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thanks .. I've been worried sick about EVERYONE down there, but very close friends live in NO, and it took till SUnday morning for two life-long Orleanian husbands to decide to evacuate for the first time in their lives. Am praying they and their families are safely tucked away someplace in Tx. Don't even want to think about what they will return to, but if their lives are spared, that's what's important.

I've been on the road today so I've not had a chance to view much of the pictures coming out of the area via television. But let me say that I'm in Southeast Texas and there are many evacuees in this area. The radio reports as I passed through Houston mentioned that some 55,000 hotel rooms were occupied by evacuees in that area. Businesses and others are banning together to help as much as possible to make their stay tolerable. Example, they are giving free tickets to those for many things such of the sightseeing nature so they can maybe take their minds off the problems for a few hours. There are some 2,000 in our area at a County facility and many more in other locations.

What has slowly begun to sink in to me in the short time I've been home is the destruction to the infrastructure along the Gulf Coast from the Baton Rouge area in the Panhandle of Florida. I-10 and US Hwy 90 have complete sections of the roadways gone. I'm sure railways are the same. That probably means months before repairs can be completed.

No telling the damage to the infrastructure within the cities that are still inundated. Utilities, water systems, sewerage facilities, etc.

I know this sounds pessimistic but I believe it to be reality at the moment. The bottom line is that we need to give thanks for the minimal loss of life and pray for God's blessings as the resumption of the lives of those impacted is begun. Keep your hope and chin up.