9-3-12
After
seven years I'm back in New Orleans. That drive seven years ago took
about 12 hours from Houston to Baton Rouge. This time it was done in
less the five. As I drove back over the bridge into Baton Rouge all the
memories rushed back. The kids that where left behind or lost at the
convention center, and the smells of decay and death.
As I headed back into the Metairie, LA area on I-10. The storage unit building that I saw for the first time was gone.
I
decided to stop at Jefferson Parish Fire Department's Station 13. When I
got there there the fire engine was gone. There was a firefighter in
the bay of the firehouse. I went in and told him who I was and he said
"I remembered you". Wow, after seven years he remembered me. We started
talking about what has been going on for the past seven years.
He
asked if I wanted a soda, he bought me a coke out of the machine. .50
cents nothing changed there. We went into the kitchen. I asked about
Ronnie, David, Jerry. He said Jerry is now Command Chief he got on the
radio and asked him to call the station. He did call. He said someone
wanted to talk to him. I got on the phone and said " It's FEMA Mike.
Jerry said FEMA Mike? what are you doing there. I said I'm back. He said
he was heading back.
We talked for about an
hour. I asked what were they doing about Hurricane Issac. JPFD was
handing out Water and Ice to the citizens who were on streets with no
power. That information was from the Entergy website. We looked up the
information and loaded the fire trucks up and off they went. My trip was
still ahead.
I had to get to Gulfport, MS about an hour away. I had a training meeting until 10:30 pm. Long Day very tired.
