Friday, July 27, 2007

How to Lose an ExxonMobil Security Guard in 10 Minutes




After a long day of driving and touring around Louisiana with our gracious and informative tourguide, Devon, The Break Free Project convinced me that driving to Baton Rouge at midnight would be worth it because we'd get great shots of the oil refineries there. I tried to get a good attitude about it after David, Devon's dad, treated us to a feast of a shrimp boil and veggie-oiled it to the second biggest city in LA.

As we approached the city an hour and a half later, we saw what looked like the Magic Kingdom over the Mississippi. These lights, however, outlines tower after tower of oil refinery engineering. It was a sight to behold. So much so, that we decided we wanted a closer look! Forgetting that it was probably 2:30 AM by that time, we turned down a street that gave us a great shot of the place on either side, only to notice another vehicle with, uh oh, red and blue lights shining like a cop car!

Turns out, we weren't really supposed to be there and we spent the next few minutes trying to figure out how to NOT get our vehicle searched and avoid an interrogation from an "intelligence officer." We quickly discovered, though, that by chumming it up with these hospitable southern security personnel about their families, the oil business, Katrina, and the weather, we were limited to getting our IDs xeroxed and sent on our way with a friendly wave.


I just wish that Mavi caught on camera the main security guy saying "you can't mess with Mother Nature" as the steam poured out from the refinery behind him. Luckily she did manage to catch me asking if she was taking pictures with it (on his behalf), as well as her own response: "Oh no! I'm just looking at the pictures I took today!" This, of course, took place while she held the camera directly at him. Just another day for the Ladyhawke, who consumed that veggie-oil like I consumed Po-Boys for the last week! More from Texas and New Mexico soon!

J.M.

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