Life in the truck

Some of you know that I work with my boyfriend who is a truck driver. I do all the administrative stuff - he drives. Sometimes he drives down the road, sometimes he drives me up a wall....ANYWAY!

We currently have a load on that we picked up yesterday in Georgia, and are delivering it in Simi Valley, CA on Monday. We shut down in Texas - which was over 600 miles in for yesterday alone. We (actually I) decided we should take I-10W and go through some places I had never been before.

The first place we went through was Mobile, AL; where my brother was born. I really wanted to get a postcard from there to send him so that he knew I had been there. I had Troy stop at a truck stop and told him to get some cards that said "Mobile" on them. He came back with one that has a building on it; it looks interesting as the building is quite old. I read the back of the card hoping that it gives some details of the building - thinking it must be someone famous' home or birthplace or something. I am a little horrified to read that it is actually the first jail in the city of Mobile built in 1822-1824! (Some of you may recall my brother has had significant trouble with the law in his life...) I decide to call my brother (to kind of warn him of what he will be getting) and told him about the card thinking he's gonna be pissed off. To my surprise he was like "that's cool!". Ok, all that worry for nuthin....

The next place we went through was New Orleans, LA. I had been there as a child over 15 years ago, but I really wanted to see it since Katrina happened. Previous to our getting to NO, I was amazed at the miles and miles and miles of dead trees. All along the coast line for as far as the eye could see. It sent a deep sense of sadness over me as I watched it fly by my window. Once we began to descend into NO, that sadness grew in intensity mixed with anger. It has been almost 2 1/2 years since Katrina and all of the houses are still in shambles. They are gutted out, the spray paint from the searchers for survivors is still on them. Windows are blown out and all of the destroyed belongings of the former residents' visible from the highway. 80% of the homes have campers or trailers parked in the driveways indicating the residents' fight to regain their property from the damage inflicted upon them. I was saddened that so many are still in those trailers and campers. After this long, more should be getting back on their feet, in my opinion. There is a strong sign of life speckled here and there with businesses showing huge signs of "NOW OPEN". One sign I saw that made me smile and think of the determination of these people was on the back of a tow truck. It read "FLOODED CARS TOWED FREE". As we traveled on the same bridge that I remember seeing thousands of people trapped on the days following the hurricane, I really felt anger that they have had to wait. They waited for days to be rescued. They waited for days to have the government come help them. Now they are waiting for their funding from the government to rebuild their lives. Troy made a comment that I mulled over for quite some time. "They should just tear down the entire city. With it being below sea level, they should just all leave. I know there's a history there, but they should not rebuild." After much thought about that statement, I decided I disagree with him. I think that NO should be rebuilt. This is the home of hundreds of thousands of people. This is their LIFE! I also felt that the government needs to get the troops out of Iraq and send them to rebuild OUR OWN PEOPLE and their homes and lives. What a sad, horrible situation that could be significantly better if some people would get their priorities right.

~My drool for today