December 24, 2013

by Cathy Liu in New Orleans, LA

Our Christmas Eve started at a Waffle House off of highway I-85.

Seven of us walked into the empty chain restaurant a few minutes before midnight, feasted, and continued to drive for 6 more hours until all drivers were exhausted. On the parking lot of a shopping mall in Charlotte, NC, we parked our vehicles, rolled out our sleeping bags and slept in our vehicles for the first night.

Mike, Martha, Paul, and I slept in the ambulance.  The box of the ambulance was wide enough to fit 2 people side by side, and it was long enough to fit 2 people vertically. Mike took the bench, I slept on the floor right next to the bench, Martha was beside me, and Paul slept on the floor in the space over my head.  Martha looked like a mermaid when she was scrawling around on the floor inside the sleeping bag.

Our goal for the day was to arrive in New Orleans, we rested for 4 or 5 hours in the vehicles then resumed our journey.  Early evening, we took a break to decorate our ambulance with Christmas ornaments. 

As soon as Stephen Alexis walked in to the ambulance from our supporting vehicle, he called Stephen Jan a village idiot.  Here is our beloved village idiot.