Environment, Society

Still Virginia Bound

Leslie and I are still fighting to get back to the kids after being stranded in New Orleans after all flights were cancelled. We are safe but had a wild night trying to find a way home.

Despite the fact that the weather was mild on Sunday and Monday morning in Washington, US Airways cancelled our flights. It was very frustrating to speak to friends in Washington and hear how the weather was fine. The cancellations appeared to be decisions based on the location of equipment, but thousands of passengers could have made it home. The main problem however at US Airways was the virtual collapse of any customer assistance that continued to Monday. We had to wait literally hours on the telephone to get through and then had to wait over an hour on hold to reach anyone. US Airways then told us that we would have to buy a separate ticket to go to closer airports like Charlotte (it didn’t matter since those were cancelled as well.) I remain furious with US Airways which (despite plenty of forewarning) did not appear to set up sufficient personnel or resources to assist passengers. We literally spent 24 hours from Sunday to Monday trying to reach someone at the airline, which has a message that repeatedly cut off calls and told them to call back.

With four kids with our sitter in Virginia, we could not wait any longer so I rented a four-wheel drive jeep and set out Sunday morning from New Orleans. We made it 700 miles when we were hit last night with a blinding blizzard storm in the mountains of Virginia. Visibility dropped quickly to virtually zero and we barely got off the highway. We found a motel in a tiny town called Marion, Virginia and bunkered down.

We are going to set out again shortly to try to get to the kids. A lot of roads are cut off with debris and winds remain high in McLean at 37 miles per hour. However, there are signs of it winding down. The kids are fine and still remarkably have electricity. We are prepared however. In Alabama, we bought boxes of water and Moon Pies (which we can’t get around us in McLean). If anything goes wrong, we can survive on Moon Pies for days in the mountains!

I hope all of our regulars on the East Coast are safe and sound today.

145 thoughts on “Still Virginia Bound”

  1. raff,
    The Cole slaw is a southern thing. The way I make it, I learned from my mother. The slaw adds a flavor to the sandwich you cannot get any other way. I will let you in on a secret. The secret is Durkee’s Famous Sauce. Durkee’s has been around forever, and is like a spicy and slightly salty salad dressing. It does not take much to turn ordinary Cole slaw into something magical. Also, I use Miracle Whip instead of mayonnaise in the slaw.

    Durkee’s is often hard to find in a supermarket but can be ordered online.

    http://www.durkee.com/productsearch?type=key&key=famous+sauce&x=0&y=0

  3. Malisha-

    Outstanding Yarn! As somebody used to say on the radio when I was a kid, “Truth is stranger than fiction”.

  5. Jo, with all due respect, I think vinegar as BBQ sauce is the equivalent of vinegar on the french fries I got in Canada.

    Some of the best pulled pork BBQ in the world can be found along Highway 61 and Highway 49 between Jackson, MS and Memphis. Very slow cooked in a custom made smoker. Served on a bun with thick rich and spicy homemade sauce and a dollop of Cole slaw on top. You can only find food like that in small nondescript shacks along the highway. Not to mention the music that might go with your meal as you eat it on a picnic bench next to the shack. You will never find food like that in a sit down commercial restaurant, especially the franchise restaurants.

    Then there is the music to eat by.

  7. Darren, there is no food on earth similar to NC BBQ and since I am from Southeast NC it is the best . Even BBQ from west NC is totally different. I have lived in many different parts of the country and tho I am partial to NC vinigar based pork BBQ (we don’t hold with no tomato based sauce) I am not such a BBQ snob that I cant enjoy BBQ from other parts of the country. and every part has its own special recipe. Some places prefer pork and some places prefer beef. I lived in Lake Charles , La for a while and their bbq was ok but I prefered east Tex. but Ettoufee is best from the tailgate parties of Mcneese University football games. New Orleans has nothin on em. Pittsburgh, Pa should however be barred from calling the concoction they have BBQ. I’d be ashamed . Chipped ham from a deli with pork and bean sauce on it now that ain’t BBQ
    Since I am in Ar right now I am having to eat Ar BBQ and I don’t particularly like things arkansas(it has the distinct problem of not being home) I will have to give them this their BBQ is not at all bad.

  9. Nal:

    I shot JT an email and must have missed sending you a copy. He replied this afternoon. Not sure how that happened since it’s my usual list of GBs. Have resent to you. Sorry about the oversight.

    Mark

  10. Nal,

    They made it home but their internet is out. Everyone in Clan Turley is okay. Check you email.

  11. No word on Twitter. I know JT and LT are anxious to see their family, but we’re family, too.

  12. Darren,

    I don’t know. Never ate barbecue in Louisiana. I spent two weeks testing a nuke radar detection system which we dragged all the way to Lake Charles. LA where the AFB was located so we got serviced as we needed.

    But did eat their oyster omelettes which were very tasty. Chili sauce was good to it, so tomatoes are appreciated too.

    Dryness does make a difference. Just drink a lot says my friend in Tucson. Jíddah by the Red Sea was much worse than Riyadh in the middle of Saudi.
    When the rains started each day in June in Bangkok the humidity made you crazy if you were out. Buddhism was a good religion for them as it cools the heart, they said.

  13. pete,

    I know what you mean. Every so often I’ll get an itch only a Moonpie can scratch.

  15. Idealist:

    I had real Louisiana BBQ about a little over a year ago when travelling through there. Great food! I ate at the same restaurant twice in the same day it was that good. It was though the hottest day I experienced in my lifetime, 112 degrees. I spent most of my life in Eastern Washington and have been in 100+ weather each year, but it was not anywhere near as sweltering as that day in LA. Must be that I am used to dry heat.

    Do you know if the LA BBQ is a similar style to the NC?

  16. Elaine M.
    1, October 30, 2012 at 5:18 pm
    Woosty,

    Maybe you’ve never tasted a really good whoopie pie!
    ———————————–
    I’m a bonafide whoopie pie virgin…..but your recipe sounds delicious!

  17. Don’t want to get the nostalgia folks against me, but moon pies were not a favorite of mine. Like most such junk, twinkies included, they melt in the mouth.

    But OS is right, they don’t melt in a hot car in the summer.

    Myself, I prefer home made fork riven pork barbecue for lunch together with cole slaw and half a loaf of white bread. That you can work the road project the whole long afternoon on, with no slacking up. We bought it at the gas station who had a black that minded the pig on the fire all night long.

    Mind you this was NC barbecue with vinegar and black peppar, not tomato sauce. We were builing the first Interstate in ’57.

  20. Moon pies and RC cola. Things haven’t changed much in some ways. Peanuts and Pepsi is not bad after swimming. But Dr.Pepper, never.

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