Tourist excursion #2

Monday, 6/26/2006

My boyfriend has a close friend who is a New Orleans native and resident. He is also a pilot. He offered to take us up in a small plane for an aerial tour. His plane is still in Chicago since the storm, but he could borrow one. It seemed like an incredible opportunity for our last evening in N. O.

Our friend picked us up at 5:00—plenty of daylight left. We drove to the Lakeview Airport, seeing parts of St. John’s bayou. This area has been hit harder by Katrina than Uptown. Many more houses that are shells, or irreparable at a glance. The airport buildings have been destroyed. There are a variety of trailers in use. The plane our friend can borrow is a two-seater. I elect to stay on the ground, as I am tired from getting around the convention and attending the excellent sessions. There is a very nice quadruple-wide trailer (biggest I have ever seen), the Million Air Club, with heavy-duty AC and fabulous huge comfy chairs. They do not care at all that I am not a member or the guest of a member. I watch the planes take off and land for a while, then fall fast asleep in a comfy chair. Turns out the radio in the borrowed plane is not working, so the boys just spent an hour flying around the airport in a pattern, since they could not talk to the tower. Apparently, small planes are one more thing it is hard to keep in repair since Katrina.

Our friend took us to see his house. On the way, we see Lake Pontchartrain, and a very beautiful sunset. The first floor of the house flooded, about four-and-a half feet of water. All the walls had to be stripped to lathe and sheet-rocked. All the wiring had to be replaced. All of the appliances had to be trashed. It was still quite a work in progress, as our friend had just started his final year at Tulane Law School in August. He ended up doing distance ed in Arkansas part of the year, and was able to graduate in May. But you can tell the house was lovely, and will be again. The house still has no A/C. The swing on the front porch survived. We swung a little. The neighborhood is slowly coming back, but no restaurants yet. We head over to Uptown to get some dinner. On the way, we pass row after row of identical FEMA trailers. They look soul-less. Dinner in Uptown and another excellent meal—Thai this time. Our first non-Cajun meal, though we detect influences. We do not complain.