Elevated Time

About 20 miles from here, we exited the four lane highway onto the road to Lydia. Cruisin through this stop light less town, we eased to a stop at it's one stop sign. A few more miles down the road, another turn was made and we entered the land of tall trailers.

20 feet in the air, the rectangular boxes line up row upon row. The steel legs pierce the ground supporting these suspended homes. Motorcycles, boats, lawn mowers and cars crowd the space beneath, sheltered from the elements unless the element is water.

The view is eerie. I stared at these homes and tried to imagine water rising close to the 20 feet height where these trailers now hover. It is akin to living in a tree house but without the trees. I watched the movie Pandora where the hanging cities were floating in the air and felt the same gut sinking, stopped time feeling. Waiting for the storm. Hanging high in the air,  these homes are waiting for the next big storm surge. I wondered about the high winds that always accompany our hurricanes. Would these huge boxes be picked up from their shelves and go flipping like matchboxes through the air?

I couldn't live here. My imagination supplies vivid pictures of dark windy nights and swaying homes.

The area has been declared a flood zone and the only way homes can be situated here is to boost them skyward. Rita destroyed many of the homes when she struck shortly after Katrina devastated New Orleans.

The storm surges from Rita changed the landscape of this small town and many of the other towns in this area. A few days after the storm, we drove through this area to see the entire contents of the houses piled up beside the road. Signs warned people away from hauling any of it away. FEMA had to inspect these homes while insurance companies were overloaded with claims and backed up on their inspections.

I left this field of elevated homes and drove around town which appears desserted. Most human life forms are not visible around these homes as the decks are too high to catch a glimpse of anyone having a cook out or relaxing on their decks. Strange. A whole world exists now in the air.

Crane companies  must have made a fortune restructuring this town.

I left town alone. Carrie was spending the night here. I was back again the next afternoon to collect her and return back to terra firma and a more inland location.