At the Marriot I was given a rare ground floor room. I spent a minute taking a bird bath, changed cloths, and then walked out a side door and almost into the Mississippi River. That's kind of an exaggeration, but the side door near my room was an emergency exit, the only door with an alarm on it. But I took a calculated risk that employees would have the alarm off so they could step out to smoke and that seemed to be the case. Behind the door there was a little open ground, then some shrub, then a levee, then the mighty Mississippi River.
Not wanting to swim the Mississippi I walked around the back of the building to a secondary levee that I had spotted on the drive in. That levee connected to a smaller casino. Just in case the cab driver or the front desk staff did spot me, I wanted to be somewhere else. So I walked as fast as I could to the smaller casino, which was a little more than a half-mile away.
When I reached the parking lot of the other casino, I walked around looking for someone I could pay to give me a ride. No one was in the parking lot. It was hot and humid, so not the time of day someone would hang around the parking lot. Seeing no other option, I walked to the back of the casino, all the way to the Mississippi River. It is difficult to explain how intimidating that river is. Standing on the bank the other side looks like an impossible distance across and the current looked strong enough to knock a building down. I knew I couldn't swim across the Mississippi River but I could swim down it, going with the current. Watching trees and other large piles of debris rush by on the current I knew this would be more about not getting dragged under than swimming. I was a few feet from the water's edge when I startled a water moccasin. The snake went into the water and swam off. I watched his head for a second before he submerged. I understood that the snake was the least of that river's dangers, but the snake was the decision maker for me. The snake probably saved my life because that river would have killed me.
At this point I wasn't sure they were on to me so I figured it was best to slow down a bit. I was thinking about getting a room at this motel when I heard the sounds of police sirens out on the main road. When the police cars reached the long driveway leading to the Marriot the sirens went silent. I watched as multiple police cars drove by the turn off for the casino I was at and went on towards the Marriot. I was thinking about the Mississippi again when I saw a guy getting out of a van by himself. I walked over to him, made sure he was alone, then showed him my gun and told him I was taking his van.
Of all the things I have done I think this is the one I am most ashamed of. It's called carjacking, and it is a serious offense. I couldn't leave the guy there or I'd be caught in minutes. I told him to get in, that I would drive. I told the guy my real name and that I was an anti-abortion guy. I did this to assure him that I wouldn't harm him. He pulled out his wallet and handed it to me saying he only had $200. I told him I didn't want his money, but that made me think about his only having $200. I pulled out a wad of cash that turned out to be $1,600 and gave it to him, explaining that this was for the inconvenience. This seemed to calm him down considerably.
I drove to a different casino and let him out at the far end of the parking lot. I had considered letting him out on one of Mississippi's many country roads, but it was too hot for that. So I let him out knowing that that the cops would be on to that van in short order. I found a back road and prayed no one saw me turn down it.