Once upon a time there was a woman named Althea Joyce McKenzie Slocum Clough who lives at 727 Ford Valley Road

Once upon a time there was a woman named Althea Joyce McKenzie Slocum Clough who lives at 727 Ford Valley Road, Glencoe, Alabama 35905. This woman along with her son Melvin who also lives at the same address decided to take an adventurous trip down the Mississippi River from the Port of New Orleans to the country of our Spanish speaking neighbors, Mexico. So after several weeks of preparation and finally several days of meticulous shopping and packing the two of them were prepared to set out to execute their well prepared plan. We had to do a rush job on getting Althea a Passport and for sure, it was delivered a week before we departed ( it is a new cruise ship requirement that all passengers leaving the US have a passport ). We packed everything we thougth we would need for our 5 night, 6 day vacation. My sister, Karen helped mother pack and Debbie assisted me in making sure all I needed was inside the small suitcase I was carrying. We both tried to get to bed early the night before since we were getting up about 4:30 and leaving as soon as possible thereafter. Then all of a sudden it was 4:30 - I hopped in the shower, dried my hair then dressed in jeans and a button up shirt, grabbed my bags and headed to pick up mother after kissing Debbie goodbye. When I arrived at mother's, my sister was there assisting her in getting ready and making sure she had all she needed to last the cruise. It was Saturday morning and off we went at 5:15 am on our way driving 420 miles one way from Glencoe, Alabama to the Port of New Orleans. Our trip carried us through Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, Meridian, Laurel, Hattiesburg and Slidell on our way through New Orleans to the Port. We stopped several times to refresh our balder with coffee then again several times to reverse the process. We drove for 7 hours only to arrive at the port with a major obstacle - a Mardi Gras parade. We had to wait about 20 minutes until about 25 floats passed before proceeding to the port. Once at the port, we discovered that the port authority had built a totally new 5 story reception and parking facility. Mother did not know at this point that Debbie and I had borrowed a "walker" from her grandmother that has four wheels, breaks, and a small seat -if needed. Once I unloaded all our luggage and the walker, mother quickly adapted to the walker. After we were inside out of the cool breeze I took a chance allowing mother to remain with the luggage while I went around the block and up 4 levels to park the car - But to my surprise, she was exactly where I left her and didn't seem to mind waiting. Since we had the walker, we were allowed to process through check in within 20 minutes rather than waiting in line for a couple of hours. Once aboard the Carnival Fantasy Cruise ship we headed for our stateroom M-199 - an outside room with a window view. It was about 1:30 pm at this point and we quickly stored our luggage in the room and left all our valuables in the room safe then headed up 5 levels to the Lido Deck for lunch. When we arrived at the buffet lunch, we found a nice two seater table next to the window with an excellent view. Mother ate beef tips, potato salad, slaw, soup, green beans, noodles, bread and had a cup of coffee and a glass of apple juice. She was about to pop when I brought back a piece of cheese cake and some ice cream. She ate it all. We stayed in the area for about an hour just talking and enjoying ourselves trying to waste time until the mandatory life boat drill started. We decided to go back to the room and unpack. We spent about an hour unpacking, sorting things and calling home to let Debbie know we were on the boat and all was well. After unpacking, we decided to go back upstairs to our designated drill location and wait - and we did and we waited and waited thinking the 3:30 drill would soon happen - but by 4:20 we decided that something was wrong and we returned to the room. Within 10 minutes of being back in our room, an announcer came over the loud speaker and made the following statement: This is Carnival cruise director ............. and I am sorry to inform you that this cruise has been cancelled. We have had an unfortunate incident occur with a barge running into the side of this vessel and making damages that will take several days to repair. He also stated that each passenger would receive a full refund of their cruise cost and also receive a 25% discount on a future cruise with Carnival if used before the end of 2008. We were given the option of being allowed to leave the ship at that time or wait until the morning to leave the ship. If we decided to leave the ship today, we would need to do so before 7pm ( at that time the ship would untie and relocate about 100 yards so repairs could start the next day and it would take about 3 hours to make this transition ) Since mother and I had already driven 7 hours to get there we decided to spend the night and leave Sunday morning to drive home. At this point, I decided to carry both our heavy suit cases off the ship and take them to the car in the parking deck. This took about 30 minutes but the heavy stuff was already in the car. After I returned we both showered then went upstairs about 6:30 and ate dinner - much more of the good stuff and within an hour, we were both stuffed. We headed back to the room and at 8:15 we were both in the bed. I can't believe it, we both slept about 9 1/2 hours - we got out of bed at 6am Sunday morning. I showered and got dressed before mother then went outside to let her shower and dress. At 7am we went back to the Lido deck for breakfast - mother was so pleased to know they had pancakes and orange juice. She ate until she was packed full - I think I did the same. We had all our luggage with us and after going to the bathroom, we departed the ship. Since the ship moved about 100 yards from the main terminal, we had to walk - so I pushed mother in her walker with a small carry on bag in her lap. The entire process took about 20 minutes from getting off the ship to arriving at the car. It was now 8:00am and we headed to the interstate system to drive home. The trip is 420 miles dock to house. We stopped several times to get coffee and go to the bathroom and finally arrived at home at 2:45 pm exhausted. I took mother to her house on the golf cart then came back to the house where I flopped on the couch for 45 minutes simply relaxing and cat napping - I need to rest my eyes. Karen was at mothers to assist her in unpacking. Mother mentioned 3 times on the way home how much she enjoyed the cruise and that she could do that again.

Below pics are what we would have seen if a barge had not disabled the cruise ship in New Orleans.

Obituaries: Pittsburgh Tribune Review Feb 2007