[The Cajun]

This is my photo shop representation of what I saw.
Tried to do it while it was still fresh in my mind.
The front end was a lot, lot brighter than I can represent.
The green and a few white sparkles were a lot, lot brighter also.
Seeing it dynamically moving, the sparkles would burn out and constantly be refreshed by new ones, kind of like a fireworks sparkler.
Would have thought the sparkle trail would have had more of a slant to it because of speed, but it didn't, struck me as kind of odd, but I have never seen one with this much detail.

*Any who*, that's basically how it looked.

[COBOL2Java]

Pretty cool. You shoulda bought a lottery ticket that night! :-)

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Would have thought the sparkle trail would have had more of a slant to it because of speed,

Could be the "sparkle trail" are pieces that broke off at high altitude (and continued to break up) and are "flying in formation" with the main body. They will tend slow up more quickly because of the surface area to mass ratio is and hence drag relative to mass is much larger, creating the "slant angle" effect you were looking for.

A couple of Germans in the 18th century did triangulation measurements of meteors seen during a meteor shower and came up with a altitude of 100 km (60 miles) for the altitude at which meteor trails are visible, a number which has held up well in the modern era of radar and astrophotography. At 100 km the atmosphere is very thin and friction is a lot less than on earth, so the atmospheric braking is a lot less than one might expect.

Some meteors actually bounce off the atmosphere and continue back into space.