Back on the Road

We hit the road for the Big Easy once again. We left Carla's house close to 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, June 10th. The road trip went remarkably well. Our two vans weren't too concerned about staying together, yet most of the trip we were within several miles of each other. We did a lunch stop in Iowa as a full group at a truck stop, then did individual stops for dinner late in the evening.

The drive went so well that both groups, again within a couple miles of each other without trying, got into New Orleans about three hours ahead of schedule. Not knowing quite what to do with ourselves at six in the morning, we decided to go to the French Quarter for coffees at Cafe Dumonde. It was a steamy morning, yet the coffees hit the spot.


We arrived at the church around 7:00 and were greeted by some familiar faces. Many of the Hands On staff that were here in April are still here now. The bunk area was very full, but we managed to all find a spot to call our own for the next week.

We had a couple hours to settle in before taking in the church service at First Street. Rev. Lance gave an inspiring message and of course the music was great.

After church came an afternoon of work. We spent our time cleaning up parts of our neighborhood - Central City. Lots of garbage litters the streets and sidewalks, and Hand On is trying to work with neighborhood citizens to clean up the area. The weather was hot and the piles of garbage were quite numerous. The work is important, yet it seemed like we barely put a dent into the rubbish that covers the city streets.