By Diana

Earlier, I posted something about being “desperate” for a great story to end the year with. Well, that didn’t work out. I tried. I got a good story idea, but not enough time to get a good story. On the bright side, I learned a lot from it. Oh well.

I just did a music review about The Bravery, so look for that in the June 14 Teen Weekend. Right now, I’m on the two-week trip to Biloxi you might’ve read about in the New Era. I’m not sure how often I’ll have Wi-Fi access, but look for my posts!

One by one the students and teachers heading for Biloxi arrived at McCaskey East early Monday morning. A Fox 43 van was already parked in front of the school when I arrived a little before 7:30 a.m. A guy named Jason set up his camera, tripod and all and recorded our arrival. He then asked students if they would do an interview but no avail. At last, while we were loading our gear into two white Sprinters, he got an interview with China and Ms. Wood. With interviews done, group photos taken and luggage loaded, we took off. Kind of.

First, we swung by J.P. McCaskey to say goodbye to the faculty having breakfast in the cafeteria. Van No. 1 (driven by Ms. Wood and Mr. Wang) led the way, honking farewells. Just as Van No. 2 (Mr. Orlowski and Mr. Thedford) rolled up, J.P. McCaskey principal Mr. Nolt unlocked the balcony door and walked out. Wait! They want us to go back. Mr. Orlowski put the van in reverse and called Van No. 1 to come back. Teachers started crowding onto the balcony, waving and cheering. Next thing we knew, we were hopping out of the van to bow and wave for laughs. Yep, we didn’t even leave the campus yet and we were having fun doing stupid stuff.

OK, so finally we leave. There’s a lot of music, lousy road trip games, sleeping and even a crazy trucker we kept passing. (We recognized the dent in the side of his tank.) We had no idea what his problem was, but at one point, he started honking at us (Van No. 2) for no reason and he did not seem happy. Angeliz (sitting in the back row) was scared, but hey, there’s nothing “frosty” about crazy stalker truckers.

Photo courtesy of Ms. Wood

After lunch at a Shoney’s in Harrisonburg, Va., some of us headed over to a dollar store for a toothbrush. The only obstacle was a very busy five-lane road, which a few were scared to cross. On the way back from the store, China was, according to Mr. Orlowski, running back and forth like a squirrel trying to cross the road. She made it over, but left Mr. Thedford behind on the other side, obviously in despair, but he eventually made it too.

Oh, earlier that day, Van No. 1 was playing a Rhianna CD and at the end of one song were sirens. Mr. Wang heard the sirens and started flipping out. OH MY GOSH! We didn’t even leave the state yet and we’re being pulled over for speeding!!! Haha.

Then in Tennessee, a woman at a gas station asked me if we were heading to the beach. I don’t know where she got that idea. There aren’t any beaches in Tennessee.

Later that day, we stopped at a Main Stays Suites for the night. As I type this, it’s late Tuesday morning, we’re in Alabama and we just passed a giant peach.

UPDATE: We have arrived and Camp Biloxi has Wi-Fi! Keep checking the Teen Weekend blog and I’ll keep ya posted!