vamassey1
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2005
Travel Day- Nothing Will Stop Us Now
Our original travel day was going to be Saturday, September 4th. Everyone was going to be flying in to meet Danielle. We had our flights arranged that we would be able to take Magical Express all together.
But what's a trip to Disney without a little Drama?
Our Drama was named Ida and she had Baton Rouge in her cone of uncertainty.
Hurricane Ida was headed for Louisiana and was going to hit Sunday night on August 29th. It was looking like it would pass right over Baton Rouge. This is pretty rare. We're pretty far inland and most hurricane tend to miss passing right over us. I'm not saying that we have never had a direct hit but they usually pass the east or west of us. If they come anywhere close to us we know we will have several days without power.
I spent the Sunday leading up to Ida hitting finishing all my wash and packing. I never finish packing this early but I wanted to make sure I did it while we still had power.
Ida did hit Sunday night/early Monday morning and we did have lots of wind and rain but not as bad as it could have been since we were on the west side of it. The areas on the east side get the worst of the storm and more damage. This photo shows where it was projected in blue and were it actually went.
We did lose power. Luckily we have a generator and a window unit. We learned a hard lesson when Gustav came through. The office I was working in at the time was right down the street from our house so we didn't have power there either. The company I worked for has 3 locations, Baton Rouge, Metairie and Hammond. Metairie and Hammond were both on the wrong side of the storm and had more damage that we did. They also had no power. Hammond ended up being one of the areas that had a lot of damage.
New Orleans did not have power either, so of course the airport didn't have power. We hoped and prayed that they would get power so we could still fly out on Saturday. I don't know if they got power but Southwest cancelled our flights Tuesday, August 31st. They did give us a full refund, normally it's credit towards another flight. We did have to call and request the refund. No one was working so that gave Michelle and I time to come up with an alternate plan because we were not going to NOT go to Disney.
What to do? We couldn't fly out so we had to drive. Road Trip! I booked a room in Tallahassee for the Friday night. I added an extra night at Movies for just me and Danielle. I would need a good nights sleep before driving back alone. Michelle booked a return flight from Orlando to Baton Rouge on the Tuesday she was originally going to fly back anyway. She was also still able to use Magical Express.
We finally got power back on Thursday afternoon as did my office. The other 2 locations did not get power back until after I had returned from my trip. I went to work after the power came on to clean out the fridge and get the office ready for the next day since I was the closest to the office. Have you ever worked in an insurance office right after a catastrophe? I have done my fair share and it's hard. Some of the agents from our other 2 locations made the drive to Baton Rouge to help man the phones. We worked from 8 am to 5 pm with no lunches and the phone never stopped ringing. I hated to leave them but when 5 came around I did.
Michelle only had to work 1/2 the day so she dropped off John Paul with her mother-in-law and was waiting for me at home. I changed clothes and packed the car. We were ready for our road trip to begin.
The GPS was showing our arrival time at the hotel for 11:29 pm. Of course this was still showing central time zone and we would cross over to eastern time zone before we got to the hotel. It also did not account for the traffic and stops. We hit the road at 5:36 pm.
We drove on I-12 until we hit I-10. We were traveling some of the areas hit really hard by Ida. This of course made the traffic even worse. We were amazed at what we saw just from the interstate.
Our first stop was the Mississippi welcome center. This is my usual first stop and it's usually a good one. The trip we just took in April was the worst we have ever seen it but I'll save that story for that trip.
We stopped for dinner and gas before Mobile, AL. I think it might have been Tilman's Corner. Our meal of choice was Arby's. It was fast and hit the spot.
It didn't take long until we saw this. IFYKYK
Our next stop was the Florida Welcome Center.
We had fun sending pictures to Danielle to let her know where we were.
Michelle did really good trying to stay awake for me but she really needed her sleep. We were running really far behind due to the traffic and stops. I'm sure I had at least one more stop before we made it to the hotel. I really had a hard time the later it got. I should not have tried to go so far after working a full day. I will not try to get that far again if I ever have to drive that late in the day. It was after 1 am eastern time zone when we finally got to the hotel. We stayed at the Candlewood Suites on Lakeshore Dr. in Tallahassee. It was a nice room and was just what we needed and it was close to the interstate.
Pictures in next post.
Our original travel day was going to be Saturday, September 4th. Everyone was going to be flying in to meet Danielle. We had our flights arranged that we would be able to take Magical Express all together.
But what's a trip to Disney without a little Drama?
Our Drama was named Ida and she had Baton Rouge in her cone of uncertainty.
Hurricane Ida was headed for Louisiana and was going to hit Sunday night on August 29th. It was looking like it would pass right over Baton Rouge. This is pretty rare. We're pretty far inland and most hurricane tend to miss passing right over us. I'm not saying that we have never had a direct hit but they usually pass the east or west of us. If they come anywhere close to us we know we will have several days without power.
I spent the Sunday leading up to Ida hitting finishing all my wash and packing. I never finish packing this early but I wanted to make sure I did it while we still had power.
Ida did hit Sunday night/early Monday morning and we did have lots of wind and rain but not as bad as it could have been since we were on the west side of it. The areas on the east side get the worst of the storm and more damage. This photo shows where it was projected in blue and were it actually went.
We did lose power. Luckily we have a generator and a window unit. We learned a hard lesson when Gustav came through. The office I was working in at the time was right down the street from our house so we didn't have power there either. The company I worked for has 3 locations, Baton Rouge, Metairie and Hammond. Metairie and Hammond were both on the wrong side of the storm and had more damage that we did. They also had no power. Hammond ended up being one of the areas that had a lot of damage.
New Orleans did not have power either, so of course the airport didn't have power. We hoped and prayed that they would get power so we could still fly out on Saturday. I don't know if they got power but Southwest cancelled our flights Tuesday, August 31st. They did give us a full refund, normally it's credit towards another flight. We did have to call and request the refund. No one was working so that gave Michelle and I time to come up with an alternate plan because we were not going to NOT go to Disney.
What to do? We couldn't fly out so we had to drive. Road Trip! I booked a room in Tallahassee for the Friday night. I added an extra night at Movies for just me and Danielle. I would need a good nights sleep before driving back alone. Michelle booked a return flight from Orlando to Baton Rouge on the Tuesday she was originally going to fly back anyway. She was also still able to use Magical Express.
We finally got power back on Thursday afternoon as did my office. The other 2 locations did not get power back until after I had returned from my trip. I went to work after the power came on to clean out the fridge and get the office ready for the next day since I was the closest to the office. Have you ever worked in an insurance office right after a catastrophe? I have done my fair share and it's hard. Some of the agents from our other 2 locations made the drive to Baton Rouge to help man the phones. We worked from 8 am to 5 pm with no lunches and the phone never stopped ringing. I hated to leave them but when 5 came around I did.
Michelle only had to work 1/2 the day so she dropped off John Paul with her mother-in-law and was waiting for me at home. I changed clothes and packed the car. We were ready for our road trip to begin.
The GPS was showing our arrival time at the hotel for 11:29 pm. Of course this was still showing central time zone and we would cross over to eastern time zone before we got to the hotel. It also did not account for the traffic and stops. We hit the road at 5:36 pm.
We drove on I-12 until we hit I-10. We were traveling some of the areas hit really hard by Ida. This of course made the traffic even worse. We were amazed at what we saw just from the interstate.
Our first stop was the Mississippi welcome center. This is my usual first stop and it's usually a good one. The trip we just took in April was the worst we have ever seen it but I'll save that story for that trip.
We stopped for dinner and gas before Mobile, AL. I think it might have been Tilman's Corner. Our meal of choice was Arby's. It was fast and hit the spot.
It didn't take long until we saw this. IFYKYK
Our next stop was the Florida Welcome Center.
We had fun sending pictures to Danielle to let her know where we were.
Michelle did really good trying to stay awake for me but she really needed her sleep. We were running really far behind due to the traffic and stops. I'm sure I had at least one more stop before we made it to the hotel. I really had a hard time the later it got. I should not have tried to go so far after working a full day. I will not try to get that far again if I ever have to drive that late in the day. It was after 1 am eastern time zone when we finally got to the hotel. We stayed at the Candlewood Suites on Lakeshore Dr. in Tallahassee. It was a nice room and was just what we needed and it was close to the interstate.
Pictures in next post.
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Thanks.
