was gasoline powered and got the soapy water it dispensed to 170 degrees. They said it could take your hand right off. So while one person goes down the line soaping and rinsing the campbros, a partner is flipping and rotating the pieces. The process was soap, flip, soap, rinse, flip, rinse. Paul and Catherine had it down to a science, no time was wasted. The clean campbros were then carted to the Baptists cooking area, where they were refilled with food to be set out for ERVs on the other side waiting to take the food out for the next shift.
After helping Paul and Catherine for a while, Chris and I decided to take one of the many rental vehicles available for volunteers out to explore the surrounding area. I had given up my spot again on the morning ERV run so that Catherine could ride. So although I had left them in the dust yesterday, all of us had now gotten on the ERV, and we were now thinking about the possibility of taking over the route ourselves as the current crew for 3059 rolls off.
Chris and I took off towards the Bay St. Louis coast, which was only a few miles from the kitchen. It was quite a sight. The beach was littered with debris. The most astonishing sight were the two bridges
that used to connect Bay St. Louis with Pass Christian. Basically, the eye of the storm had come right through this area and wiped out the bridge entirely. Now all that was left was concrete pillars barely sticking out of the water where the bridge once lay. Near the bridge was the beach community which was completely decimated. It was probably a 5 square mile area grided by homes. Now there was nothing but rubble. I really can't think of the words to describe the destruction. Houses were either reduced to just their foundation, or were completely gutted, leaving just the skeleton of the structure. Appliances and clothes and debris were all over the trees and ground.
After visiting the coast we made our way to old town Bay St. Louis. Next to the courthouse (which had been flooded along with most other buildings in the area) there was this WWII memorial for veterans who served from the community. I noticed that there were a few common names like "Ladner", "Cuevas", and "Favre". Those names kept popping up in street signs and businesses all over the area, so it seems like there are large long-standing families that have lived here for a while. I'm pretty sure that Bret Favre of the Packers is from Kiln, where I run my route.
The drive had a few interesting points. First, driving the ERV wasn't too bad. The route was pretty straightforward, and I had experience driving big vehicles. There were a few things I noticed that got to me: young kids talking on a cell phone while waiting for food, others riding around on nice
bikes, one teenager telling us that they have power back at their house. Also, all the really messed up homes were completely abandoned already. On the other hand, I saw a lot of the kids who had the plain look of hunger on their face. These people may not have the best of intentions, but the bottom line was that they need help, hurricane or not.
Back at the kitchen there had been pizza for the volunteers, but there were a few whole pizzas left over afterwards. My highlight of the day was walking into the base with those pizzas and randomly handing them out to volunteers. I can't explain it, but it felt better than delivering food all day to needy people in Kiln.
Quote-of-the-day:
"I don't really like Donald Trump... he says 'you're fired' too much!"
- a lady on our route in Kiln, upon recieving one of the Donald Trump waters we had in our stock today.
Tidbits:
- Rumor at camp is that another hurricane, Wilma, is approaching and may be headed this way. That would be really bad.
- There have been a bunch of funny slogans written on abandoned houses and buildings, etc. Things like "Looters will be shot" and "beware of owner". But hands down, this is the most clever sign I've seen, from my route through Kiln:
The day started out with campbro cleaning. While I had been out yesterday on the ERV, Paul and Catherine had taken over that station, and were pretty good. The operation was sweet. Dirty Cambros out from ERVs, carted to the cleaning station. The station had a series of platforms set up where the dissasembled cambros would be laid out, about 8 at a time.
They had this very powerful water hose, which looked more like a machine gun. It was gasoline powered and got the soapy water it dispensed to 170 degrees. They said it could take your hand right off. So while one person goes down the line soaping and rinsing the campbros, a partner is flipping and rotating the pieces. The process was soap, flip, soap, rinse, flip, rinse. Paul and Catherine had it down to a science, no time was wasted. The clean campbros were then carted to the Baptists cooking area, where they were refilled with food to be set out for ERVs on the other side waiting to take the food out for the next shift.After helping Paul and Catherine for a while, Chris and I decided to take one of the many rental vehicles available for volunteers out to explore the surrounding area. I had given up my spot again on the morning ERV run so that Catherine could ride. So although I had left them in the dust yesterday, all of us had now gotten on the ERV, and we were now thinking about the possibility of taking over the route ourselves as the current crew for 3059 rolls off.
Chris and I took off towards the Bay St. Louis coast, which was only a few miles from the kitchen. It was quite a sight. The beach was littered with debris. The most astonishing sight were the two bridges
that used to connect Bay St. Louis with Pass Christian. Basically, the eye of the storm had come right through this area and wiped out the bridge entirely. Now all that was left was concrete pillars barely sticking out of the water where the bridge once lay. Near the bridge was the beach community which was completely decimated. It was probably a 5 square mile area grided by homes. Now there was nothing but rubble. I really can't think of the words to describe the destruction. Houses were either reduced to just their foundation, or were completely gutted, leaving just the skeleton of the structure. Appliances and clothes and debris were all over the trees and ground. After visiting the coast we made our way to old town Bay St. Louis. Next to the courthouse (which had been flooded along with most other buildings in the area) there was this WWII memorial for veterans who served from the community. I noticed that there were a few common names like "Ladner", "Cuevas", and "Favre". Those names kept popping up in street signs and businesses all over the area, so it seems like there are large long-standing families that have lived here for a while. I'm pretty sure that Bret Favre of the Packers is from Kiln, where I run my route.
The drive had a few interesting points. First, driving the ERV wasn't too bad. The route was pretty straightforward, and I had experience driving big vehicles. There were a few things I noticed that got to me: young kids talking on a cell phone while waiting for food, others riding around on nice
bikes, one teenager telling us that they have power back at their house. Also, all the really messed up homes were completely abandoned already. On the other hand, I saw a lot of the kids who had the plain look of hunger on their face. These people may not have the best of intentions, but the bottom line was that they need help, hurricane or not.Back at the kitchen there had been pizza for the volunteers, but there were a few whole pizzas left over afterwards. My highlight of the day was walking into the base with those pizzas and randomly handing them out to volunteers. I can't explain it, but it felt better than delivering food all day to needy people in Kiln.
Quote-of-the-day:
"I don't really like Donald Trump... he says 'you're fired' too much!"
- a lady on our route in Kiln, upon recieving one of the Donald Trump waters we had in our stock today.
Tidbits:
- Rumor at camp is that another hurricane, Wilma, is approaching and may be headed this way. That would be really bad.
- There have been a bunch of funny slogans written on abandoned houses and buildings, etc. Things like "Looters will be shot" and "beware of owner". But hands down, this is the most clever sign I've seen, from my route through Kiln:
posted by Neil Patel at 10:07 PM
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