Walking Out of New Orleans, Part Two

Sebastian was getting tired and hot. He wouldn't drink any more, so I started pouring his share onto his head and body to cool him down. We would take turns carrying him for a while, but he didn't like that. So, we would carry a while, then let him walk a while.

When we came to the area by the projects, the side of the road became more crowded with people. We even saw some firemen setting up a rescue operation with boats. I recognised a couple of them from a delivery I had made for work. Nick knew one of the guys, so talked to him for any updates. He knew less than we did.

There were only 2 times I was concerned for our safety. The first was when I saw 4 guys stealing a car that was parked on the side of the road. As they were getting into the car, on of the guys stared hard at me and flashed a gang sign. I looked away from him and kept walking. They made a uturn and came up behind us, but passed and kept going. I breathed a sigh of relief.

The second time, a man came running toward Sebastian and I, pointing his finger and saying, "You, I know you!" Well, I didn't know him, but I said "ok". He continued, "You live on Clermont. I see you and your dog walking all the time. When did you leave? How high was the water?" My response, "Yes, we live Clermont. We left about midnight last night. And the water was this high at my house." I held out the front of my teeshirt, which was stained from the nasty water almost shoulder high. "I was walking on my tiptoes when I waded out." He looked very depressed then and said, "My house must be under water too. Where are you going?" "Gonsalez." " Well, if anyone can walk that far, it's you. I've seen you walking every day, in all weather. Good luck." "Stay safe, yourself."

For all the nastiness the tv reported. For all the evil deeds that supposedly happened. We only received support, hope and good wishes from people. All everyone wanted was information, and water.

One man called out to us from the side of the road, "Drink of wine, $50!" Nick muttered to me, "If it was ice water, I might take him up on it."

It seemed like we had been walking a lifetime.

We're Walking Out of New Orleans

As we walked, the scope of the flooding became apparent. Everywhere we looked there was water, some areas deeper than others. We came upon more people by the side of the road, including the woman and her parents that are been dropped off at the intersection of I610 and 10 during the night. Lots of folks just sitting and waiting. We walked at a fairly brisk pace. People would call at us from the side of the road, "Where you going? What do you know?" We finally started answering, "Out of here, we don't know anything."

There were some vehicles driving on the road, mostly government types, a few tv vans, an occasional private vehicle, but they all seemed to be going no where.

After walking a while, the 3 young guys changed out of their wet shoes into flip flops, and I changed into sandals. Bill was already in dry shoes. We were stopped by a tv van from ABC in Houston. They had their camera out, so I kept walking. Didn't want to be seen looking like this!!! The four guys stopped and talked. The tv folks were very concerned we were walking in to a bad part of town! They had been warned! After talking to the guys, they let Nick use their satellite phone to call his parents. He told his mom where we were and what our plans were. His dad was going to come to New Orleans to meet us at the bridge and take us out. They also gave us a gallon of water. Thank you to them.

There were dogs on the freeway, some already dying from dehydration. One was a beautiful pomeranian, obviously well loved, running around with a broken leash attached. We tried to get him to come to us, but he would only come so close then run away. I have often wondered what happened to him.

Walking down the freeway, we found ourselves in step, with a certain rhythm. Mike started humming, then said, "What's this song, it's something about walking and New Orleans?" Well, it was "I'm walking to New Orleans." We sang a bit, then changed the words to:

We're walking out of New Orleans.
We're walking out of New Orleans.
Got blisters on our feet,
There's water in the streets,
So, we're walking out of New Orleans.

We're going to Gonzalez.
Cause that is where Nick's house is.
Got blisters on our feet,
There's water in the streets,
So, we're walking out of New Orleans.

As we passed people, they did give us strange looks for singing, but hey, it was a strange day.