The first bike ride and the first day of work.....

The first time I rode the motorctcle I went only about 2 miles away, and the street was a dead end! What a suprise huh? Anyway, the contrast still remains of destruction next to or across from the new or restored buildings and homes! I will let the pictures speak for them selves as they will do so very well.

I worked on 2 different houses yesterday with the same group the pictures are of our crews and of my bunk mates! I am staying in a room with 13 or 14 bunk beds made of 4x8 sheets of plywood and 2x4's. It is an old grade school convereted for our purposes here. I do have to say the food is not too bad, and theres is always plenty of it!

Everyone want to know if I am sore from yesterday, no not really, actually my body physically feels beeter than it has in a long time. No need for celebrex or motrin! We only get to do 4 minute showers here and the hot water is sparse, so it really is PT & A ! LOL

The houses we are doing are in the process of getting ready of rthe Jimmy and Roslyn Carter Blitz coming later this month. We getting a few things prepped and then they come in and the entire house is all pre fabricated---down to the drywall! The goal I heard is to build 25 in a week! Big goal, but most will be happy about it.

I have met some of the locals here, and everyone (even 3 three years later) appreciates what we came here to do. St. Bernard Parish and the lower 9th ward were the worst hit and still need the most work.

All I can say is it can be depressing, hot, sweaty hard work, but the end is worth it. It has been very fulfilling to do this and I expect to get sunburned even more the next few days, drinking lots of water and taking out stock in sunscreen!

BTW this is one the few places i have been were there is no Walmart! The story I heard was that the Walmart super store opened a little before Katrina hit, and it was destroyed. Walmart wanted to open it and sell only groceries, telling the locals that there just weren't enough people in the parish to open a full service store until a later date...well, the end result is that there is not a Walmart! Guess who won that battle?

It's just stuff like this that goes on that you aren't hearing on the news! Interesting huh?

I will write more later, enjoy the video and the pictures I am posting.

Vickie