Survivor stories from Camp Williams

Cousins find Utah is 'cool,' a little cold

Cousins Keisha Penn and Jada Rogers browsed the tables in the Camp Williams community center Wednesday, picking up books, markers and other items to keep them entertained during their stay.

The girls have been in Utah since Saturday. They like it here, even though the climate isn't exactly what they're used to.

"I think it's cool, even though it's cold," said Keisha, 14.

Jada, 9, likes the mountains and is especially excited about a six-bedroom house her mother told her about. "My mama said we're going to be living here."

Both girls are signed up for school, where Keisha on Wednesday read to younger children and Jada, a fourth-grader, did other activities.

And with that, it was enough conversation for the girls as they headed off to tackle the climbing wall just set up in a nearby field.

Evacuee looking to put down roots in Utah

Penny Landry saw a body tied to a post and decided it was time to get out of the water and onto dry land anywhere she could find it. "That was it. That was a wrap. That was it for me."

After days of using her paddle boat to rescue her fellow New Orleanians and deliver them to higher ground, Landry knew it was time to save herself. And so she ended up on a plane to Utah, where she plans to put down new roots with her boyfriend, Michael Ford.

On Tuesday, the couple "escaped off the compound," as Landry called Camp Williams, and made it to Joe's Crab Shack in nearby Sandy. There, they talked to a couple who suggested Landry and Ford head to Park City, a resort town just starting to gear up for the winter ski season.

The pair plans to travel to Park City today and begin a search for work and housing. A house painter by trade, Landry said she's happy doing any kind of work she can find. She's been a bartender and a cocktail waitress, saying she can learn just about any skill she needs in order to get a job.

"It doesn't matter at this point, just get me going. . . . The only limitations you got are the ones you put on yourself, and I got none."

There's going to be a lot of red tape, like getting a new Social Security card and driver's license, but Landry knows things are much better than they could have been. "I'm alive and I'm able. Everything happens for a reason, whether you agree with it or understand it."

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