Last year around this time I began organizing a field trip for my classroom to Washington, DC. After months of organizing and fundraising, my trip was coming together. I want to do this bit in many parts, six to be exact, because it's quite a tale. The story starts on the eve of departure, March 10, 2006. I have eight kids confirmed and ready to go, after once cancelled the day before due to her grandmother passing.

My entire budget for the trip was $6,000. That included transportation, lodging, and meals for 15 people for an entire week. I had to cut costs everywhere possible, and we therefore needed to take a train to Washington. Everything was set, but I hit a brick wall three weeks before the trip once I finally raised all the money I needed. Amtrak did not have any more tickets available from the Meridian, MS. As I later found out, one of the overwhelmingly white private schools in the area had purchased them up for their own excursion to DC. Damn white people! My only option was to rent cars and drive them from Greenville, MS to Atlanta and catch the train there. So, I booked two cars and went to pick them up the night before we were to depart for Atlanta.

I went to pick up the cars with Brianna, a dear friend and fellow Teach For America teacher. She for some reason volunteered to go on the trip with me. Once I got to the rental center I immediately ran into three problems that would stop the trip. First, this particular car rental company did not rent to persons under the age of 24. We were both 23 at the time. Second, we needed two credit cards from two different people to hold the cars because one person can't be responsible for multiple cars. The problem was that Brianna had her identity stolen not long before then and did not have a credit card. Lastly, I made both reservations under my name. The company therefore thought it was a mistake and cancelled one, leaving us only one car.

The credit problem was solved somewhat easily. Brianna's debit card sufficed for getting the car and I would pay the bill once we returned the thing. Not having the car there was another big problem. At first the lady behind the counter told us that we could drive clear across the state to Columbus and visit the agency there. After some going back and forth, her boss allowed us to take out one of the local cars. Finally, as we were doing all this, it came to the part where she needed our licenses and saw our ages. She looked at them and said she couldn't rent us the cars. I played the taking-the-kids-on-a-field-trip card and asked, "Do you think you might be able to read the date wrong? These kids are so excited to go to Washington..." She caved and we got the cars. I slipped her a ten on the way out. The name of the company will remain unsaid, so as to protect this particular employee.

On top of dealing with that during the afternoon, a cashier's check with all my petty cash got lost in the mail and I had to withdraw $1,100 of my own money. I felt bad for the woman at the bank. Most of the money was in $1 and $5 bills for meals and she had to count all of it.

The next morning we assembled at the school at 5:30 AM. People were of course late. Before leaving we prayed, led by the father of one of the students going on the trip. He is a reverend at one of the many local churches. Once we were sure that Jesus would be looking after us on our trip, Brianna, four parents, eight children, and I were off on our adventure.

We stopped for lunch at a Wendy's and I was super stressed. I wanted to get to Atlanta before 3:00 so that I could get the cars in on time to the company's branch near the train station. At the rate we were going, we wouldn't make it. The kids were having fun, though.

In an attempt to make the 3:00 deadline I kicked up the speed a bit on the highway and the most predictable thing happened! I got pulled over by an Alabama highway patrol car. I was very embarrassed to have gotten pulled over in front of my kids. I could only imagine the jokes, janking, and cutting that was going on in Brianna's car. The highway patrolman, a middle aged black man, asked me why I was going so fast and I again played the taking-the-kids-on-a-field-trip card. He took one look at the kids I was taking on the trip and at the caravan of cars behind me and let me off with a warning. It turned out that I was completely wrong about the girls in the car behind me. They were all praying for me while the highway patrolman was talking to me. As one of my students would shout after getting a good grade on a test, "Thank you, Jesus!"

At this point it was beyond clear that I wasn't going to make it to Atlanta in time. I'd just have to take the cars to the airport clear across town and get a taxi back, which we did for the nominal fee of $45.

The kids had a great time at the train station. They entertained themselves pretty well, which worked out after the train was 3 hours late. The train station was a good socializing experience for them. They asked lots of questions like, "What is Wa-cho-via?" They also stared at the cars on the highway below for a long time. Many hadn't seen a scene like it in real life before.

Perhaps one of the most awesome things that happened on the trip was a totally impromptu lesson in multiculturalism. A couple kids started talking to the above man and at first I was in don't-talk-to-strangers mode. But I watched for a minute and it turned out that the man was a doctor from Argentina in Atlanta for a conference. The kids were so interested in the guy. They asked him all kinds of questions about being a doctor, Argentina, his family, etc. They kept asking despite difficulty in communication. The man barely spoke English and the Delta dialect made it even harder for him to comprehend what they were saying. As the exchange was taking place, the most awesome thing happened, for a teacher, anyway. They asked Miguel (Mr. Michael to them) if there were any black people in Argentina. Miguel mulled it over for a minute and said that there weren't many, but that they had mestizos. Immediately my kids eyes lit up and they yelled in unison, "Mestizos!" We had studied mestizos in class a few weeks prior. It was so awesome that they made the real-world connection and so vindicating for me because social studies was then a valid use of time at school.

The train finally came. Once everybody was settled in, Brianna and I went up to the food car. In the food car we ran into students and staff from the white school that bought up all the tickets that I was supposed to get. I was too tired to begrudge them, so I took some Tylenol PM and fell asleep.

Tomorrow: Children on the Metro, Arlington National Cemetery, and Union Station. Stay tuned!