To New Orleans

On my way west I stopped in Apalachicola to say goodbye to new friends.

**The Chocolate Company delayed my departure by another hour because of their delicious coffee.**

I got out around noon and soon found myself approaching Mexico Beach FL the epicenter of Hurricane Michael. Coming from the Northeast I’ve never really seen natural disaster, sure we have the occasional bad storm but nothing that comes close to a disaster.

**Piles of rubble and trash were everywhere, the evidence of several months of hard work.**

**And still there is so much more to do.**

Whole buildings swept off their foundation, walls ripped off exposing the remnants of people’s lives untouched since the hurricane exposed like an eerie museum exhibit. I felt conflicted stopping to take photos of such tragedy. On one hand it felt wrong like I was using someone’s loss as tourist attraction, like I was a voyeur to their pain, on the other it felt it is a moment in history worthy of remembering, both the loss and the generosity that came after, like it would be disrespectful not to attempt to capture the moment.

I wish I could have spent longer here to help with the cleanup or even just to talk to people and try to capture more than a couple roadside snapshots. But, I for once on this trip I had a timeline I had to stick to.

**Big fat trees snapped in half like toothpicks.**

I didn’t take many more photos on the way to NOLA, I guess I was a little bit preoccupied. I knew this chapter of my trip was coming to a close, the question was what comes next. Catlin (who I worked at the farm with) had plans to open a fencing company, there is certainly enough work to go around after the hurricane and he offered me half of everything to manage the business side of things. Or I could head a bit further west and get a serving job, Austin TX looks kind of attractive. Or maybe something else?