New Orleans Mission Trip 2008: Day 1

(The plan was to upload a post each evening detailing that days event throughout our trip.  However, net access is not as widely available in New Orleans as it is here in Atlanta.)

Saturday began rather uneventfully.  We arrived at church by 7am to pre-trip the bus and take it for fuel.  $3.99 a gallon for diesel!

We loaded the gear in the back of Tommy Carrol’s trailer  and began to load the students onto the bus and the vans.  I had hoped to ride on the bus with Caleb when not driving, but that was not to be.  My gear got moved and I was seatless.  Soon discovered we were short more than one seat.  Marc Potteiger ran home to get his pickup truck to carry himself and 2 or 3 others down with the convoy. Time dragged on as we waited for Marc to return.  Finally we got a call from him, his truck was stuck in a ditch.

We released the convoy and Al Meade and I took Hugh’s truck over to Marc’s house to see what was going on.  Sure enough, almost up to the axel in a culvert.

We wrapped a chain around his truck and the back of Hugh’s hitch and dragged the ox out.  By now, I am soaking wet and covered in mud.  Definitely NOT ready for a 10 hour ride to Louisiana.  Marc ran inside his house to clean up while Al dropped me back off at the church.  I ran home to get cleaned up and changed while Al ran for breakfast.

As I entered the house, I heard an alarm on in Caleb’s room.  Crazy kid had set it to make sure we didn’t miss the bus.  Turned it off and went to my room to wash up and change.  When I came back into the living room I heard water dripping.  Not really all that odd, as it was still raining outside.  But this was a drip inside.  Soon found it.  A single drip down the vent screw onto the carpet.

I changed back into work clothes and went outside.  There I found 2 missing shingles from the storm Friday evening.  Grabbed a ladder and climbed up to replace them.  Came inside, visited the attic to clean up any standing water above the sheet rock.  Back down the ladder and inside to wash up AGAIN and change back into travel clothes.

By this time Marc and Al had gotten back.  Marc was embarrassed and frustrated with his wife, who had gotten the truck stuck to begin with.  I shared with him that it was God’s providence that allowed the truck to get stuck.  Had it not been, I would not have gone home to find and then repair a damaged roof.

With all that behind us, and the convoy about an hour in front of us, we headed towards New Orleans.

The rains slowed the convoy so we were able to catch up with them south of Montgomery.  There Hugh and I swapped out so that he could rest for a bit.  The storms cleared and we continued South. 

Traffic in Mobile was light as we made the transition from I-65 onto I-10 west.  About a mile after the interchange, as we were passing a rig with a dismantled concrete mixer on the back, we heard a tire blow.  The rig changed lanes quickly.  As we slowed down, the bus became sluggish.  It was our tire that had blown.  As Lisa was calling Tommy for him to confirm that, he called up to say we had a flat on an inside tire.  So we pulled off at the next exit.

Exit 15, Mobile:

We found a tire place at the exit, but they did not have the equipment to lift the bus.  They suggested the TA service center at Exit 4.  We unloaded the students into the McDonald’s, left some adults, and Bryan Howell, David Fussell and I started towards Exit 4 on back roads.  They ran on ahead to get things lined up as I hobbled along at a snails pace.

I arrived to learn that the TA was refusing to work on the bus for liabilty reasons.  But they gave us the number to a "hotshot" named Earl.  (I will forgo the hotshot/Earl/Mobile/Alabama jokes for now, but reserve the right to come back later and add them in)

For the next hour plus, the three of us spent the time on our phones trying to find someone to come and change the tire.

Meanwhile:

Back at Exit 15, 57 folks are sitting in a restaurant.  Shane began hunting for something to keep them all busy for an unknown (possibly 3-4 hours) of time. 

They found a skating rink and the owner allowed them to skate for free until 6pm when he had a party scheduled.

(as I get the info on these companies from Marc, I will add them to the post)

They then went to a putt-putt place where the owner offered them a discount to play for a while.

While they were playing putt-putt, Lisa and Marc found a Ci-Ci’s pizza.  The manager was very gracious and offered an extremely generous rate for all you can eat and a drink.

Back at Exit 4:

The three of us have found two companies willing to run out, one is 3 hours out and the other is within an hour.  So we wait.  the hour passes, and no sign of a repair truck.  As we were about to call, a pickup shows up with 2 tires in the back.  It is Doug of Charter Tire Company.  Ten minutes later, we have a new tire!

With the tire repaired, we hit the road.  We arrive at NOBTS around 11pm.  Our day starts tomorrow at 6am…

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