New Orleans Voodoo or Roaming Lion?

 

When I last posted, I had just finished spending an awesome five days with
Auston, Angie & Tom in New Orleans!

My friend, Catherine, then met me in New Orleans to continue my JOURNEY with me.

When Catherine arrived she brought with her some very special surprises!
One was this beautiful necklace she gave me.
Thanks, Catherine!

 

 

While we're talking about necklaces, I wanted to share a couple pictures of two necklaces my friend, Susanne, gave me for my birthday.  They just happen to say,

"Trust Your JOURNEY" (TYJ) on them :) 

Thanks, Susanne!

I

 

Catherine also brought with her a CD containing a song that her husband, Rodger, wrote for me about

this JOURNEY that I'm on.  I had prayed for God to give me a song just for this trip.  Rodger didn't know that.  Catherine didn't know that, BUT God knew that! 

Thanks, Rodger 

Thanks, God!

 

This is a piece of the song.  I don't know how to put an MP3 on a blog, so this is a video with my finger covering the camera lens. 

Pretty tricky, huh?

We're going to talk about the song again in a future blog when my friend, Treva, makes a guest appearance talking about the "72 Day Challenge"

(I should be gone 72 days)

 

 

So Catherine joined me, and we headed towards Byram, Mississippi! 

 

Here's the part I'm not sure about....did I have some kind of New Orleans Voodoo stuck to me, or was it the Devil trying to cause havoc on my trip? 

 

The Bible says in 1 Peter 5:8,

"Be alert and of sober mind.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."

He certainly was trying to devour us (or at least be extremely annoying).

 

There are no pictures of the following events.  When stressful things are happening, I can't seem to remember to take out my phone or ipad and take pictures or videos.  Now, looking back, it would have been quite comical. 

We'll just leave it up to your imagination.

 

We leave New Orleans and take the wrong highway and get lost.  It's quite difficult to "turn around" two very long vehicles hooked together in the middle, so getting lost is NOT fun!

 

We arrive in Byram, Mississippi (I just love writing that state) and get lost!!! 

Again, the turning around just doesn't seem to be that easy.

 

We finally arrived at our campground in Byram, Mississippi, and it's so dark you can't see in front of you.  Also, I'm not sure at that moment what kind of wild animals live in those woods, and I know I didn't want to find out! 

I can't see where I'm going or how to park the camper, but I know it's a pull through (yay!), and I guess I hit a wooden pole with an "Exit Only" sign on it because the next day, I go outside and I'm missing my little door holder, my electrical outlet box cover, and there's big pieces of wood stuck in the screws holding (well, kind of holding) the trim on the side of the camper.  I find all those pieces by that sign post. 

I didn't even know I hit anything let alone took the side of the camper off. 

 

I hope that's all I hit.  We may never know.

 

Unfortunately on this trip, I have to still work for our company, so the next day poor Catherine had to sit around and wait for me to work. 

In the meantime, It's POURING outside, and I'm getting flash flood warnings on my phone telling us NOT to drive anywhere. 

There's thunder and lightening (us Cali girls are NOT used to this kind of weather!) 

I'm not sure if I'm suppose to be using my electronic devices in this weather either, but I'm trying to finish, so we can leave and drive through the flash floods that are happening!

 

THEN!!! 

 

THEN (in all caps with exclamation points)

I guess my slide out on the camper had just about enough of those monsoon rains outside, and it decided to POUR, and I mean really POUR, water inside the camper. It was as if someone had poured buckets on us, and my makeshift home (camper) office with all of my electrical equipment spread out all over. 

 

OH MY GOSH!!!

(that's not exactly what I said, but Catherine promised not to share that with anyone)

 

After the flood cleanup and sliding the slide in, Catherine and I were pretty wet and smooshed as I continued to TRY and finish my work. 

 

We did stop during all the commotion to pray and rebuke the devil and tell all that crazy weather outside to knock it off! 

 

And it actually did!

 

Then we FINALLY leave.  I need to get gas.  We go to the gas station, and for some reason, their gas pumps DO NOT STOP when the tank is full, so there is gas pouring out all over the place and all over my truck.

 

FUN!  FUN! FUN!

(that's not exactly what I said either)

 

Then the kicker of it all is.....I have to go find a post office because our bank decided to sell to another bank in the midst of my trip (rude), and my online banking is not working right, so I have to mail (yes, with an envelope and postage stamp...remember that from way back when?) my bills. 

We find the post office, and as I pull into the parking lot, I realize THERE IS NO WAY OUT!  I am going to have to BACK UP out of the entrance onto a busy street to get out!!!

 

So after numerous tries, and a few curse words, I pray,

"God, please get me out of this parking lot, and help me NOT to hit anything."

 

I then was able to back out of the entrance (oh my), and I had a median in front of me that I was going to have to drive over to get the truck in the right position to get out of that parking lot. 

 

It's funny all the voices I hear in my head during this trip.

 

I hear Barry say, "Don't be in a city during rush hour." 

I have been in every major city during this trip DURING rush hour.

 

I hear my RV teacher, Rob Millum, say,

"Whatever you do, Lory, don't make U-turns." 

I think I'm up to four U-turns now.

 

During this little post office escapade, I heard Robert from Vinton, TX,  say,

"Lory, you're in a truck!  Drive like you're in a truck!"

(he was saying that to me when he was helping me back up at his house)

 

So as I was backed half way out of the entrance to the post office and had the median facing me, I heeded Robert's words, and I drove like I was in a truck right over that median, and we made it out!

 

So I don't know if  I had some New Orleans voodoo left on me that day, or the devil was wreaking havoc, but as we drove away, I decided to shake off ANYTHING left on me from New Orleans, and told the devil to LEAVE ME ALONE. 

 

Whichever it was, it worked!

 

Also, Catherine has a pretty cool story about how she was able to come join me on my JOURNEY.

 

Here's Catherine