Chance of Showers

They say we're gonna get some rain around here this weekend. Good thing too, cause it's been a hot, dry summer.

Seriously, say a prayer for the coasts of Texas and Louisiana, and for the 1.5 million people that are en route somewhere to get away from Rita.

Evacuation...Texas Style

As a possible category 4 hurricane heads for the coast of Texas, the disaster evacuation plan is being properly implemented. One of our local commuter trains is headed down to Galveston to evacuate seniors who can't make it out on their own. The nice thing about this train is that it's a diesel and can therefore go on any rail line, as opposed to the light rail in Houston and Dallas. This train normally goes between Dallas and Fort Worth, and runs a few miles away from my house.

It can be argued, I suppose, that there's no way we would risk flubbing this one, given the consequences of Katrina, but I don't think that's the case. The governor just implemented a plan that has already been established. Alabama and Mississippi also seemed to have no problems getting their people away from the storm. So what's the difference? Corruption and imcompetence in the Louisiana governments, that's what. But I digress. This post is not to bash Louisiana, although it accomplishes that. I am merely pointing to the greatness of Texas. I suppose it would be prudent to wait until everything goes well and the storm has passed. But that is not the Texas way. Luckily, I can delete this post later if things do go amiss.

Anyway, the Trinity Railway Express has a cool paint job also. Can you imagine the Louisiana flag emblazoned on the side of their train? Or worse, Minnesota's? (Come on, Phil. Now you're just being provocative.)

Yup.

UPDATE: Rita is now a Cat 5 storm, and there's a chance it could still be pretty strong when it reaches Dallas, if it stays on it's projected course. I also corrected my spelling that Erich was kind enough to point out.

Looters aren't dummies

Found this little note from this article.

The Wal-Mart store in uptown New Orleans, built within the last year, survived the storm but was destroyed by looters.

"They took everything _ all the electronics, the food, the bikes," said John Stonaker, a Wal-Mart security officer. "People left their old clothes on the floor when they took new ones. The only thing left are the country-and-western CDs. You can still get a Shania Twain album."

"Oh we've got both kinds of music...country AND western." -The Blues Brothers

There's a reason we call them "Acts of God"

Amidst all the emotion of the past two weeks, some items have become established fact, established by the media. I've avoided jumping into the fray, not wanting to discuss the political issues of a tragedy while my friends are still cleaning up debris from their homes. I still don't want to jump into a huge political discussion, but I feel that some items of "fact" must be corrected, namely that the Bush performance in the face of this disaster was inexcusable and cost perhaps thousands of lives. The truth is, as information is finally getting out about what happened, it appears that the governor of the state and the mayor of New Orleans have a lot of explaining to do.

Unlike other's that I've read, I'm willing to cut them a large amount of slack. This was a once in a century storm, and I'm afraid people expected too much of some people that have never had a situation like this arise. This is not to excuse blatant blunders (like letting the Amtrak leave town empty, or letting the 200+ buses get flooded, rather than use them to evacuate), but it is to say, Hurricanes are bad. There's a reason we call them "Acts of God". As cocky as we humans get, building levees, developing flood control, we will never be able to "defend" against a hurricane. We are lowly humans, and He is God. This world is bigger than us, and always will be.

Anyway, here's a good article to read about the federal response, and how it compares to previous federal responses to natural disasters. Without this comparison, then there is no basis to say that "the federal government did a terrible job".

READ IT HERE

The View from Up Top

What would a trip to Wilmore be without a visit to High Bridge? The High Bridge homecoming festival was held while I was there, so I went with my parents to check out the festivities. It was great getting a chance to be a part of small-town americana again. There was music...



Here's a shot of my parents enjoying the show. See if you can guess the inspiration for the title of my post...



OK, actually the title of my post is for this...



Note the riverboat down below, from Shaker Landing. For those unfamiliar, High Bridge is still the tallest railroad bridge over a navigable stream. It used to be quite a tourist attraction, with people coming down by train from Cincinnati to hang out at the park and look at the bridge. The park is now restored, and the pavilion that was the site of many dances to bluegrass music over the years is once again the site of some great bluegrass music. Our culture doesn't just dance much anymore though, so everyone sits down to listen.

High Bridge is fascinating to those of us who lived close because it's our little secret. You can't get to High Bridge unless you're trying to. The road ends there, although if it went through it would shave about 30 minutes off the drive to Harrodsburg and Danville. Once, while touring the Smithsonian, I saw a model of High Bridge in their railroad section. It's probably still there. So this wonder of engineering and piece worthy of the Smithsonian is in Jessamine County, KY. Countless idiots have ascended the banks of the bridge to walk on it, and I'm sure in its 100+ years, there have been plenty of deaths on it.

Many years ago, they raised the level of the track so they could widen it, and to support ever heavier trains. They straightened the approach at the time, and much of the old railbed still exists. This guy has a lot more history on the bridge, including lots of pictures of construction and renovation. He's also lobbying for a "rail trail" to follow the old bed, as a hike from Wilmore to the bridge. I don't live there anymore, but I'm all for the idea. The old bed followed the river for a while, and covers land that is not easily accessible, but is some of the most unique in the area.



So that's High Bridge, a surpisingly influential part of living in Wilmore for so many years. I can't believe I wrote so much about it. It's just a friggin' bridge.

Biloxi Blues

With all the attention of New Orleans, the reporters forgot for several days that Katrina hit further up the coast also, stronger in fact. Now that things are stabilizing in NOLA, I guess the news channels needed some new material. Now a full 10 days after Katrina made landfall, I saw overhead video of Biloxi and surrounding areas right on the coast. It was unbelievable. The devestation in NOLA is bad and makes for good TV, and it is disturbing to see the city flooded with water, but there was NOTHING left of the houses they showed on Fox News last night. Nothing. Except lots of debris where people used to live. It was as if a bomb had gone off and leveled everything to the ground. They covered several miles of the coast in the story, and it never got any better. I've never seen anything like it. They estimate that a 20 foot storm surge had pounded the coast.

My friend Becky is from Biloxi, and has been posting some pictures and thoughts. Thankfully, she left town, and her apartment was spared from the type of devastation in the pictures. Be sure to check her site for frequent updates.

My Old Kentucky Home...

Here's one of the things I miss most about Kentucky, the beautiful, misty mornings. I tried to appreciate them while I could. There were many mornings when the fog would hang low along the rolling hills of the horse farms, while the stone fences seemed to hold the fog inside the fields. It made the drive into Lexington worthwhile at 7 am. The drive to work is no longer beautiful for me, although I do pass 3 Starbucks on the way to the office. And it's only a 3 mile drive.

Young Idealists

I saw this gathering as I was driving by Asbury's campus on my visit. I thought it would be a familiar site to many of my readers. It's been 12 years since I was this young and ideal. Take a good look at the faces...now guess which one will write the next edition of the Asbury Redbook.