Tampa Tribune staff photographer Crystal L. Lauderdale sits atop the team’s Ford Expedition to shoot video footage of storm-ravaged Dauphin Island. Baird Helgeson/Tribune

Photographer Crystal Lauderdale and I got on the road later than expected. Around 4 p.m. was the dream, but 7 p.m. was the reality.

I was mostly to blame for the late departure. I had no idea I was going to cover Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath when I came to work in the morning, but Crystal had been packed for at least two days waiting for the call to go.

Katrina’s is on everyone’s mind, in Tampa and elsewhere. A photographer friend in Raleigh called during the drive to tell me about the latest reports of the slow-rising waters in New Orleans. He described what he saw on television - submerged homes, heroic rescues and looting. He talked about reports of the dead floating in the brownish flood water. He said he had to stop watching the television because it made him crazy not to be there. He and I are wired that way. We both love to be there.

Crystal and I stopped for dinner at the Outback Steakhouse in Ocala. We were tired and punchy. There were two TVs over the rear of the bar. One was tuned to the Florida Marlin’s baseball game and the other had CNN’s coverage of flooding in Louisiana.

Crystal noted the strange dichotomy on the television screens.

The waitress asked where we were headed.

“We are off for a romantic get-away in New Orleans,’’ I said in a deadpan style that my friends hate.

The waitress looked mortified, like we didn’t know what had happened.

I let her off the hook with a laugh, and Crystal quickly followed.

“Are you going to help?” she asked.

In a way, I said. We are going to help by telling the untold stories that Katrina left behind.