Fargo Floods: Day 1

Events of Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Do you ever have one of those days? So - I'm home Tuesday morning, waiting for the Cable Guy to come and hook up a high-def television at home. My "window" of opportunity is any time between 8 and 11:00 am. Since I'm going to be home waiting for the Cable Guy, I figure I can kill two birds with one stone - and so I schedule the Geek Squad to come by and do some tinkering on our home computer network. Efficient, yes?

So, it's 9:30 am and the Cable Guy arrives...he's tinkering away, when the phone rings. It's the Red Cross. And it's time to go to Fargo, ND to assist in the flooding with the Red River. And - I must be packed and ready to go by 1:30 pm that same afternoon. Yeah, right.

About that time, the doorbell rings and it's the Geek Squad. A guy has shown up, but when he sees that part of my network includes a Mac, he has to call another Geek to assist him. So, I am running around the house, grabbing a suitcase, sleeping bag, and other essentials, trying to dodge the strangers that are in my house. Crazy times, indeed. They all promise to be out of my house and on their way no later than 12:00.

I call Hubby to tell him I'm hitting the road for Fargo at 1:30 that day, and bless his heart - he drives all the way home from work (NOT a short drive, by the way!) and insists on taking me to lunch.

After a quick lunch, he drives me down to the Red Cross headquarters, where I meet up with the other four members of my team. We do a quick media interview with both Channel 41 and Channel 9, and then we climb into our 2 rental cars and start driving north - up I-29 - to Fargo. It's 2:30 pm before we hit the road - and Fargo is 600 miles away.

Such is the life of a Red Cross volunteer. Always having to be ready to go at a moment's notice. Always having a suitcase and essentials nearby.

We drive and drive and drive...stopping only for fuel for the car and fuel for our bodies. Around Sioux Falls, we hit sleet - and it gets worse as we drive north.

We arrive in Fargo around 12:30 am - where we are told at headquarters to head to the luxurious Motel 6 (ha!) and get a room. And be back at Headquarters by 8:00 am Wednesday morning.

So begins the first day of the Fargo Flood Disaster of 2009.

The adventure will continue....and I will add photos to these posts when I am back home and can upload my photos to my OWN computer and not a borrowed one!

Peace...