Baird Helgeson retrieves the antenna from the RV after clipping a downed power line.

We are not coming home until everything is broken.
That’s our new motto.
It’s catchy and, as a unified team, we like it.
The Tribune’s top brass sent Bob Bellone to be our resident gas and supply gopher. We secretly think editors sent Bob to be a father figure to us youthful staffers and keep us from breaking too much stuff. He suspiciously arrived the day after we nicked a downed power line and tore the air conditioning unit off our RV.
So far, our corporate peace keeper is not doing his job.
Here are Monday’s casualties and assigned blame:
1. A power outlet in our rented RV (unknown).
2. The stereo in the RV (unknown, or Tom Petty)
3. cigarette lighter power adapter (Crystal Lauderdale)
4. video camera zoom lens (Kathy Moore)
5. Broken shower door in the RV (Moore and team)
Even Bob is starting to understand that things break when you cover hurricanes.
“I haven’t broken anything yet, but it’s only a matter of time,” he said.
After a hurricane passes, the best roads are littered with millions of nails, tacks, glass and other sharp objects. The worst roads are muck-covered debris fields.
Bob had dreams of keeping his rented Ford Expedition in pristine condition.
We howled at the very notion. In just a few short days, it now reeks of gas and swamp mud like any other vehicle within 100 miles.
Now Bob is getting into the groove, sloshing fuel cans like a veteran, getting his feet muddy.
“I’m starting to enjoy this life of grime,” he said last night.