Mike Burr & Gary Rivenson

Sunset/October 24. The Louisiana story starts 2/3rds of the way across the much maligned and aforementioned Vicksburg Bridge. State Coordinator and AA Flight Attendant Robin Jones, assisted by AA Flight Attendants Carol Bagley and Nancy Mathews, picked up the flag at sunset and headed out into the Louisiana Delta dusk. Their companions for the next day and a half were a tireless van full of drivers who stuck with the effort for the entire trip. Mike, Gary, Mike Cummings, and some of the Mississippi group ran with the Louisiana group for the first three miles to direct a stop at the also aforementioned World Bar. We promised all of our new friends that we would stop in to see them one more time before we headed west. This was also the designated pickup point for the Mississippi runners. The Vicksburg Bridge Commission only allowed for a one way pass on their coveted "closed" bridge. There was a huge cheering crowd outside of the World that invited us in for some quick refreshment.

The Flag left after a few minutes, leaving the Mississippi runners, Mike and I to enjoy the World's hospitality for a while. Our documentary crew, which had been with us the entire trip since Boston, also stayed behind at the World. The jukebox, great locals, $1 bottled beers, and $6 steak dinners were too inviting to bypass. We would later learn that the runners had some "in-flight entertainment" just down the road. Gary and I found the local clientele at the World to be just what the doctor ordered. We had been keeping a watchful eye on a pretty impressive lightning show to the west since sunset. We called Frank LaCorte at home to check out the storm on the Weather Channel. He confirmed our concerns about a serious line of weather approaching the run from the West. Mike and I finished our game of darts and zoomed down the highway to find the runners. Robin also expressed concern about the amount of lightning ahead, so we drove faster... but had to make a stop. Mike thought it would be a nice touch to bring some hand picked cotton for his kids. We actually thought of it several hours earlier but thought it would be a better idea in the dark. We loaded up the back seat with cotton from a field while singing "Sweet Low, Sweet Chariot", then took off down the road to meet the runners.

The weather was pretty ominous and we didn't want anyone to get hurt. So Mike Burr and Gary Rivenson... freshly fortified by the hospitality of our friends at the World... and feeling no pain... laid a little leadership on the situation (or so we thought). The F-15 Eagle Drivers from the 115th Fighter Squadron in New Orleans would have done just fine without us. We wanted to be sure that if anyone was going to be struck by lightning, it was the Top Team. Besides, a lot of state coordinators probably wished we were hit anyhow. Gary and Mike, along with determined Eagle Drivers (one at a time), ran straight ahead into a raging thunderstorm. The Louisiana State Trooper thought we were nuts, but hey, we had a job to do.

It all seemed funny for about the first 3 minutes. Soon, the rain was horizontal and we were like wet rats. The wind picked up so it felt as if we were making no forward progress. The proud Eagle Drivers tucked the flag under their arms and refused any offers of assistance from us. We picked up the pace (or so it felt), and were determined to hurry through the cell. After a few miles we had our first close call. A lightning bolt hit close by, close enough to see the flash and hear the thunder simultaneously. Mike retorted, "Not even close". Right! After explaining this episode to Diane, she replied, "If you guys are going to be that stupid, why don't you get a metal pole?" Point well taken, but the show must go on. We ran many miles before feeling the storm frontal passage with the rain subsiding. The temperature dropped and we were soaked. Quite a sobering experience, literally. The shower felt nice as well.

Gary and I exited stage left and began our tiring journey westward to our next staging/rest area in West Monroe. The accommodations provided by Marriott have been life- savers. We arrive each night after "playing" Forrest Gump each day, exhausted, hungry, and with several hours of email/diary work to accomplish.

We rejoined Robin, Nancy, Carol and the Flag around 5:30 AM. These women were driven. Running on adrenaline and coffee. What troopers! Folks like this are making this event a reality. The runners continued to show up in hoards. The run through Shreveport continued to build steam as we approach the downtown area. Shreveport is home to our Louisiana State coordinator, Robin, and they gave her a real hometown welcome. We were joined by a crowd of revelers dressed in Mardi Gras costumes. They handed out beads and presented me with a large string of beads with "Captain" on the end. I ran with these beads all the way to the Texas border.

Gary and I continue to be amazed by Robin, Nancy, and Carol. They still refused to sleep and had been awake since the morning preceding the Vicksburg Bridge crossing. Robin had been pumping up Gary and I about crossing the Huey P. Long Bridge into downtown Shreveport. We hit the bridge precisely on time with a hoard of enthusiastic runners. We paused for a group photo and barely had enough room on the Courthouse steps for all the runners. Just brilliant!

We continued westbound toward the Texas line and came upon a group of school children at the Claiborne Elementary School. 550 children to be exact. They grabbed the Flag and they took off like a swarm of bees after Winnie the Pooh's honey jar. These kinds of encounters bring tears to our eyes. I hooked up their Technology teacher with my hometown Elementary School Principal via telephone. I wanted the kids from each school to track the Flag and communicate with each other as a current event, email, pen pal exercise. Hopefully this is happening with my good friend, Paul Biron's 3rd grade class.

Further down the road we came upon the Calhoun Middle School. There were 490 school children lined up along the school driveway chanting, "USA, USA, USA". We all had tears in our eyes as the Flag runners cruised up the driveway. The children had prepared beautiful hand painted banners and they presented these to us upon our departure. All of the momentos will be made available to the Smithsonian or the World Trade Center Memorial.

The rest of the Louisiana journey was filled with equally memorable moments. We serviced the RV a few miles from the Texas border and I got a nice present when I opened the dump valve. An elderly couple approached me, made a nice donation, and asked for a souvenir and our autographs. He was a WWII veteran and her cousin was a POW in Nazi Germany. I decorated one of our white flashlights with our flagrun logo and Donna, Gary, and I autographed it. I think they had it backwards, we should have asked for theirs.

Approaching the Texas border we had a couple of surprises. We came upon our first Armadillo road kill and stopped for a photo. I have been logging all road kills. Additionally, my Mardi Gras beads, which I had been running with since before Shreveport, exploded and went bouncing all over the road. I managed to save the "Captain" portion before being rear-ended by Robin in the RV.

I could see a big burden being lifted off Robin, Nancy and Carol's collective shoulders. They had been awake since the Vicksburg Bridge. Over 40 hours running on Adrenaline and coffee. AWESOME, simply AWESOME!!

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