photo by Econosmith

First, A Gift for the School District





2/13/07
Bill, Al, Vinnie and Mel went into Slidell. We met Bill Larsen at the library. Mel left diagnostic tools for the St Tammany Parish School district. Al left a bag of sweaters for Mandeville. We met the fire chief in the parking lot at the library. We stopped by the fire house where they were doing inventory. Then we went by Yvonne Brown's house. She had delicious chocolate cake waiting for us. We went food shopping, Gordon cooked us gumbo for dinner.

twisters

2/11/07
Sue arrived in Pine Bush Sunday morning to catch a ride with us. Mel had breakfast ready, a cooler packed for the road and Vinnie had the van packed. We left at 9:30am for Roanoke VA. We got to Al's house at 6:30pm. We had some strategizing to do with Al about the packing up tomorrow. We left for Bill's house, 40 minutes away in Moneta. We went out shopping for dinner. He made us a fine meal with birthday cake for Sue. Al went home for the night.
2/12/07
Bill made coffee, Mel made oats with apricots, walnuts, yogurt and maple syrup. We left Bill's at 9:30am on Monday morning and went back to Roanoke for Al. It was a good thing Mel brought a few space bags to compress bed rolls and clothing donations. Five adults, donations, our instruments and gear is a lot of stuff in a minivan. Also a good thing we had a car top carrier. Al brought a mascot along for us who we named Blotch.
2/13/07
We got into Slidell Monday night/Tuesday morning 12:30am their time. At Camp Liberty Gordon welcomed us with coffee and offered us use of a cabin, "Meg's house". There is solar electric for light and charging. In another building we had use of a shared bathroom, kitchen and wireless internet.

Shortly after we got onto the cots a "gully washer" thunderous storm went on for quite a while. An F2 tornado passed over us and touched down in New Orleans in several spots. A life was lost, rebuilt houses destroyed. We're on our way into Slidell to the library and firehouse. It's warm enough for shorts today.