Greenpeace

After withdrawing to wait out Hurricane Rita's passing, the team has reconstituted itself. John Hocevar and Thomas McCabe have replaced Stephanie and Mike. We drove down from Birmingham, AL through the remnant of the storm - thunder, lightening, torrential rain, hail and tornados in eastern Mississippi.

It's autumn now, the days are shorter and behind the rain, the air is somewhat cooler. It's humid in Hattiesburg and the evening breeze carries a whiff of the industrial South - the sour, cabbage-like odor of a pulp mill.

The news reports say the hurricane's strength was spent from Port Arthur, Texas to Lake Charles, Louisiana. Greenpeace has a long history of working on the oil refineries along the Texas coast, and the polyvinyl chloride production facilities in Lake Charles, so we'll have a list of sites to check.

Tomorrow we'll meet a pilot in Gonzales, LA and survey Rita's wake from the air. Tonight, we're dealing with domestic issues, like folding John's 6'3" frame onto one of the RV's bunks.