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At this point I have been having a terrible time trying to contact people down south via the phone, which is understandable. It is looking unlikely at this point that I am going to be able to find a place that will accept a truck load of hard goods as well. In lieu of that, the alternative plan is to drive down there, leaving Chicago next Thursday evening, and most likely head to either Baluxi, MS, Baton Rouge, LA, Mobile, AL, or Hattiesburg, MS, and volunteer somewhere.

At this point I do have a companion for the trip, Justin, who will take the trip and go through whatever it is I go through, God willing.

Another difficult part of this will be planning the logistics. We don’t think we’ll be able to depend on Gasoline once we get out of Tennessee, and need to plan accordingly. This means having 12 to 15 gallons stored in the car with us, most likely in plastic gallon or 2 gallon containers. It also means packing some non-perishable food and bottled water, in case, when we get there, they don’t have food for us. On the bright side of this, we aren’t going right into the middle of it all, more on the outskirts, where supply chains should hold up for food.

I realize that a lot of people will be worried about us while we are there, but we’ll be OK. We’ll also be in touch as best we can, granted we can access the cell towers/telephones. What this comes down to is not a matter of ‘I’d like to do this’ but more along the lines of ‘I have to do this.’ I can’t begin to describe the empathy I have for these displaced people. I pray that something like this never happens again. At the same time, I have to seize the opportunity to help my fellow humans as personally as I can. An opportunity (if you could call it that) like this comes rarely once in a lifetime. We are currently at the second time in my lifetime there has been something like this that I have a genuine opportunity to make a difference. The first was 9/11, and I passed that chance to go where I could have been of some real use. I’ve regretted that ever since. I can’t regret this one as well.