If you're reading this, then you probably know me and know that I have a great friend who - at the time Hurricane Katrina hit - had lived in New Orleans for 11 years, or so. His name is Brian Gordon, but his nickname has always been Gordo... anyway. He bailed out of New Orleans at the last minute on the Sunday, August 28th, the day before hurricane Katrina struck. He thought it was just going to be another false alarm (kinda like the boy who cried wolf), so he didn't pack anything. When he left, all he had was the shirt on his back. He also left behind his 2 awesome cats - Franks and Beans - because he thought he'd be back home in a day or two. Well, as it turned out, obviously Katrina wasn't a false alarm. The levee broke and New Orleans flooded. So he weathered the storm with his brother and future sister-in-law in Hot Springs, Arkansas. When he realized that he couldn't go back, and that it would be too expensive to stay in a resort town for the duration, he called me in Chicago and I knew immediately that he'd need a place to stay. His brother headed for his fiance's parents' home in Pennsylvania, but Gordo wanted to stay a little closer to New Orleans in hopes of making a run back there as soon as possible - for his cats. So he stayed here in Chicago while the flood waters rose; watching the news... the stranded people suffering in the heat... hoping to get out... looting to stay alive... wondering how his house was holding up (if it held up)... how bad the damage was... and how his cats were doing. Had they survived?

The hurricane hit on Monday, August 29th, by Wednesday Gordo was at my house... and both of us were beside ourselves worrying about Franks and Beans. Wondering if they'd survived the hurricane, and if so, how long could they last down there with no food or water (and hoping that they wouldn't sip that chemical soup that was covering 80% of the city!). After a week of listening to the news, looking at satellite images of his house on the internet, and wondering what his cats might be going through... we decided to take matters into our own hands. He lives on the 2nd level of his house, over his garage and storage space. The satellite images (below) were taken on Wednesday, August 31st... hopefully around the time that the flood waters were peaking. I say "hopefully" because the satellite images we looked at showed water near the top of his front steps, but not up on his porch - which would mean that it may not have flooded his main living space. We were encouraged by that, and that's all the info we used for basing our decision to try and make the trip. I had to do a photo shoot on Tuesday afternoon, after that we ate dinner at Aurelio's Pizza and discussed our "plans" - but I use that term very loosely. We had no plans. We had no idea what it would be like. What would be in store for us when we got there? Will we even be able to get there? All we had to go on was faith. We got home, packed the van, and just after midnight at about 12:15am Wednesday morning, we hit the road... headed for New Orleans.

15 hours later, at 3:00pm on the same Wednesday, we were still about 40 or 50 miles from New Orleans, but the authorities were routing everyone off of I-55 and we ended up in this massive traffic jam on the side roads of Louisiana. Now, keep in mind that the county of Jefferson Parish had imposed a curfew every night after 6:00pm... but in order to get to New Orleans, we had to get through Jefferson Parish and into Orleans Parish (a "Parish" in that state is the same as a County in other states - in case you didn't know). However, looking at the traffic jam we were stuck in, it didn't seem like we'd be able to make it to Jefferson Parish before the 6:00pm curfew. Ugh! It was looking like we'd be spending 3 or 4 days down there... and the probability seemed pretty high that we wouldn't accomplish anything the whole time we were there. We were both feeling kinda stupid for attempting such a grandstand move without any kind of a plan... but we were both still strong-minded enough (or bull-headed enough) to keep pushing forward until we hit some kind of absolute wall that wouldn't let us through.

We sat in traffic for about an hour and FINALLY the traffic jam broke at a road where most people were turning west toward Baton Rouge... but we turned east toward New Orleans. From there, the traffic moved pretty good for us. We made it through Jefferson Parish before the curfew (remembering that we still had to come BACK through Jefferson Parish... or else stay in New Orleans and sleep in my van for the night). When we hit New Orleans, they weren't letting anyone in. On the contrary, they were trying to evacuate people and get everyone out! So I climbed into the back of the van and put on my desert Army uniform to see if that would help anything. It was UNBELIVABLE how much that helped!! Between Gordo's driver's license with a New Orleans address on it, and my uniform and military I.D., we sliced right through DOZENS of check points throughout the town and talked to several military guys to find out what the conditions were like in different parts of the city. It was actually kinda funny... we'd pull up to a check point (Gordo was driving because he knows the roads better than I do)... and the soldier would say to him something like, "I'm sorry sir but... oh... hey Sarge, how ya doin'?... you guys are good... you can go ahead." Just like that.

Even though we could get through the checkpoints... we still had to negotiate the disaster-ridden streets of New Orleans. We had no luck in getting anywhere within about 20 blocks of his house in Mid City. Water was everywhere. We were following one street, St. Charles, from River Road to Lee Circle... but every time we turned left to try and get to his house, the streets were under water about four blocks ahead... unfortunately, his house was about 15 or 20 blocks past the water... things weren't looking too good for us... or his cats. The saddest part though... was seeing the devastation on St Charles street through Uptown and the Garden District. A street that was once active and lively... lined with lights and people and restaurants and street cars and beautiful homes... was now lined with broken trees, twisted metal, downed powerlines, brick and wood rubble... dark... still... dead... a ghost town. With no power and no traffic lights, we had to creep through town slowly so that we wouldn't get blind-sided at an intersection by a cop car, an ambulance, a firetruck, or a military vehicle. We really began to realize how much of a lifeline the van had become... if anything happens to the van NOW... we'd be really screwed. Two more homeless guys stranded in New Orleans.

Finally, we made it as deep into the city as we could get... until we were basically surrounded by flooded streets on three sides... but we were still a long way from Gordo's house... it was about 5:00pm. At the same time, we were also at New Orleans City Hall where the Army had set up a command post. Originally, Gordo and I were going to look for anyone with any kind of a boat who would take us to his house... but when we saw a little unattended rowboat right in the area near City Hall... we were just gonna park the van and take the boat without asking anyone. We didn't want to leave the van unguarded, though, for fear of looting and who knows what. So we saw some soldiers sitting in a parking lot, not doing much, just hanging out near their two hemmets. Now, if you don't know what a hemmet is, it's a huge 8-wheeled vehicle with four 5-foot tires on each side... it looks kinda like a Russian vehicle with a sort of sloped, flat-but-pointy nose on the front. I asked these guys how long they were gonna be there, and they said they had no idea... they'd been sitting there since noon... 5 hours (at noon, Gordo and I were just entering the hurricane damaged areas of central Mississippi). I told them what Gordo and I had in mind... but I also asked them if they had driven around town at all and if they knew how deep the water was along Canal Street in the direction we were headed... they hadn't gone that way... so they didn't know.

Then Gordo said, "Man it'd be nice if we could get one of these hemmets to take us through." When they heard that, all of the soldiers echoed the same sentiment: "Hell yeah... it'd beat just sitting out here baking in the sun." That got me thinking... so I asked who was in charge of them and they said some Lieutenant up in City Hall working in Dispatch. They didn't know his name and they'd never seen the guy. He was just "in charge" of them. So, as a wild shot in the dark (which is what this whole trip was from the moment we left Chicago), I decided to see if I could get into City Hall and talk to someone in dispatch. There was a unit from the 82nd Airborne division guarding City Hall... I ended up talking to their Company Cammander and their First Sergeant, I told them what I wanted to do, and they let me right on through the gate! So here I am, in my desert uniform... walking through a strange, unlit building... trying to find my way to Dispatch... not knowing who I'm supposed to talk to... and wondering what the hell I'm gonna say when I get there.

When I made it to Dispatch, they had generator power lighting their space, and I start asking around if there's a Lieutenant anywhere who's in charge of the two hemmets sitting outside. I get directed to a section of cubicles and I'm intorduced to three officers (a Captain, a Major, and a Lieutenant Colonel) who are wondering what I'm doing there and what I want. So I told them... I'm the acting First Sergeant of a Reserve PsyOp Company out of Chicago... I'm down here on my own trying to help a friend who bugged-out of the city at the last minute... he wants to rescue his two cats, get some of his clothes and personal files, and try to salvage as much of his life that will fit into a car... "Is there any chance that I can get one of those hemmets outside to see if we can get to his house?" The Colonel was a bit hesitant, but the Major and the Captain were both anxious to help and get those guys busy. They said that those hemmets "are on call for us to use at our disposal... and we haven't needed them all day... if you've got a mission for them, Sarge?... take charge... they're all yours."

I gave them my thanks and hustled my butt back downstairs before anyone changed their minds! When I got outside I was so excited... I was trying not to do cartwheels! Gordo saw me come out of the building and, from across the quiet street, he looked at me rather somberly and asked, "How did it go?" A huge grin crossed my face, and I gave him a thumbs-up! His face brightened and he said, "NO WAY! REALLY???" I nodded my head grinning and blurted out to the soldiers, "Okay guys, Dispatch said 'Yes'... I need a crew to take one of these vehicles down Canal Street!" They hopped to their feet, excited to finally be gainfully employed! Gordo jumped in the cab to give directions to the driver and I hopped in back with two soldiers toting their M-16s for security. I brought my still camera and my video camera.

Hopefully these pictures can help to tell most of the rest of the story. After the pictures, there's more text about how the trip finished up. Take a look...