So it begins....(Pt. 2)

Leaving Tuscaloosa after a couple hours of stretching our legs, we felt energized, ready to tackle the day. Ready, that is, until we realized we had about 10 hours of driving left (This was after driving more or less straight through from 6ish the previous night.) We still had to drive through half of Alabama, a third of Mississippi, and that little bit of Louisiana before New Orleans. So to say that our enthusiasm was tempered would be an understatement. The day dawned very overcast as well, which would later turn into massive rainstorms that would delay us further. It was here that we began to see the climate and landscape differences the most. In Mississippi and Alabama, there are churches EVERYWHERE. Huge, sprawling complexes that are right off the interstate. I was amazed. Coming from a place of very tiny churches by comparison, and combined with the cacophony of preachers coming from our radio that Sunday morning, it was safe to say that the non-gentile in the car was even more surprised than the two Catholics were.

As we headed further south, however, the interstates seemed to more and more try to dodge anything resembling civilization when at all possible. We began to see houses only every couple miles, then every couple dozen miles, then not at all. As we neared the end of Mississippi (yes, that previous paragraph sums up the remainder of our trip through those two states) we saw a sight that rendered us speechless. On our right, as we got off an exit for gas, was a FEMA staging area. Now, for two of us, this was our first exposure to anything storm related, and to say it was chilling was an understatement. On our left as we pulled off the interstate was an enormous fenced in field. In that fenced in field were FEMA trailers lined up like cattle. I mean, thousands upon thousands of trailers packed wall to wall across this field. And behind it, another field full. And next to it, another field. Then, finally, the administration buildings. Now, I can only assume that these were trailers that had since been returned, and one would think that so many such trailers would indicate progress along the gulf coast, right? Not so, my friends, as we would realize in about two hours time.