Man, dog arrive from New Orleans
Published: September 14, 2005
A man and his dog journeyed by foot, freight train and bicycle, all the way from Mobile, Ala. to Lamar, according to Prowers County Sheriff Jim Faull. The man, Sherwood Hunter of Pierre Port, La., fled the Gulf Coast in search of work and a new life in the wake of Hurricane Katrina’s destruction.
“He was legit,” Faull said. “He had a Louisiana driver’s license. We spent a long time talking with him. We gave him $25 and a hamburger. “We also got him a room for the night at the Passport Inn.”
Faull said Hunter heard from someone at Lamar’s Wal-Mart that the Red Cross was issuing lump-sum checks to hurricane evacuees. Faull said Hunter stopped in the sheriff’s department to ask where he could get in touch with Red Cross officials.
Hunter left Lamar Friday on his way to Denver where he said he was going to try to get some money from the Red Cross to put himself through truck-driver training.
“We’ve been on the road a long time,” Hunter said. “The Coast Guard took us by boat to Mobile and we’ve been traveling ever since. A Wal-Mart in Kansas gave us this bicycle and the Wal-Mart here gave me a pair of shoes. People have been giving us stuff along the way. A lady gave me this sleeping bag, and I found this other sleeping bag along the side of the road.”
Hunter said he and his dog had lived on a boat in Louisiana. The boat was destroyed during the hurricane, necessitating their rescue by the Coast Guard.
Hunter, who seemed a little road weary and confused, said there were no jobs to be had along the hurricane-wrecked coast of Alabama so he and his dog headed northwest.
Faull said Hunter told him he and his dog “rode the rails” part of the way to Colorado, and Hunter said someone gave them a lift for about 100 miles of the distance.
Hunter said he has averaged 50 miles a day on the donated bicycle that pulls two carts. The dog rests in a covered cart while Hunter pedals.
“They don’t want people going back into southern Louisiana and Alabama right now,” Hunter said. “I feel like I can’t do much down there. I’ve got to get out there to Denver and get some work.”
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