Posted on 11/02/2005 5:41:07 PM PST by SandRat
11/2/2005 - MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. (AFPN) -- They enjoyed long walks on the beach, romantic dinners and winds of 159 miles per hour?
Master Sgt. Leon Palmer and his new bride, Staff Sgt. Rena Palmer, both members of 22nd Security Forces Squadron, had an unexpected visitor during their honeymoon earlier this month in Cancun, Mexico.
“We were in Cancun for four beautiful days when another hotel guest approached us on the beach and told us we might be evacuating to a shelter because of a hurricane,” said Master Sgt. Palmer. “We hadn’t been keeping up with the news so we had no idea what was going on.”
The following day, the Palmers were instructed by the Mexican government to board busses that would take them to shelters because hurricane Wilma was headed straight for them. Their only possessions: one blanket and one pillow.
“No one thought it was going to last more than a day,” said Staff Sgt. Palmer. “Everyone was on the bus taking pictures, and we were all in good spirits.”
The high spirits of the 600-plus occupants of the San Jose elementary school, their hurricane shelter, slowly began to diminish after four days, they said.
“We had food and bottled water the first day, but after the electricity went out the food started to go bad and we couldn’t eat it,” she said. “Everyone started to get blisters from the amount of citrus we were eating.”
Citrus blisters were the least of the evacuees’ concerns. Insects attacked what was left of the food supply and the plumbing went haywire.
“The toilets stopped working and the only way we could get them to flush was to dump a bucket of rain water down them to get them to flush manually,” Master Sgt. Palmer said. “The bottled water ran out and people were drinking the water from the well behind the school. A lot of people started to get sick. Dysentery. Food poisoning. It was bad.”
The Palmers decided they had had enough and were going to try to get to the airport. Their cab driver made it two miles from the airport when they were turned away by the Mexican military. Four days later, they got word that rescue flights would fly people out.
“We were bussed to another school and we waited in line for a seat on the first flight,” Staff Sgt. Palmer said “There were 380 seats available and we were 386th in line. So, we had to come back the next day. We waited in line for 10-and-a-half hours before we flew out.”
The rescue flight took the Palmers to Dallas before getting on a connecting flight back to Kansas.
“I was never so excited to see a Pizza Hut in my life,” said Master Sgt. Palmer. “Sleeping in our own bed was so much better than five nights on a cement floor.”
Though some might think that a Category 4 hurricane during a honeymoon is a bad sign. The Palmers disagree.
“We had a great time and made the best of a bad situation,” Master Sgt. Palmer said. “If we can get through that, we can get through anything.”
Wilma comes on newlyweds Mexican honeymoon
Maybe it's just me, but that was some funny phrasing you used.
What a refreshing change from that whiner from Massachusetts yesterday who was mad because no one from the US government came to get him and and his wife in Cancun and bring them home.
Good! Tried to do that, you're the first to acknowledge my warped sense of humor tonight.
What? No class action lawsuit planned? No whining? No anger? No indignation? Whassmatterwiththesepeople?
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