Beep..Beep..Beep! Wait a minute there is no beep…beep…beep of the alarm clock. The electricity is out. We had to get dress by the light of our cell phones this morning. While we were sleeping a terrible storm came through the area. Ms. Addie picked up donuts, milk, and OJ for everyone since the hotel’s restaurant was not open this morning. After breakfast we departed for the state capitol. We toured the Senate and House chambers. Viewed the city of Baton Rouge from the observation deck on top of the capitol, saw where Huey P. Long was shot and buried, and visited the governor’s press conference room and office. We were able to sit at the governor’s desk and take pictures in his office. Governor Jindal was in Washington D.C. so we could not visit with him. Secretary of State, Jay Dardenne got permission for us to sit at the senator’s desk in the senate chambers while he spoke to us about his experiences in politics. He also answered our questions. Sergeant at Arms, Cooper, and Electric Cooperative’s Lobbyist Judy McCleary also spoke to us about their jobs and what it’s like working at the capitol. After a busy morning we stopped at the McDonald’s in Port Allen for a quick lunch. While traveling to New Roads, we watched a video showing Pointe Coupee Electric’s recovery efforts during Hurricane Gustav as we headed out to Louisiana Generating’s Big Cajun II Plant. We were in for a big surprise when we got to the power plant. We actually got to tour the entire plant. Everyone wore hard hats, safety glasses and ear plugs…we were a good looking bunch! Louisiana Generating treated us to soft drinks and cakes after our tour. Ms. Addie told us about the history of Pointe Coupee and that “Safety” is a company culture at electric cooperatives. We headed back to Baton Rouge after 4:30 p.m. only to find out that our hotel still did not have electricity. After we returned to the hotel we had dinner while the chaperons tried to figure out what we were going to do with no electricity. Thankfully the power came back on while we were eating dinner. After dinner we headed back to our meeting room to continue playing the simulated cooperative game. Competition is getting tight! We also created our own commercials to sell our products everyone is very entertained by the creativity of the groups. Everyone voted on the best commercial and team Big Boys won. We also got our creative juices flowing as we worked on designing our t-shirts that we will wear while touring our nation’s capital. Lights out 10:45 p.m.
Derrick represents Pointe Coupee Electric. He said his favorite part of today was touring the Louisiana Generating power plant. Derrick said he didn't care for the lights going out and it being hot. Throughout the day he was able to meet a lot of new people and he's sure he will become really good friends with some of them. Derrick wants everyone back home to know that he is having a great time and meeting new people.
Hunter represents the Association of Louisiana Electric Cooperatives. His favorite part of the day was being on the 10th floor (approximately 30 stories) of the Louisiana Generating plant and being able to see everything that makes the plant work. He thought that learning about how the plant works was very interesting. Hunter doesn't like the meetings...he thinks they are boring and he wishes he had a later curfew!
Dylan is a delegate from Valley Electric. He liked being back in the meeting room this evening because the game was more lively tonight. Dylan also did not like losing power today, but he admits it wasn't that bad since we were not at the hotel for the majority of the day. He also said he realizes how much time there really is in a day because we wake up so early and go to bed so late...plus we stay busy doing a lot of stuff all day. Dylan sends a message back home saying that he has done a lot of things and had a fun time with everyone these few short days, and he can't wait to tell you all about it in person. Oh...and he has lots of chocolate now!
Well this ends our busy day. The weather is bad again tonight, but hopefully we can avoid any tornadoes and the power will be on when we wake up tomorrow morning.
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