Gulfport, Mississippi was virtually obliterated last year with hurricane Katrina. Four of us drove down from our campsite where you could barely see any damage, to the coastline. The scenery took our breath away. There were concrete slabs left where once mansions stood with Gulf views. Rubble is strewn in the grass that was once manicured lawns. Over a year later and there are still debris clearing crews there. We drove around a few city blocks and managed to get a chance to talk to one clean up crew. There were a batch of people from a church in Ohio. They were down over Christmas break to help as much as they could. We got to lend a hand for a few minutes and broke out our stash of pop in the truck's lockbox. We were awestruck at how many homes were still sitting there needing attention. We saw homes with "please demolish" spray painted on them. People have left, but hope that city cleanup crews will just mow down their destroyed homes. The wind and storm surge just destroyed everything in the first two blocks along the shore. It's hard to believe without seeing it. There are many vacant lots with only cement pads left that are for sale. The beach is absolutely beautiful, but also mostly closed. We're not sure why, but suppose there may be contamination from the flooding and probably tons of broken glass in the sand. It was very sad to see, but also inspiring to see how many people had managed to clean up and build brand new homes already. There were only a few, but it was a testament to the strength of human spirit.