We woke at 5:30AM. Did not shower - what's the use? We were going to get sweaty and stinky within the hour.

Met Marc and Muriel in the ornate dining room for another one of Brad's delicious breakfasts of fresh fruit with whipped cream, orange juice, coffee, egg/cheese/garlic/tomato souffle and sweet cinammon rolls. We visited for a while with Brad and Larry, his partner and co-owner who had just returned via train from Mississippi during the night.

We then took a lunch break, and Carol, Marc, Muriel and I drove miles until we found a Walgreens (not much is open in St. Bernard Parish) where we were able to use the bathroom. We also restocked our Snickers supply.

We rejoined the team and drove to the next house, which was truly a nightmare. It had sat in flood waters well above the roof for so long that the house and its contents were still damp, muddy, moldy and crumled to the touch. But what is most memorable are the smells. The mud and mold-encrusted floors, walls and ceilings were one thing, but there is absolutely no way that words can accurately describe the stench that surrounds refrigerators that have contained uncooled food for more than a year and a half. We found two in this house, and even though we duct-taped them thoroughly, when we moved them on dollies the contents simply drained out the rusted-out bottoms. The stench cleared the entire house in seconds, and at least two members of the team became ill outside. About half the team could not return back inside, and I waited about fifteen minutes before attempting it, and once back inside, it was hard not to gag. Once back inside, however, I immediately slipped and fell into the puddle of stinking nameless goo that had leaked out of the refrigerators. Not only did I incur some pain on my right side, you can not imagine how I smelled for the rest of the afternoon. People were running away from me.

The house, like the others, was full of memories. Rebecca found a large family bible and two photo albums, and she carefully placed them outside to hopefully dry out.

We then drove to Musician's Village, where we found Chuck in his new house. We apologized for our stench, but Chuck was very happy to see us again. We introduced him to Marc and Muriel and we visited for a while, then said goodbye and drove back to the B&B. Carol and Muriel took showers while Marc and I drove to the nearest laundromat and washed our stinky clothes and sneakers. I didn't think we could ever get those clothes clean, but God bless soap and hot water. Then back to the B&B where Marc and I took long showers.

Rebecca drove up from Camp Hope and the five of us went to the French Quarter where we had a delicious dinner at a restaurant called Mimi's on Royal Street. We thoroughly enjoyed the evening and on the way back to the car we stopped at a popular club called the Spotted Cat where we listened outside to the klezmer music the band was playing inside. We saw Michael, one of our team members from Ohio.

Back at the B&B, we said goodnight to Rebecca and crawled up the wooden stairs and fell into bed after a very smelly but productive day.

Next Day