We just got home Thurs evening and everything is pretty good here,
considering. Power was restored on Sun, and telephone & i-net were even up.
We had little damage to the house, bldgs, and cars, thank God. I had a
couple of guys clean the place up in August and had it was cleaner around
here than it has been in years, but you would not know it now-it is a mess!
And, yes-plenty of 'skeeters.

We had a great time on the extended trip, seeing many sights like the
Strasburg RR museum, Manheim, PA, the AACA museum in Hershey which had a
Packard hawk on a turntable in the lobby, Gettysburg,  Pulaski, TN,  Shiloh,
and Corinth,MS ,etc. Pam enjoyed the trip, & did very well riding and
getting around. It was her first road trip since having the tumor removed
from her back last Fall and taking chemo.

We drove a total of 4800 miles and bought a ton of diesel.  Unfortunately
the truck blew a rear seal in AR on the way out so I had to pour gallons of
oil through it to make the trip. Otherwise, it did quite well for a truck
with 260K mi.

Here in Houston, we know that we are better off taking a direct hit than
having the storm hit New Orleans. When it hits here, we clean up and make
repairs and put it all behind us, but if it hits N.O., the damage here never
ends. We are still cleaning up from Katrina and will probably never finish.

Barry'd in Studes