The story
All right, for all the curious, or maybe just justin, who i am fairly confident is the only person who reads this (hi Justin!), i'm publishing a timeline of my recent adventures.
August 18, 2005--
---9 pm. Leave on first leg of New Orleans move. Uneventful.
August 19--
---Noon. U-Haul blows tire north of Houston. Wait three hours for repair. Maurice starts fronting with a horse in nearby pasture. Leave my dad's keychain (house, pick-up, farm, chainlock on back of the U=haul, etc) at pasture.
---6pm. take wrong exit. meet back up with my dad at gas station. look at maps. leave maps on hood of U-haul. dad pulls into an abandoned gas station to retrieve said maps. tries to drive through sand (filled in after gas tanks had been removed) to re-enter the highway. U-haul sinks into sand. wait another hour for tow truck to arrive. stay overnight in New Orleans La Quinta. mom leaves credit card at Denny's.
August 20--
---9 am. Move into apartment. YAY!!
---noon. eat at wendy's. mom notices card is missing, returns to denny's to retrieve. random car accident takes out electric power for half the area, Denny's customers peeved, food half-cooked, no one will help mom. card is cancelled.
---Wal-mart. Buy shiny new green bike. YAY!! load onto roof and...too tall for clearance at the parking lot exit....
August 21--
---coffee at Rue de la Course, buy paper and read about baby Katrina in Florida. shopping, orienting.
August 22--
---Joe's bike shop. bought rack & baskets. Cingular, new phone (504-256-3662)
August 23-25--
---errands, running around, loving the city, Tulane Fin.Aid. office, job hunting at Princeton Review, new orleans branch. NO TV, NO INTERNET. Set up install for Monday the 29th.
August 26--
---Katrina, Cat. 1, is coming. Kind of worried, but no car to leave. talk to friend from Slidell, Mr. Ratliff, who says "a cat 1 won't be too bad." comfort mom. not worried.
---search papers for garage sales. call mom.
August 27--
---8 am. hit garage sales, find a coffee table, bargain price down to $18. too much. look for furniture along shopping strip in (not-so-classy, ahem) St. Bernard parish.
---Katrina, Cat.3-4.
---10 am. Kind of worried! can i get out? how do I leave city? too late to evacuate: no more tickets for airlines, none left on greyhound, none left on amtrak.
---12 pm. Jefferson parish issues mandatory evacuation notices. superdome open for "special needs" only.
---1 pm. discuss with neighbors. "don't worry."
---"we never even lose power!"
---"we'll have electricity the whole time."
---"these storms always get weaker by the time they hit."
---"if it even hit us. it'll change course. the media always makes a big deal and nothing happens."
---"the french quarter has withstood hurricanes for over 200 years. the bars don't even close. people throw hurricane parties!"
---2 pm. arrange to stay in big house (brick interior hallway, no windows, during storm.
---3 pm. comfort mom. pour a cranberry vodka double. talk to nolan, talk to joe.
---4 pm. decide to stay. check to see if table is still available. traffic is pouring out of the city. everyone packing up and getting away. buy same coffee table from man's partner for $1. carry (3'X 3') table home, 8 blocks, balancing on top of head. only three offers for help (VERY unusual in souther gentility NOLA)--people are leaving, concerned with their own affairs.
---5 pm. go stock up on food.
---7 pm. bourbon street open, but eerily low-key and quiet for a saturday.
---listen to radio until bed.
August 28---
---9 am. sunday. very quiet. NO ONE on the street.
---11 am. KATRINA = 5.
---12 pm. superdome opened as 'last resort shelter.' neighbors counsel not to go. losing faith in neighbor wisdom at this point, but no cats at the superdome, so decide to stick with the plan.
---11 am-6pm. pack a box of food, emergency supplies, & suitcase. pour out lots of food for maurice & empty litter box. nail cardboard to windows, duct-tape shower curtains over cardboard. sprinkle catnip in maurice's bed, so he'll get distracted & won't be so scared when i'm gone.
---worry. talk to mom, who says "You should go to the superdome!" I know that I won't. I feel safe in the big house.
---3 pm. buy last minute groceries. two or three stores are still open.
---4 pm. carry bike upstairs to apartment in case of flooding.
---7 pm. dark. misty. raining near superdome, 10K people standing outside, getting soaked.
---7:30. move suitcase, food, & water to the big house. talk with downstairs neighbor, listen to the radio until 10 pm.
---8-10 pm. talk to fernando & joe, who think I'm crazy. (you're not at the superdome? don't you know it's a mandatory evac?) talk to mom. go to bed.
August 29---
---Katrina, cat 4+
---4:30 am. storm wakes me up. not too bad. go back to sleep.
---5 am-10 am. sleep off and on, watch the storm off and on.
**more detail for Aug 29, and "after the hurricane" next post.**
August 18, 2005--
---9 pm. Leave on first leg of New Orleans move. Uneventful.
August 19--
---Noon. U-Haul blows tire north of Houston. Wait three hours for repair. Maurice starts fronting with a horse in nearby pasture. Leave my dad's keychain (house, pick-up, farm, chainlock on back of the U=haul, etc) at pasture.
---6pm. take wrong exit. meet back up with my dad at gas station. look at maps. leave maps on hood of U-haul. dad pulls into an abandoned gas station to retrieve said maps. tries to drive through sand (filled in after gas tanks had been removed) to re-enter the highway. U-haul sinks into sand. wait another hour for tow truck to arrive. stay overnight in New Orleans La Quinta. mom leaves credit card at Denny's.
August 20--
---9 am. Move into apartment. YAY!!
---noon. eat at wendy's. mom notices card is missing, returns to denny's to retrieve. random car accident takes out electric power for half the area, Denny's customers peeved, food half-cooked, no one will help mom. card is cancelled.
---Wal-mart. Buy shiny new green bike. YAY!! load onto roof and...too tall for clearance at the parking lot exit....
August 21--
---coffee at Rue de la Course, buy paper and read about baby Katrina in Florida. shopping, orienting.
August 22--
---Joe's bike shop. bought rack & baskets. Cingular, new phone (504-256-3662)
August 23-25--
---errands, running around, loving the city, Tulane Fin.Aid. office, job hunting at Princeton Review, new orleans branch. NO TV, NO INTERNET. Set up install for Monday the 29th.
August 26--
---Katrina, Cat. 1, is coming. Kind of worried, but no car to leave. talk to friend from Slidell, Mr. Ratliff, who says "a cat 1 won't be too bad." comfort mom. not worried.
---search papers for garage sales. call mom.
August 27--
---8 am. hit garage sales, find a coffee table, bargain price down to $18. too much. look for furniture along shopping strip in (not-so-classy, ahem) St. Bernard parish.
---Katrina, Cat.3-4.
---10 am. Kind of worried! can i get out? how do I leave city? too late to evacuate: no more tickets for airlines, none left on greyhound, none left on amtrak.
---12 pm. Jefferson parish issues mandatory evacuation notices. superdome open for "special needs" only.
---1 pm. discuss with neighbors. "don't worry."
---"we never even lose power!"
---"we'll have electricity the whole time."
---"these storms always get weaker by the time they hit."
---"if it even hit us. it'll change course. the media always makes a big deal and nothing happens."
---"the french quarter has withstood hurricanes for over 200 years. the bars don't even close. people throw hurricane parties!"
---2 pm. arrange to stay in big house (brick interior hallway, no windows, during storm.
---3 pm. comfort mom. pour a cranberry vodka double. talk to nolan, talk to joe.
---4 pm. decide to stay. check to see if table is still available. traffic is pouring out of the city. everyone packing up and getting away. buy same coffee table from man's partner for $1. carry (3'X 3') table home, 8 blocks, balancing on top of head. only three offers for help (VERY unusual in souther gentility NOLA)--people are leaving, concerned with their own affairs.
---5 pm. go stock up on food.
---7 pm. bourbon street open, but eerily low-key and quiet for a saturday.
---listen to radio until bed.
August 28---
---9 am. sunday. very quiet. NO ONE on the street.
---11 am. KATRINA = 5.
---12 pm. superdome opened as 'last resort shelter.' neighbors counsel not to go. losing faith in neighbor wisdom at this point, but no cats at the superdome, so decide to stick with the plan.
---11 am-6pm. pack a box of food, emergency supplies, & suitcase. pour out lots of food for maurice & empty litter box. nail cardboard to windows, duct-tape shower curtains over cardboard. sprinkle catnip in maurice's bed, so he'll get distracted & won't be so scared when i'm gone.
---worry. talk to mom, who says "You should go to the superdome!" I know that I won't. I feel safe in the big house.
---3 pm. buy last minute groceries. two or three stores are still open.
---4 pm. carry bike upstairs to apartment in case of flooding.
---7 pm. dark. misty. raining near superdome, 10K people standing outside, getting soaked.
---7:30. move suitcase, food, & water to the big house. talk with downstairs neighbor, listen to the radio until 10 pm.
---8-10 pm. talk to fernando & joe, who think I'm crazy. (you're not at the superdome? don't you know it's a mandatory evac?) talk to mom. go to bed.
August 29---
---Katrina, cat 4+
---4:30 am. storm wakes me up. not too bad. go back to sleep.
---5 am-10 am. sleep off and on, watch the storm off and on.
**more detail for Aug 29, and "after the hurricane" next post.**
posted by Kate | 10:47 AM
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