Lafayette-Galveston Pix

Today's trip took us through the path of Hurricane Rita. As in the trip from Creola to the New Orleans area, the route takes us about 30 miles north of the coast. With the exception of some trees that were knocked down and some FEMA blue roofs (blue tarps covering damaged roofs), we didn't see much of the storm's impact. Further south, the hurricane destroyed whole towns. Susie had two students in an online course, a husband and wife, who taught and lived in Cameron, LA. They had to drop out of the course when they were forced to evacuate. Shortly after Rita passed, they sent Susie an e-mail message in which they stated that there was nothing left of their home. It is our understanding that Cameron was one of the hardest hit towns.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, cause a lot of damage along the Gulf Coast. On a relative basis they do not compare to the 1900 hurricane that virtually destroyed Galveston. Galveston Island is a barrier island that is not much above sea level (our current altitude is about 5 feet). The storm surge from the 1900 storm washed across the island and destroyed or severely damaged most of the buildings in the town. 6000 people (1 out of 6 residents) died. For more information on the storm see http://www.galvestonhistory.org/storm.htm

We arrived in Galveston in the early afternoon and didn't really want to do anything but sit on the beach. Our campground is a full service facility that is operated by the city of Galveston. As you will see from the pictures that follow, it is right on the beach. The only problem with this campground is that the sites are the tightest that we have ever been in. I believe that these sites were laid out years ago before RVs with slides (expanding rooms) were popular. In order to fit into the site and open our slide, we had to park the trailer right up against a concrete pad that contains our picnic table. With the slide extended we have less than an inch clearance from the electric utility pole. It was an ordeal, but it was worth it. We are about 100 yards from the water. All that separates us from the water are the dunes.

Today's trip took us through the path of Hurricane Rita. As in the trip from Creola to the New Orleans area, the route takes us about 30 miles north of the coast. With the exception of some trees that were knocked down and some FEMA blue roofs (blue tarps covering damaged roofs), we didn't see much of the storm's impact. Further south, the hurricane destroyed whole towns. Susie had two students in an online course, a husband and wife, who taught and lived in Cameron, LA. They had to drop out of the course when they were forced to evacuate. Shortly after Rita passed, they sent Susie an e-mail message in which they stated that there was nothing left of their home. It is our understanding that Cameron was one of the hardest hit towns. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, cause a lot of damage along the Gulf Coast. On a relative basis they do not compare to the 1900 hurricane that virtually destroyed Galveston. Galveston Island is a barrier island that is not much above sea level (our current altitude is about 5 feet). The storm surge from the 1900 storm washed across the island and destroyed or severely damaged most of the buildings in the town. 6000 people (1 out of 6 residents) died. For more information on the storm see http://www.galvestonhistory.org/storm.htm We arrived in Galveston in the early afternoon and didn't really want to do anything but sit on the beach. Our campground is a full service facility that is operated by the city of Galveston. As you will see from the pictures that follow, it is right on the beach. The only problem with this campground is that the sites are the tightest that we have ever been in. I believe that these sites were laid out years ago before RVs with slides (expanding rooms) were popular. In order to fit into the site and open our slide, we had to park the trailer right up against a concrete pad that contains our picnic table. With the slide extended we have less than an inch clearance from the electric utility pole. It was an ordeal, but it was worth it. We are about 100 yards from the water. All that separates us from the water are the dunes.

	Our site. This is the tightest site we have ever had to get into.	Life is a beach

	View of our site (left of pole) and beach from the dunes