COMING TO THE RESCUE...

I named this post "coming to the rescue" because Randy and I sort of felt like we came to Cameron and Brittany's rescue in Baton Rouge. Baton Rouge was hit much worst than us and much of the city were out of power much longer. So of course their stores and such were out of power too. They could not even get gas to come home. So Wednesday we (Randy, Cari and I) headed down there with 2-five gallons of gas so that could come home and get out of the heat (literally since they had been out of power for over 2 days at this point.

I had not been out of the house much either since we had been hit with so much rain the days following the storm. The storm made its path here Monday night. This was Wednesday sometime after lunch. From the damage that we saw in our "neck of the woods" (Frogmore) and the damages that we saw along our route down Highway 61 South to BR, that it appears many many tornadoes spread out and hit many trees. Now I use the term mini-tornado lightly since anything that can uproot a huge pecan or live oak tree can't hardly be called mini. But it was "mini" in the sense that there no apparent path of destruction appeared as I have often seen after a really huge tornado path has gone through a particular area. The more appropriate tere could have been sparatic tornadoes...as you can see through my writings or ramblings, I don't watch the weather channel or discovery channel too often. I don't know the proper terms and I really don't care to know them. At this point (Wed...09.03.08) I was tired of worrying about my holdest two (Cameron and Brittany) and I was ready to get them home.

BACK TO THE FIRST PHOTO IN THIS POST: It is isn't a very good image. But it is the rather large Pecan tree in the field to the right side of our home. This tree and one at Frogmore Plantation (that was almost split in half) were the most significant damage near us. It was the first time I really got to see it well and I to photographed as we left here.

With my camera in hand as we left out of here I was prepared to try to document some of the sights or remains of Hurricane Gustav. But while driving normal speeds on the highway and photographing through windshields, I can't say that I really captured much more than something to stimulate our memories about this storm. I often say that it is photos that trigger our memories about things that have happened it the past....which it makes me want to be more like Nicki with Jonah. It makes me want to document every thing that happens in our lives from the special memories to the most insignificant little details of our lives. Because I truly believe when the moment is over (what the moment--from weddings to the first time our child tries a new food), all that is left is the memories. Memories in the form of a visual image last forever!

So my memories do not have to be award winning photographs and rarely are they are because of I am too busy living the moment as well as capturing it. It is my memory and I want to remember it!

So next I will share a few things I wanted to remember from this trip. I didn't photograph as much as I wanted once I realized that I wasn't do a very good job because as good as my camera and lenses are they just didn't focus well at 55 mph (or more). So I didn't photograph any of the many uprooted trees that we saw along the way. But I did just included it here...so I think I will remember this along with these next few images:

This was as we were leaving Vidalia. The intention of this image was to show all the power trucks as they were coming through town headed to the next place on their list to restore power. It was photographed from the front seat of the truck and Randy has a crack in the windshield that I noticed was affecting the view of this. So I only took one, but that all it takes for me to remember this.

I had made sandwiches to eat for our lunch when we thought we were leaving earlier this a.m., but we ate some of them before leaving. I made sandwiches because of the reports of all the power outages...we knew there would not be any stops at McDonald's in St. Francisville or convenience stores for a diet coke and a snack. Well, somehow the two main/convenient stores of Woodville got power and had gas. We were wondering what was going on before we made it to town because the traffic was really backed up...they were inline for gas. This photo is taken as we left town. I gave it to Cari to photograph from the back seat. I told her to wait until we got far enough out that she could see the last cars in line and still see the SHELL sign. Traffic was linged up about a quarter of a mile. The circle that I drew was the SHELL sign.

After seeing many trees uprooted along the way, we finally arrived to their apartment. I didn't get the camera out until we were on our way back home. Cameron had already gotten into Randy's truck. So knowing how he often does not like to be photographed, I didn't even try. He had been several days w/o air conditioning. I knew might be extra grouchy. So I am using this photo of Brittany and Cari bringing the last things down to the cars. According to Brittany's smile, she must be happy to be leaving a hot apartment!

Cameron rode back with his dad and Cari and I rode with Brittany. It was a nice trip home visiting and catching up. And I am pretty sure the next time there is a storm any where near and if school is being cancelled for the storm that they will be more than glad to come HOME to ride the storm out.

I know they are grown kids, but you don't quit worrying about them when they grow up...actually you worry a whole lot more...and often, as in our case, you have more to worry about [a little one (Natalie) and a wife (Brittany)]. We were glad to get them here and to know that they were okay. WE LOVE Y'ALL!

~~ja~~

P.S. Looking at this through the preview, I realize that it is much longer than I thought...so I will proof read it later. So if you happen to be one who reads it right way...sorry :(