From: John De Armond
Newsgroups: misc.rural
Subject: Re: About those levees...
Date: Fri, 30 Sep 2005 13:04:16 -0400
Message-ID: <virqj1dp05dl2h2i96ttn9rff6janvpbmk@4ax.com>

On Thu, 29 Sep 2005 10:27:38 -0700, jJohn Klausner
<somis.7@adelphia.net> wrote:


>Very lengthy article, as a result of the many updates, but if NO is ever
>to be rebuilt, understanding what actually failed is critical.  There
>still is the possibly guilty barge in question...that would fall into an
>accident category and I don't know if that could ever be protected
>against in such a circumstance as a cat 4 hurricane, but if you don't
>know the cause at all, you sure can't protect against it!
>Anyway...for those interested...

Thanks for the pointer.

The reason the levees failed is no secret.  They failed because they
weren't large enough, a fact recognized over 30 years ago.  When I
started going to NO over 30 years ago, the talk of the town was
raising the levees.  Thirty years and $billions$ later, absolutely
nothing was done.  That money disappeared into the corrupt black hole
that is LA.

Holding water back is pretty simple - people have had that figured out
for thousands of years.  One simply has to decide how much of a flood
to protect against and then fund the project and build accordingly.

I should also note that at least 30 years ago it was recognized that
the pumping stations were inadequate for a major storm and that the
power supplies were inadequately protected.  As an engineer curious
about almost everything technical, I spent quite a bit of time when in
NO looking at parts of the system and talking to operators and
engineers, just as a curious citizen and not in any official capacity.
There wasn't even any debate to speak of about what needed to be done,
at least among the technical people.  It was all a matter of diverting
some of that money out of the corrupt black hole and into the project.

John

From: John De Armond
Newsgroups: rec.outdoors.rv-travel
Subject: Only in Louisana
Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2006 16:00:14 -0400
Message-ID: <903ti2hhjfudvvma51rm49acmv3n7g9553@4ax.com>

I'm sitting here in Bumfuck, LA with a broken down trailer.  I'm in a
little podunk truck stop.  You won't see something like this place
anywhere but in La.

Right behind the counter next to the cigs and chewing gum is a fine
selection of booze.  Just what every trucker needs - 150 gallons of
diesel and a quart of vodka!  I don't know but the prices looked
cheap.  $2.50 for a quart of Vodka.  $5.50 for a 5th of Jack.

Attached to the C-store is a metal building with a "Casino" sign.  I
had to look inside.  A blast of cig smoke hit me when I opened the
door.  About 10 video slots around the walls with knuckleheads merrily
feeding them their quarters.  I suppose I could understand the glitz
and glam of Vegas but what's the deal with this?  It can't be any fun,
sitting there in a dark nasty metal building breathing air thick
enough to cut, blowing yer paycheck.

OTOH, over in the deli, I just bought a full rack of ribs for $3.50.
Dunno how they do that, as a rack cost me that much wholesale. They're
good too!

Just got through making a delivery of paper to the Times Picayune in
downtown New Orleans.  When they showed the dome on TV during the
flood and that freeway ramp off to the left coming up out of the
water, that's the ramp I used.

Damn, what a mess!  The dome is rebuilt (did I hear that we
[taxpayers] paid for it?) and the streets are clear around the French
Quarter.  The rest of the place looks post-apocalyptic.  Whole
neighborhoods where the buildings are rotting down and/or burned and
nobody on the streets but the bums and whores.  Here and there some
intrepid entrepreneur has opened a bar or restaurant or something but
in general, downtown is a ghost town.  I got lost getting out of town
and ended up seeing a lot of downtown.

There are still high-rise office buildings with yellow ducting snaking
up the side from portable AC units being fed by huge generators.  One
caught my attention that had a diesel tanker truck backed up to the
bank of generators feeding them.

There are still active national guard patrols and many roads are still
blocked with checkpoints.  That's how I got lost, the road I needed to
take back to I-10 had a NG hummer blocking the way.

Out I-10 around Lake Pontchartrain, the situation is similar.  High
density developments as have overtaken Atlanta sit vacant, many with
the roofs missing.  Mildew turning everything black.  Upscale malls
with anchor stores like Macy's abandoned.

I-10 over Lake Pontchartrain still has several spans of temporary
steel bridging that looks military.  Steel deck plates that sounded
SCARY as this big rig rolled over.  I was right at the weight
restricted limit so I chewed my nails a little.  Even as far as 10
miles back up I-10 the damage is extensive.

After seeing this, I agree with those who advocate leveling everything
except the tourist traps and letting it go back to the wild.  There is
no way to repair the damage.  At best, one would have to level things
and build new and what for?  The next big 'un?

From: John De Armond
Newsgroups: rec.outdoors.rv-travel
Subject: Re: Only in Louisana
Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2006 06:31:39 -0400
Message-ID: <8kqui29srnjbmit6iumlgq29ojt56a777r@4ax.com>

On Thu, 12 Oct 2006 20:58:41 GMT, "Nate"
<nsaptaemcscpnanm@nsvpbaemll.net> wrote:

>
>"Neon John" <no@never.com> wrote in message
>news:903ti2hhjfudvvma51rm49acmv3n7g9553@4ax.com...
>>
>snip\

>> There are still active national guard patrols and many roads are still
>> blocked with checkpoints.  That's how I got lost, the road I needed to
>> take back to I-10 had a NG hummer blocking the way.
>
>Damn...I just registered for a convention in June in New Orleans and was
>getting pretty excited about visiting.  After reading this post I lost my
>excitement.

So the locals told me, the French Quarter is back up and running,
though only a skeleton of what it used to be.  I had to rely on
second-hand info, as an 18-wheeler doesn't fit that district too well
:-)  Around the dome, it looks like an oasis in a sea of destruction.
The streets are clean and clear but there just isn't much of anything
there other than the dome itself.

John

From: John De Armond
Newsgroups: rec.outdoors.rv-travel
Subject: Re: Only in Louisana
Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2006 06:52:07 -0400
Message-ID: <dpqui2dn76q9d88r3cq61q2p2go4a1aqk3@4ax.com>

On Thu, 12 Oct 2006 16:37:06 -0700, "Old & in the way...."
<bfunk850@cox.net> wrote:


>Hey John, I am planning to drive a new Vet through there in Nov. on a trip
>from San Diego to FLA. to visit family. Generally how are the roads,
>especially (if you know) to the east. I have real hard tires (run flats) and
>not much ground clearance or suspension for big holes etc.
>
>The wife has her heart set on seeing the gulf coast and this may be the only
>chance. I know you have your trailer, but how are the motels down there now?
>Can't carry too much camp'in gear in the Vet after we put our tooth brushes
>in the back.

I ran a load to Biloxi a couple weeks back and took a day to drive the
coastal highway between Biloxi and Gulf Port.  There is almost
literally nothing.  The casino boats are gone.  One got blown inland 3
miles according to a poster I looked at.  There are signs for
O'charlies and similar chains standing in grassy meadows where there
used to be buildings and pavement.  I dropped down there thinking I
could get some good seafood.  Nothing.  There was one "casino" that
had huge signs proclaiming it to be open.  Turned out to be a cluster
of office trailers put together to hold a single semi-circular bar
with a dozen or so video poker machines inset.  The "restaurant"
consisted of a couple of tables off to the side.  Since that was the
only choice in town, I paid about $7 for an awful hamburger.

The Biloxi bay bridge is still out so don't plan on that route.

I-10 coming in from the east is REALLY rough.  Not so much potholes as
concrete slabs that either never were level or perhaps floated loose
from the water and never were repaired.  I literally bounced out of
contact with my seat in the truck.  The west side of I-10 is a little
better.  They've laid some blacktop in some places.

Today I made a run starting at Jackson, LA, coming down US61 to Baton
Rouge then across I-12 and up I-55 toward Tennessee where I'm stopped
for the night.  The roads around Baton Rouge are pretty rough.  I-55
to the MS line is HORRIBLE.  I was chatting on the cell using an
over-the-head type headphone and the damned thing bounced off my head!
Again, mis-aligned slabs, particularly where it looks like the dirt
has washed out from under a pair of slabs to form a V depression.
Cross the line to MS and instantly, things are better.

FWIW, a local driver told me NOT to overnight in Baton Rouge, that
there are roving gangs of thugs, apparently from NO, that hit truck
stops and other places where people stop at night and rob at will.
This guy was black so I don't think it's a racial thing.  I didn't
overnight in Baton Rouge :-(

BTW, got a little taste of petty corruption, Louisiana-style tonight.
Got stopped at the chicken coop on I-12 near Hammond, la.  Coop
claimed I was 200 lbs overweight.  My cat scale ticket says I'm way
legal.  The fine was $20, payable right there on the spot, just like
the old justice-of-the-peace days.  There was standing room only and
most of us had Cat scale tickets showing us legal.  MS and TN has
thought so too, as I've sailed right through their coops.  Just a word
to wise for commercial drivers in the area.  LA knows that this sort
of petty corruption is too small for any one person or company to
fight.  My company just paid it and said forget about it.

John

From: John De Armond
Newsgroups: rec.outdoors.rv-travel
Subject: Re: Only in Louisana
Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2006 15:33:11 -0400
Message-ID: <qfpvi2533a9jnneoqtup7pvoq1pb401c6p@4ax.com>

On Fri, 13 Oct 2006 07:37:08 -0700, "Old & in the way...."
<bfunk850@cox.net> wrote:

>Thanks Bill and Neon for your thoughts on my question. Not looking like an
>easy road trip through there in the Vette. Perhaps I'll move it up north a
>bit, got to think about it.
>
>brian
>

You're welcome.  If you can handle the rough pavement getting there, I
highly recommend driving the beach highway (US90) along the gulf
between Biloxi and Gulf Port.  You can get there off I-10 by coming
south on I-110.  It ends a few miles north of the beach highway but
the surface street is a very wide 5 lane.

The destruction is much greater in NO but it's more apparent here.
Especially if you ever had an opportunity to drive that highway before
the storm. I drove my mom along there a few years ago in her MH and
took many still pictures.  I videoed this last trip.  The contrast is
stunning. Huge antebellum mansions, tastefully done strip mall-type
developments and of course, ahem, the gaudy casinos.  All gone now.
Much of NO looked like it was waiting for the wrecking ball BEFORE the
storm but not this area.

One thing in particular stuck in my mine above all else.  There had
been a high rise condo with several stories of partially underground
parking.  The building was gone.  Only the cast-in-place concrete
structure of the garage remained.  It stuck up in the air like a
platform waiting for someone to set a building down on it.  You'd
think it was new construction except that it wasn't.

I was team driving when I went down.  My partner wanted to go swimming
so I sat and watched the truck.  The beaches are almost all clean and
white like they used to be.  He walked down, milled around with the
people a bit and came back dry.  I asked him why he didn't swim.  He
said that nobody was swimming.  Sure enough, nobody was in the water.
The reason was that a few feet off shore, underwater, the devastation
returned.  Vehicles, buildings, mobile homes, etc., all sitting there
under the clear blue water.  A stunning sight.

Scratch the sand and nails and glass pop up.  No more bare footin'. No
idea what they'll do about that to restore the beaches as a
destination.

I guarantee that you won't really appreciate what the Mother can do
until you drive that road.   It's worth getting your fillings rattled
in the Vette (yeah, I knew what you meant by "vet".  Some folks just
can't think of anything else to say so they cheap-shoot.)

If you can get in and out in the daylight, I highly recommend taking
the tour of NO.  Again, you just can't appreciate the power of the
Mother until you see that.  I've done post-hurricane relief work in
Charleston, SC and in Florida and I wasn't even remotely prepared for
this kind of destruction.

John

From: John De Armond
Newsgroups: rec.outdoors.rv-travel
Subject: Re: Only in Louisana
Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2006 15:51:33 -0400
Message-ID: <d7rvi2d9t6tevlqmm96jtvq9igfs5v39g1@4ax.com>

On Fri, 13 Oct 2006 07:07:03 -0700, Lon VanOstran
<RVnFT@wmconnect.com> wrote:

>Neon John wrote:
>
>>
>> I ran a load to Biloxi a couple weeks back and took a day to drive the
>> coastal highway between Biloxi and Gulf Port.  There is almost
>> literally nothing.  The casino boats are gone.  One got blown inland 3
>> miles according to a poster I looked at.  There are signs for
>> O'charlies and similar chains standing in grassy meadows where there
>> used to be buildings and pavement.  I dropped down there thinking I
>> could get some good seafood.  Nothing.  There was one "casino" that
>> had huge signs proclaiming it to be open.  Turned out to be a cluster
>> of office trailers put together to hold a single semi-circular bar
>> with a dozen or so video poker machines inset.  The "restaurant"
>> consisted of a couple of tables off to the side.  Since that was the
>> only choice in town, I paid about $7 for an awful hamburger.
>
>Horse hockey. There were 3 Casinos open in Biloxi last March. Just last
>week we talked to my inlaws right after they returned to Florida from a
>week in Biloxi.

I videoed continuously from about Reynoir St in Biloxi to US49 in
Gulfport.  I sat the video camera on a window mount and let it run
while I drove and gawked.  With the exception of the one "casino" in
office trailers, there was NOTHING even remotely resembling a casino.
East of Reynoir it started looking too congested for an 18-wheeler and
I was tired of the scene by US49 so I can't comment about anything
east or west of these areas.

I could probably put the video on the net if you'd like to point out
what I missed.

John