Well, our flight to the Big Easy was almost uneventful -- except that the plane was overbooked and they made us leave Jason Nieves behind at O'Hare. He joined us later in the afternoon at our home away from home, The First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Metarie, Louisiana, just west and s
lightly north of downtown New Orleans. We spent much of the afternoon settling in, and receiving an excellent orientation from Diane, our project coordinator with the Disciples Recovery effort. We get down to work first thing tomorrow morning in the St. Bernard Parish, one of the hardest hit areas in the city. 
We spent some time in the French Quarter this evening doing a little sight seeing and quite a bit of eating. It is a remarkably schizophrenic place, New Orleans. Wandering around the French Quarter you might never have known that there was much of a mess here at all, but, on the way, you can see a massive tent city underneath one of the major expressways, the FEMA trailer parks, and so much other destruction still 2 1/2 years after the storms blew and the levees broke.
So it's up at 6:15 Monday morning, and on to the worksites by 8:15 or 8:30 AM. The weather is gorgeous, and not yet as humid as many people remember NOLA, so we should be able to get a lot done.
