16 September 2004

We left Louisiana yesterday in the middle of the night. After cancelling our Saturday return flights, we made arrangements for the first available flight out, which happened to be around 6 am in the morning. From our hotel, we could see that Interstate 10 westbound was jam packed with stopped traffic all day and all night. Our hotel being about 10 miles from the Baton Rouge airport, we wanted to make sure we got there in time, so we left at 2:00 am, took some back roads that we hoped would be less busy than the Interstate, and ended up arriving at 5:00 am. Along the way, we saw gas stations lines, fast food restaurants crowded with people, people stopped by the side of the road taking a break with kids running around, and more cars than we could imagine. Fortunately, we got out before Ivan made landfall.

DWL