Ben Stallings

I started seeing hurricane damage as soon as I got east of Mobile, and I wound up detouring quite a ways around Pensacola because all the campgrounds and hotels were full of roofers and tree-trimmers from out of state. The hurricanes had been and gone 6 months before, but a lot of the property owners only come down south for the winter, so they put off the repairs as long as possible. This gas station canopy looks familiar; I think it may have been part of the footage the networks were showing in rotation during the Hurricane Ivan coverage. Or maybe all gas stations look the same...

I saw these two beached boats from a bridge north of Pensacola, Florida.

As in a lot of states, Mississippi casinos are required to be offshore. Some of them have taken that requirement more creatively than others: this one in Biloxi is made to look like a sailing ship in port. Notice how calm the water of the Gulf of Mexico is, due to the barrier islands offshore.

The levee in downtown New Orleans is developed as a river walk. The river here isn't much higher than the parking lot at left, but it's 10 to 14 feet higher than many roads in the French Quarter! The reason, I learned, is that once the levees were built, the ground sank as it dried.

All over southern Louisiana, coffins are put in stone or concrete mausolea rather than underground because the ground is so marshy. This graveyard in New Orleans was one of the larger ones I passed.

On the shore of Lake Pontchartrain I got my first look at what are called "camps": vacation homes built on stilts, with carports and boat docks below. These are row houses, but outside town most of the camps are free standing.

I met up with my sister Becca's childhood friend Amber in Raleigh, NC. Many years ago when 'Becca gave up playing the viola, she gave her block of bow rosin to Amber, writing Amber's name on it in their mutual favorite color. More than a dozen years later, whenever Amber's violin students forget to bring rosin to a lesson, she lets them use Becca's old block. Because of this, Amber says she still thinks of 'Becca at least once a week!

In the little town of Tebbetts, MO, I was surprised to find this youth hostel by the trail. A Mrs. Turner donated the building for any traveler's use, but primarily for youth groups. It's totally unstaffed, so you pay on the honor system and clean up after yourself.

There's also a room full of bikes in various sizes, to be freely used by youth groups and other visitors.