I am one of the lucky ones--who got out in time\r\nand landed in a good place. \r\n On Sunday, Aug. 28, 2005, I left my apartment\r\nin Lakeview and headed to my boyfriend\'s sister\'s\r\nhouse in Lafayette. I got lost on my way there--\r\ngetting off 1-10 wasn\'t wise for someone who\r\ndoesn\'t know the area--and spent that night in a\r\nshelter near Port Allen. The next day I made it\r\nto Lafayette, and was warmly welcomed by Sharon,\r\nwith whom I stayed 2 days.\r\n\r\n Then I made my way to Lake Charles, and spent\r\nthe next week with my boyfriend Rick and several\r\nof the members of Papa Grows Funk. We were the\r\nguests of Barry, a Lake Charles doctor, who was\r\nan exceptionally gracious host. We ate delicious\r\nmeals every night, took a ride on his party boat\r\ndown the bayou... It was such a joy to be safe\r\nand happy while all hell was breaking loose in\r\nNO. All I could think was, \"Had I stayed, I would\r\nhave probably died.\" I was so grateful to be\r\nalive and well, I never shed one tear for my\r\nmaterial losses.\r\n\r\n Papa Grows Funk were then headed out west for\r\na California tour, and they dropped me off at the\r\nairport in Houston, where I got on a plane to LA.\r\nI\'d already had a trip to California in the works,\r\nso now all I had to do was switch airports. I\r\nspent a few days in LA with one sister, who bought\r\nme a new phone, and clothes, and whatever I needed. Then we drove to Monterey, where I moved\r\nin with my other sister, who had a garage apt.\r\nattached to her house. She said I could stay\r\nwith her there as long as I wanted to.\r\n\r\n As it was, Rick joined me there in a few weeks\r\nand we stayed through Christmas. I went to work\r\nat the Walgreens right down the street (I\'d \r\nworked there in NO), and Rick went to work for\r\nmy sister, at her sign and banner company. We\r\nloved the Bay area, and it felt like we were on\r\na working vacation the whole time. We met lots\r\nof wonderful people who supplied us with every\r\nthing we needed, and we seriously considered\r\nstaying out in California.\r\n\r\n But we came back to NO in Jan of 2006, and\r\nafter staying in 2 other apartments, are back \r\nhome in our fixed-up apt in Lakeview. We feel\r\nso fortunate to have had so much help, and it\r\nwas a treat to travel and enjoy the beautiful\r\nterrain and weather of northern CA. It\'s our\r\nhome away from home!\r\n\r\n