New Orleans part 1 (Friday and Saturday)

Friday, March 12

This day, we left the chapel around 3:30/4:00, in a rented 15-passenger van. There were ten of us (three guys and 7 girls), and we needed the whole 15-passenger van because we had so much luggage. I sat in the middle of the front bench seat, which was a very good spot because I could get out relatively quickly, I had access to the food/cooler, and I could see out to the front and the sides. We drove and drove and drove, finally ending up in Lake St. Louis, MO. We stayed at an ELCA Lutheran church, which, once we found it, was very comfortable and accommodating. Some of us slept in the sanctuary on the pews, which actually was a great night’s sleep for me, and some slept in the youth group’s room. I think I would have liked to be a member of the church because it was large, had a praise band, and the pastor was kind to us when we arrived.

Saturday, March 13

When we arose in the morning, the men’s group had prepared breakfast and was watching a Nooma video. As we ate the delicious sausage-egg casserole and donuts, we watched the video with them. Once the video was over there was a bit of discussion of who we were, what we were doing, and church issues relating to our generation. After a while we had to get on the road, and so we did.

There’s not much to note about the driving except for a few incidents. One incident was that we were driving in AR and a truck of drunken rednecks pulled up beside us. They didn’t harm us, and they were actually rather stupidly funny at first, but we were relieved when they finally pulled off at an exit. Another incident was stopping at a gas station in MO and finding out that MO does not have the public places smoking ban that IA does. This gas station was a real throwback and felt like stepping into “a time capsule from 1972” as one of our leaders said. Another MO incident was stopping at a Phillips 66 in the St. Louis area and finding out that A, they had no flush toilets (we ended up using a portapotty), and B, they had gone through the floods of ’93 and it had been over the door.

Anyway, now I can say I’ve been through AR, TN, and MS. Another interesting thing was to note how the road quality changed between the states. MO had great roads, but half the rest stops were closed (I assume for renovation?). AR was bumpy, but the roads were among the flattest country I have ever seen, and I fell asleep despite the bumpiness. TN was not very memorable (we did pass the Graceland exit in Memphis though!). MS was not memorable either. I heard the song “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga at least 6 times during the whole drive. I hate that song because it’s always playing.

At last we made it to LA, and the light at the end of the tunnel grew brighter. We stopped at a Shell gas station to fuel up, and there I experienced the awkwardness of being the minority. We were the only white people there, and we found ourselves joking about being “so white” and “Iowa bumpkins”. We were uncomfortable. It was not a pleasant experience, even though there was no reason to be afraid or suspicious. One thing that struck me about being there was that the place was extraordinarily clean, and it also seemed to be a “third place” (a place of social networking that isn’t school/work or home). But we were still uncomfortable. Clearly we need to travel more.

We finally found our sleeping quarters, in a former Methodist church near Elysian Fields Avenue. I found it appropriate that it was “Elysian Fields” because that is a reference to Heaven. We girls ended up in a room with 5 bunk beds. It did not feel very large, but it was a place to rest, and that’s all we really needed. The guys were in the room next door, and they had it all to themselves, three guys to a room with 4 bunk beds in it. There was another college group there. Dickenson College in PA had brought about 30 people. Later another group would join us.

We ate at a little pizza joint across the street called Pizza Milano. It was surprising that it was still open, because it was at least 9:40 pm and the other businesses in the little strip there were closed. There was only one person there to run the place, but he brought us our pizzas quickly and they tasted good to our road-weary senses. After eating we returned to our church and had a reflection meeting. Finally we got to go to bed.