A Breeze from New Orleans

        Road trips and camping trips are always fun with the freedom project. One that’s fresh on my memory is when we went to New Orleans around this time two years ago. It took us about five hours to get there. Five long hours of SCFP fun (hahahaha). So as were on the van we played games talked and joked and slept. One of the most memorial things is traveling on the bridge over Lake Ponctchartrain. It was a beautiful sight and I love to see the pelicans fly next to the window. At first I was scared cause some of the older kids were telling the story of how Mr. Myers wreck the van( not to mention I was a first year) I didn’t really know him well and were going a little to fast. So, I decided to put my headphones on and went back to sleep. When we got there the smell of pizza lifted me up out the van and placed me in my seat. We all ate till we had no room left and then we took off for the camp site.
        On our way there we took off our headphones and got into our nature mode. Except for one person, K. Garfield, he was asleep in the front seat with his head in the window. He, literally, had a rude awakening when a tree branch hit him on the face. We all laughed at him; but he went back to sleep after he let the window up. Finally we made it to the camp site and we sent up tent (one of the scfp’s handy skills) after that we went to the beach and had a good time. After that we went on a night hike and everyone was so scared, including me! The Spanish moss hanging from the trees made the hike very creepy. So, Ms. Jo stayed with Kym, Rokeisha, and I. At the wrong time she started to tell scary stories. Kym wanted to hear it, while Rokeisha and I said no. But we all know Ms. Jo, she replied by saying, “Whatever I’m going to tell the story”. Without thinking, Rokeisha and I walked up and before we knew it, we were all along because the rest of the crew was way ahead of us while Ms. Jo and Kym had suddenly disappeared. It was a horrific moment not to mention we did not have a flashlight! So we were along in the forest dark, and we had a choice to either wait for Ms. Jo or wait for something else to come. We decided to walk in dark, not knowing were the trail was. It was so dark that you couldn’t see a ghost if it appeared in front of your face. So we held hands, prayed as we walked, hoping that we were getting close to the bank, but all of a sudden we heard something in the trees. Then we heard some flapping near our ears and we ran! When we got to the bank everyone there were looking at the stars. They were a pretty sight. We didn’t stay long because the mosquitoes drove everyone away.
        The next day we went on the same hike but this time I could see. We went to the bank and saw the tall grass coming out of the water. We spotted an alligator and everyone was liked all “cool”. Mr. Myers had told us to not throw food into the swamp and to feed the reptile. Well, someone threw an orange or it supposedly fell into the water. The water wasn’t deep at all because you could still see the orange. Mr. Myers got mad and I didn’t feel like hearing the lecture so I, out of frustration, volunteered to get the orange out. So, Chris and Luke held my legs while I reached for the orange. Once I was over the ledge I had realize that I was crazy. I got scared and told them to pull me back up, but with the encouragement of my friends, I decided to reach for the orange. Then, I felt myself slipping. That’s when I got mad and told them to hold tight. You would think that I would have begged them to not let go but I was steamed. As I slipped out of their grasp, I finally manage to get the orange and then they pulled me up. I was proud of myself because no one else was willing to that, but me, a first year, was willing to get that orange.
         After we walked back to the camp site we went to Burben Street in New Orleans. I learned that there are some different people in the world. We passed by bars and bars and bars. We were on our way to Café De Mond and we were so hyped. We had coffee and beignets (French) and some of us had added a little too much sugar to the coffee. You can guess what happened next. When we got back to the camp site we had a camp fire, ate smores, and shared some stories (kind of like what I’m doing now). After the smores, it was time to sleep if we could. It had been a long hot day and I was tired. Just as I was getting in my tent, the wind instantly picked up and the temperature dropped so fast. That night was so uncomfortable, but hilarious because I could hear people talking about they hope their tent didn’t blow away. Well, I’m not going to jump into conclusions but the next morning was a site I would never forget. I walked out of my tent and people were shaking and running around. I looked over at Ms. Jo’s tent and it had turned flips while she was in it. One of the boys tent was caving in while the girls’ tent was flipped over. Overall trip was a success! I got to experience New Orleans first hand and got a little breeze of Mother Nature!

3rd year fellow
Shaquille Leflore