3 hours, Plus 29
I will never rent do business with National Car Rental again. Or Alamo. They or, but aren’t they same company. Because of a few things with them, I missed my flight out of Gulfport. After some difficulty, I then rented my car from National a third time on Thursday. Same exact car. I then drove that car to Washington, DC, because all the ticket counter agents laughed at me when I asked them about going standby on a flight to DC. There was hardly a chance of my getting on a flight within the next week because of overbooking.
So I drove 1,034 miles. The entire way, I followed tropical depression Tammy, which dropped unceasing rain on my car. I also followed the track of hurricane Katrina, evidenced by the wrecked trees along the highways and occasional signs on storefronts begging costumers to bear with them as the proprietors mend from the effects of Katrina
The trees told the story the best. When a tree falls, it snaps – you can see which side of the trunk gave way. But when a hurricane takes down a tree, it is different. Hurricanes seem to twist a tree, so when the tree can’t bear it anymore, there’s a splintery explosion that goes in every direction. Shards of wood, pointing everywhere, the top of the tree laying nearby, sometimes still connected. It’s messy. I saw these trees at least a hundred miles beyond the coast.
When I finally got home, I took a shower which didn’t seem to get the gulf coast gunk off out of my skin and armpits, and then I slept for thirteen hours. Oscar’s been complaining of the muggy, wet weather, and while I do agree that the constant rain outside is wet…it feels like fall to me, reminiscent of Humboldt county. It’s a great time to be in DC, whereas New Orleans still has the hot and nasty. I think next time I feel that the weather in DC has turned to something oppressive, I’ll just head down to New Orleans where things just get worse. I bet a weekend down there would make DC feel like Shangri-la.
The short of it all, is that I’m back in DC, and I still have a fair amount of work before me. A lot of straightening out as well, as I take a look at the past two weeks. But that’s all for another time: I’m watching The Maltese Falcon.
So I drove 1,034 miles. The entire way, I followed tropical depression Tammy, which dropped unceasing rain on my car. I also followed the track of hurricane Katrina, evidenced by the wrecked trees along the highways and occasional signs on storefronts begging costumers to bear with them as the proprietors mend from the effects of Katrina
The trees told the story the best. When a tree falls, it snaps – you can see which side of the trunk gave way. But when a hurricane takes down a tree, it is different. Hurricanes seem to twist a tree, so when the tree can’t bear it anymore, there’s a splintery explosion that goes in every direction. Shards of wood, pointing everywhere, the top of the tree laying nearby, sometimes still connected. It’s messy. I saw these trees at least a hundred miles beyond the coast.
When I finally got home, I took a shower which didn’t seem to get the gulf coast gunk off out of my skin and armpits, and then I slept for thirteen hours. Oscar’s been complaining of the muggy, wet weather, and while I do agree that the constant rain outside is wet…it feels like fall to me, reminiscent of Humboldt county. It’s a great time to be in DC, whereas New Orleans still has the hot and nasty. I think next time I feel that the weather in DC has turned to something oppressive, I’ll just head down to New Orleans where things just get worse. I bet a weekend down there would make DC feel like Shangri-la.
The short of it all, is that I’m back in DC, and I still have a fair amount of work before me. A lot of straightening out as well, as I take a look at the past two weeks. But that’s all for another time: I’m watching The Maltese Falcon.
posted by B at
6:32 PM
