MySpace blog: Journey

Yesterday we took Karissa to the airport so she could fly home to be at her brother's graduation tonight.

Well, that was the plan, at least.

We went to Oak Alley Plantation first. It was pretty cool. But there was a weird feeling to the place I thought, so I was walking around praying.

Next, we headed back toward New Orleans. Well, that was the plan at least. Our directions actually sent us towards Baton Rouge, and we got on Interstate 10 in a place where there are no exits for miles (it's the middle of the Bayou) headed West. So we looked for the first exit so we could turn around and ended up on Interstate 55 North, still headed away.

Then our van stopped running. We found ourselves stuck on the side of the road in a van that said it had a little under a 1/4 tank left, but clearly was out of gas. We were stranded for about an hour and a half. Karissa's flight left at 5:57 PM, and we got stuck around 4:30, so you do the math...5 people stopped to help, but the first 3 didn't actually help. The fourth and fifth stopped around the same time. So, Josh and I rode with the fifth passerby--a college student named Kyle.

Kyle is an interesting guy. He said that he normally wouldn't stop to help, and that his fiancee was a little miffed about him stopping to help us since he had a long commute home from his internship at the Valero refinery in New Orleans. He told us that he has 2 years left of school until he gets his BA in chemical engineering and that he is currently making $22 an hour. That is a pretty cool job considering that he is a student. He also was chewing tobacco the whole time and had 2 of his fiancee's thongs hanging from his rearview mirror. So, just as Josh was putting the gas in our new gas can, we got a call from Jenn that there was finally a cop on the road that stopped and gave them gas. He made them pay for it.

By this point, Pastor Willy, our contact from New Orleans was coming to meet us. Oh, I should add that Larry and Krista (our Baton Rouge contacts) stayed with the group--we did not leave 7 girls alone on the side of the freeway.

So, we got back to the van at the exit after where we got stuck (just a short 4 miles down the road--the gas station was 2.5 miles earlier). We added 1 gallon to what the cop put in (2 gallons). Willy showed up 10 minutes later with 2 more gallons and led us to the airport. We got there right before 7 PM. We were really disappointed along with Karissa, because it was going to cost her $1000 or more to get a ticket for today to go home before her graduation (her mom was on the phone with United Airlines).

But we went in to talk to the ticket counter people about what they could do. They ended up figuring out a way for her to make it home on time if she left on a 7:30 AM flight today. It was a free re-schedule.

We ate dinner and got home after 11:20, and were asleep around midnight. This morning, Jenn, Jessica and I took Karissa to the airport at 3:40. We wanted to make sure we had time (the drive from Baton Rouge to New Orleans is anywhere from 1 to 3 hours long). We ended up getting there at 4:50, which is far faster than any of us or the Lains have made the trip (and we've done it a few times now, between this trip and the previous one).

So, the four of us hung out until about 6:45. We tried to watch the sunrise, but the airport was in the way. Then Karissa went through security and the other 3 of us drove back to Baton Rouge. (I keep almost saying Redding instead of BR). We stopped at Starbucks, but I was the only one who got anything, and it was a green tea lemonade (that's not caffeinated). Jenn and I have not slept at all (she had a half cup of coffee we left, I had a whole cup). Jessica took a nap (she had a cup of coffee before we left and an iced mocha) but it was only for a couple hours, and she just got back from the store.

We have been mudding sheetrock all morning and we are finally almost done. Karissa is flying home right now and is supposedly going to call us when she gets home. So, it's all working out really well right now.

I've been up for 10 hours right now and I'm a little weary. Jenn just said "I need coffee," to which Jessica replied, "You need sleep!"

I'm going to eat and then take a nap. Goodnight.